Typical Day
Roxie McToxie is at the lab by 9:00AM. She works on the toxicology team at a biopharmaceutical company. The company researches, creates, and commercializes products for degenerative eye disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and various kinds of cancer. Technically, though, Roxie works in the Department of Nonclinical Safety Assessment within the Division of Toxicology/Pathology. It's a bit of a mouthful, so with new acquaintances, Roxie usually just says she works at a biopharmaceutical company.
When she arrives at her office, Roxie drops her briefcase on the floor and fires up her computer. She's got fifteen minutes before her first meeting of the day, so she takes some time to review the presentation she's about to give.
Roxie's presentation focuses on a newly launched development project for an anti-melanoma drug that was recently revised in accordance to GLP regulations. (That's "Good Laboratory Practice" regulations, for those outside the field.) As the project's associate director, Roxie's no stranger to giving talks in front of large groups of people.
Roxie wraps up her presentation around 11:00AM, and has an hour before going to lunch (technically a business meeting, but she'll try to enjoy her turkey sandwich nonetheless). Unable to get lab work done in an hour, Roxie kills time by reviewing any recent changes to regulatory guidance.
Generally, that means double-checking ICH, FDA, EMA, and, of course, GLP standards. Needless to say, Roxie's got her acronyms on lockdown.
As Roxie sits in her office, she takes a second to look around. Generally, when she tells people she's a toxicologist, they think of some sexy TV forensic scientist working with the CIA to discover the specific drug involved in some rock star's tragic and untimely death. But in real life, Roxie's life is far from glamorous.
When she was first starting her career, she wanted to be a clinical toxicologist, working directly with patients at a hospital and helping them recuperate from their illnesses. One fellowship in, however, Roxie realized it was just too heartbreaking for her to watch as patient after patient failed to recover. She needed a change, so she turned to a life of research and transitioned to lab work.
Today, though, Roxie doesn't do much of the lab work herself. That's what the younger interns, fellows, and postdoctoral fellows are there for. As the assistant director, Roxie focuses on overseeing various drug development programs from early research to clinical trials to registration with the FDA.
When the product is developed and ready for the market, Roxie and her team—well, mostly just Roxie—distill the information into laymen terms that clinicians and regulatory agencies will be able to understand.
Her "lunch" meeting with the Medical/Clinical teams runs long, and before she knows it, it's 2:00PM. Roxie dashes back to her office, where she needs to meet with her own team for their daily 3:00PM meeting.
First item on today's agenda: congratulating Brenda, the postdoctoral fellow, on the announcement of her pregnancy. Roxie's happy for Brenda, but the thought of losing her to maternity leave and having to replace her with another staff toxicologist stresses Roxie out.
Once the congratulations are out of the way, Roxie moves onto the more important topic at hand: an update on the new testicular cancer drug they've been working on for the past year. Her team informs her that they're about to move into a new phase of the project and begin testing on mice.
"Great," says Roxie. "Have you started any of the actual testing yet? Any data?"
"Nothing yet. No change in vitals, no change in any measure across the board. We're continuing to monitor toxicity levels in urine and blood samples."
"Alright, keep me updated."
With a brisk nod and a peek at the clock (4:30PM already?), Roxie indicates that the meeting has concluded. The team files out of her office, donning their white lab coats, and returning, presumably, to the lab.
Roxie turns to her computer, as she has to finish up a toxicology report that needs to be sent to her boss. A weekly report needs to go to headquarters, and the director insists she send it in by 5:00PM every Thursday.
Roxie submits the report at 5:12PM—it's late only because she had to verify a couple of numbers with her team. With the report out of the way, Roxie heaves a sigh. Cracking her knuckles, she pushes back from her desk and begins packing up her things.
She could stay all night if she wanted to. For a toxicologist, there's always another test to run and another result to verify. But with a steady stream of employees filing past her office window, Roxie decides to call it a day. It's rush hour and she knows she's in for some heavy traffic on the way home, but she's happy to get out while the sun's still up.
Her mind starts to wander as she's sitting in what looks to be an endless traffic jam. The car next to her is clearly overdue for a smog check, and Roxie watches as toxic fumes come pouring out of the exhaust pipe. Not willing to take any chances, Roxie rolls up her windows and makes a mental note to start doing some off-the-clock research into buying a more eco-friendly car.