Meet our inspiring alumni
Meet Bonnie
Bonnie was really curious about research – especially cancer research - and the intersection of business and science. This led her to study a Master of Biomedical Science where she did the enterprise major and undertook her research project at the leading Australian oncology research institute, the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
“My project gave me hands-on in-depth experience and exposure of academia and how the research world functions. I worked on pre-clinical models, small molecule drug development, animal studies and patient studies (oesophageal cancer patients). I loved that I could contribute to research in such a real sense and collaborate on projects.”
Bonnie says her Masters degree was an eye opener.
I thought I would do my Masters, a PhD and then stay in academia for the rest of my life but I was exposed to a whole new world of science commercialisation that I knew nothing about. I fell in love with it and found something I was truly passionate about.
Giving her the opportunity to work out what she wanted to do next – the Masters opened the door of opportunity into her current role as Program Manager at Translating Research At Melbourne (TRAM).
“I wouldn’t have the job I do now if I didn’t do my Masters. It gave me exposure and skillset for research and the commercialisation side. Now I work with researchers at TRAM to guide them on their research impact journey and it’s so helpful to have been research to deeply understand the perspective of a researcher," says Bonnie.