Member SpotlightsTesting New Drugs in the Field: From the Research Bench to the Clinical Trial Sena Garber, B.S., MT/ASCP A Member Since 2002 Sena Garber had a long and impressive track record as a Medical Technologist before becoming a research scientist and finally switching careers to become a clinical research scientist at AstraZeneca, LP. During the early years of her career, she worked in a variety of hospitals and private clinical laboratories around the country, mostly in microbiology departments. She also obtained significant experience as a generalist performing blood banking, hematology, serology and paternity testing. Her propensity for being on the cutting edge continued after she was hired by DuPont Pharmaceuticals Company to work on setting up and conducting their human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) research program. She and a coworker developed a HIV plaque assay used to screen promising new drug compounds. She was one of the first techs to work on the company's blockbuster drug, Sustiva (also known as efavirenz), which is part of an anti-HIV drug class called non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs). Like other drugs for HIV, Sustiva works by impairing the virus's ability to multiply. A large part of Ms. Garber's career at Dupont Pharmaceuticals focused on HIV resistance. Her research included working with clinical samples as well as lab strains and mutants that were selected during this research. The mutants were used as a panel that was developed to test all new drug candidates. Ms. Garber reflects back on that time as a heady mix of extreme caution and intense excitement. She had complete trust in her and her coworkers’ abilities to secure and maintain an uncontaminated workspace based on many years of experience working with infectious agents in clinical microbiology laboratories. In fact, their work ethic was held up as a model for safe laboratory practices. The drug screens they conducted helped dictate which drugs DuPont Pharmaceuticals would plan on testing in future clinical trials. While surrounded by a cocoon of scientific intensity at work, she was often subject to remote wariness by people at social gatherings who asked what she did for a living. “When I told people I worked on HIV research, they would involuntarily take three steps back, ” Garber recalls. In 2001, Bristol-Myers Squibb bought DuPont Pharmaceuticals and acquired Sustiva as well as a pipeline of new AIDS drugs. As a result of the merger, and because Ms. Garber wanted to advance into a position that would combine her love of both basic pharmaceutical research and clinical work as a practicing Medical Technologist, she accepted her current position as a Clinical Research Scientist in Experimental Medicine at AstraZeneca in April, 2002. Her department is focused on Clinical Pharmacology and Phase I Clinical Trials. Experimental Medicine encompasses work in all therapeutic areas of the company, which includes brand products that focus on Gastrointestinal, Cardiovascular, Central Nervous System, Oncology and Respiratory and Pain and Inflammation products. Ms. Garber uses her expertise to help design clinical trials, which includes developing protocols, selecting trial sites, monitoring the safety of ongoing trials, closing down trials, analyzing data and assisting in writing clinical study reports. She finds her new job very rewarding and feels that this position has given her the opportunity to utilize both clinical laboratory and research laboratory skills. She has become the laboratory resource person in her group. AstraZeneca is committed to offering its employees educational and training resources and Ms. Garber has availed herself of these opportunities to assist her with her new responsibilities. After a thirty-year career in basic research and clinical laboratory positions, Ms. Garber feels fortunate to be part of a profession that allows her to continue learning while at the same time helping others lead healthier lives. Her free time is devoted to participating in a reading group, aerobic dance, volunteering with her daughter's Color Guard and supporting Hadassah. In addition Ms. Garber has participated for the past 5 years in Engineering Your Tomorrow, a program that is run in conjunction with the Girl Scouts to teach girls in grades 6-8 about careers in science and engineering. ### << Previous Next >> [ View All Member Spotlights ] |
|
