Great Research Careers Can Start in the Midwest

Charles River’s College Outreach Program allows Ohio college students a chance to explore career opportunities right in their backyard.

It’s no secret that undergraduate/graduate students, post-docs, and newly minted veterinarians are often advised to leave Ohio and head to the West Coast or Boston if they want a career in pharmaceutical science. But must they?

Sure, San Diego and San Francisco have an abundance of great drug development companies, from startups to large pharma, and Boston boasts academic powerhouses and pharmaceutical companies alike. But you might also be surprised to find how much cutting-edge science can be found throughout the Buckeye State—particularly along the busy I-71 corridor connecting Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland. Students wishing to stay loyal to their Midwestern roots don’t have to choose between where they want to live and where they can work.

When we were students, no one mentioned the prospect of working for a contract research organization as a career option – even though we had a large global CRO practically at our doorstep. Charles River Laboratories, where we all landed, is involved in virtually every stage of preclinical drug development and every disease area, from rare disease drugs to life-saving vaccines and cell and gene therapies. Yet graduates from Ohio’s many undergraduate and graduate programs, medical schools, and veterinary schools rarely know CRL even exists unless they have mentors who happen to mention it.

This knowledge gap, combined with a desire to restart university outreach initiatives that had been abandoned during the COVID-19 pandemic, propelled the three of us to launch the College Outreach Program as a pathway to help students learn about Charles River Laboratories. We are obviously proud of our institution, but we also know that for our company to keep growing, we need to keep recruiting university-trained talent.

This operation started small. In the spring of 2021, with graduations approaching, we partnered with two local colleges, Ashland University and the College of Wooster, and connected a handful of our CRL scientists with science majors from these two academic institutions to chat about career opportunities.

Fast-forward to 2024. The Program has expanded to 16 college campuses and includes 35 employees who have provided connections to college faculty, typically from their alma maters. Our roles as coordinators are to introduce the College Outreach Program to college representatives. If the college is interested in having Charles River come on campus, a date and time are determined that works best for all, and appropriate communication emails are sent to CRL employees to recruit for the event. 

The on-campus visit includes a 30-minute introductory presentation and a panel discussion with scientists from different disciplines. Students also have the opportunity to schedule follow-up meetings with any of the scientists.
Another reason we think this program is important is because students may not consider contract research as a potential career option after they graduate. Students searching for a career in Animal Sciences or Laboratory Sciences, for instance, often believe they must continue onto graduate school or work for a large pharmaceutical or nutritional company. They do not realize there are careers available to them right in Ashland, Ohio, as a potential analytical chemist, immunologist, toxicologist, animal technician, or necropsy technician, just to name a few. The scientists also help to clarify misconceptions and biases regarding working with animals in a research environment.

Finally, students are informed of how starting their career at the Ashland facility can mean opening doors to new roles and places – starting in Ohio means potentially finding a career opportunity at one of the other 110+ different CRL sites in 25+ different countries. Even if students do not decide to pursue a career in research, they are educated about the important work done by CROs and hopefully find a newfound appreciation for the work we do.

Liz Golias, Technical Operations Manager and Geoff Clay, Associate Director of Analytical Chemistry, also contributed to this article. If you would like information about the College Outreach Program, contact them at [email protected].