WPI Journal - The Magazine for WPI Alumni

WINTER 2015

The Alumni Magazine for Worcester Polytechnic Institute. (WPI)

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40 Winter 2015 Y ael Schwartz '91 (PhD) has never been one to play it safe. As a new graduate of Melrose High School, she opted to defer her education, walking away from a college scholarship and emigrating to Israel, where she learned the language and joined the Israel Defense Forces. A daring move for one so young, it would seem, but Schwartz was not daunted. "Israel was a young, energetic country with tremen- dous appeal," she recalls, "and, besides, we were born in the same year!" It's a decision she's never regretted. "When I came back from Israel I was more mature, more driven, and exceedingly more confdent and focused," she says. That confdence has served her well over the years, particularly as she pursues her latest venture—that as executive vice president of preclinical development for the specialty biopharmaceuti- cal company RestorGenex. Schwartz is no stranger to pharmaceutical science, having actively participated in the feld as a researcher and an educator for more than two decades. After returning home, she earned a BA in psychology/biol- ogy, followed by a master's in education and a master's in pharmacol- ogy/toxicology. She then worked with principal investigators at Dana- Farber Cancer Institute "learning the ropes regarding pharmaceutical research." She also learned she didn't want to be chasing grant money constantly and instead wished to be more involved in actual drug de- velopment. So she went back to school to pursue a PhD in endocrine physiology through a collaborative program at WPI and the University of Massachusetts Medical School; she completed her dissertation in the UMMS physiology department. After two years of postdoctoral research in endocrinology and immu- nology, Schwartz made the jump to industry, but she has kept one oar in the waters of academia, serving as an adjunct faculty member at WPI and the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. She had previously shied away from a full-time teaching position. "I'm really not cut out for academia," she says. "I don't do well with routine. I'm a drug developer at heart; it's exciting that there are always problems to solve—nothing ever goes smoothly, and I love that chal- lenge. I taught because I really enjoy the students—they're curious and engaged, and I found being around them very energizing." Schwartz took her turn at the rostrum because she believes it's im- portant for students to be exposed to science opportunities available to them beyond academia. "My peers at UMMS had a strong postdoc mind- set—industry was almost a dirty word—whereas at WPI, students were encouraged to consider working in corporations or starting compa- nies. When I declared my intentions to do post doctoral work for a few years and then move into industry, the faculty at WPI encouraged me; a number of the UMMS faculty acted as though I was a traitor. Granted, this was in the mid- to late '80s, and I'm sure that attitudes have shifted somewhat in the intervening years, but I think the bias still exists to a degree. For example, I gave a talk at UMMS a couple of years ago, and many students came up to speak with me afterwards, asking how to get into industry. At WPI, conversely, the concept of industry and entrepre- neurship were always on the table." While entrepreneur- ship may have been in the wind throughout Schwartz's time at WPI, it was her early stint in the Israeli army that cemented her sense of resiliency and leader- ship. "It taught me three very important lessons: how to lead; how to be responsible for my deci- sions, good or bad; and how to fall and get back up," she explains. "You learn quickly that if you make a mistake, you've got to get back up and redirect your efforts. You learn to be comfortable taking risks, and that was great training for entre- preneurship. You simply can't be an entrepreneur without being resilient, because if you're build- ing something or trying something new, you're going to get rejected…a lot. There's an element of craziness to being an entrepreneur," she continues with a chuckle, "as well as an element of luck and an element of smarts. If you manage to bring them all togeth- er, you'll fnd success." Another key trait in fnding entrepreneurial success, Schwartz notes, is a willingness to deal with unknowns and take risks to get ahead. But, she quickly adds, the risks you take must be calculated ones. Although she acknowledges that apocryphal stories abound of the entrepreneur who risked it all and ultimately came out on top, she argues that, in real life, such scenarios are exceedingly rare. "You have to be insane to go into enemy territory without reinforcements," she wryly observes. Over the course of the past 25 years, Schwartz has rarely traveled with- out reinforcements. Instead, she has repeatedly opted to arm herself with the education and experience necessary to achieve her goals. "I'm always a bit surprised at the number of students I encounter who think that they'll earn their PhD and then just go out and build a company. I always advise them to get into the industry they're interested in and learn the business from the ground up. You can garner a great deal of experience on the job and you can learn valuable lessons from others'

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