Anji Miller is Senior Partner for Academic Engagement at healthcare charity LifeArc. LifeArc help turn great research into real-world healthcare products – from bench to bedside.
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But the thing is, academia was, intellectual
Anji Miller:challenge, academic freedom.
Anji Miller:You do what you want, you publish, and then you've got someone
Anji Miller:else talking to you about, okay, intellectual property, patents, you
Anji Miller:don't disclose, and these terms that they're thinking like, what the hell?
Anji Miller:But I never had a mentor for myself until early this year.
Anji Miller:And it is fantastic.
Anji Miller:I've always advocated for it, but you help others and you just end
Anji Miller:up not having one for yourself.
Anji Miller:So regardless of socioeconomic background, your ethnic background,
Anji Miller:anything, gender, anything, it is where you have the opportunity to
Anji Miller:be the best version of yourself, and you are encouraged to do that.
Sarah McLusky:Hello there.
Sarah McLusky:I'm Sarah McLusky and this is Research Adjacent.
Sarah McLusky:Each episode I talk to amazing research adjacent professionals about what
Sarah McLusky:they do and why it makes a difference.
Sarah McLusky:Keep listening to find out why we think the research adjacent space
Sarah McLusky:is where the real magic happens.
Sarah McLusky:Hello there.
Sarah McLusky:I'm your host, Sarah McLusky, and I'm delighted to introduce you
Sarah McLusky:to my guest today, Anji Miller.
Sarah McLusky:Anji is senior partner for Academic Engagement at Tech
Sarah McLusky:Transfer Charity LifeArc.
Sarah McLusky:with the wonderfully concise tagline from bench to bedside LifeArc focus
Sarah McLusky:on helping turn great research into real world healthcare products.
Sarah McLusky:With a PhD in gene therapy and a master's in intellectual property
Sarah McLusky:law, Anji is perfectly placed for her role, which includes advising and
Sarah McLusky:training researchers on things like intellectual property and patents.
Sarah McLusky:Anji didn't have the smoothest start.
Sarah McLusky:Careers advisors and family members were bemused by her aspirations to
Sarah McLusky:become a scientist, but she persevered and found her stride at university.
Sarah McLusky:This experience has made her a passionate advocate for mentoring, EDI and STEM
Sarah McLusky:initiatives, meaning that the next generation will benefit from the role
Sarah McLusky:models and support that she lacked.
Sarah McLusky:We talk about self-belief even in the face of disappointments, making the
Sarah McLusky:most of opportunities and seeing the real world impact of her work, whether
Sarah McLusky:that's on patients or the researchers that she has trained and mentored.
Sarah McLusky:Listen on to hear Anji's story.
Sarah McLusky:Welcome along to the podcast, Anji, it is fantastic to meet you.
Sarah McLusky:I wonder if we could start by telling me and our guests a little bit
Sarah McLusky:about who you are and what you do.
Anji Miller:Okay.
Anji Miller:So I'm Anji Miller.
Anji Miller:My role, my current role, the title is Senior Partner for
Anji Miller:Academic Engagement at LifeArc.
Anji Miller:LifeArc is an independent UK-based healthcare charity that's just
Anji Miller:focused on getting great academic research from bench to bedside.
Anji Miller:So my role has transformed over the time.
Anji Miller:So my background is I'm trained as a scientist, so it is, and I,
Anji Miller:for a long time I was a scientist.
Anji Miller:And what I decided to do was use my scientific knowledge out of the lab.
Anji Miller:So I helped get innovation from bench to bedside.
Anji Miller:I'm that person that combines the IP aspect, the business aspect,
Anji Miller:that goes beyond the publications.
Anji Miller:So it is where I work at the intersection of industry, academia, but also over
Anji Miller:time, because I like working with others and I like sharing knowledge with others
Anji Miller:I also train others to do this as well.
Anji Miller:So it's quite a nice, it's a nice role.
Anji Miller:It's niche, but it, it's a nice role and it's impactful.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah, I bet it is impactful that, I love that story of from bench to
Sarah McLusky:bedside, that's just such a lovely kind of catchphrase encapsulates what you do.
Sarah McLusky:So you say your role is academic engagement.
Sarah McLusky:On a kind of day-to-day basis, what does that mean?
Sarah McLusky:What sorts of things are you doing?
Sarah McLusky:Who are you working with?
Anji Miller:Yeah, it varies a lot.
Anji Miller:A lot is working with, because I do a lot of the training and now really setting up
Anji Miller:programmmes and that's globally to ensure that basically innovations, technology,
Anji Miller:gets outta the lab and impacts society.
Anji Miller:It could vary from, for example, yesterday I was on a panel talking about
Anji Miller:STEM, talking about careers and the wide option that individuals who study
Anji Miller:science have and this was to encourage individuals of underrepresented groups.
Anji Miller:And, that was lovely.
Anji Miller:But also what I do is I'll be engaging with groups and really
Anji Miller:researchers from Sub-Sahara Africa through another fellowship.
Anji Miller:And it will be adding that translational piece so that they understand the
Anji Miller:business side of running their own group and their own project
Anji Miller:to ensure it gets beyond the lab.
Anji Miller:The currency of academia is publication.
Anji Miller:But you need, there's another side to really ensure that it truly is impactful.
Anji Miller:And that's that side really looking.
Anji Miller:Can I protect anything?
Anji Miller:Who can take it to market?
Anji Miller:And how can they do it?
Anji Miller:And how can I feed in?
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:And how do you go about finding these projects that you work on?
Sarah McLusky:Do you go out and find them or do they come to you?
Anji Miller:Most of the time it's where they come to me.
Anji Miller:And it, it is where they may be, it may be a programmme that LifeArc is
Anji Miller:a key player for, and it is where a key supporter of the programmme
Anji Miller:and there's that translational piece that needs to be brought in.
Anji Miller:So that's where they will come to our team and say, we want to ensure that
Anji Miller:these researchers understand how they can translate their science, but also
Anji Miller:having a look what infrastructure is required within wherever
Anji Miller:they are that, that supports it.
Anji Miller:So it is very much a collaborative aspect, but also a lot of the time it
Anji Miller:could be researchers who are looking and thinking, what do I do next?
Anji Miller:I'm here, I enjoy what I'm doing, but I want to have a look.
Anji Miller:How can my career move along or how can I feed into doing something to
Anji Miller:really ensure that those, those who need it, get the science that I have.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Anji Miller:And it could be talking about career paths.
Anji Miller:It could be talking about just skills.
Anji Miller:It could be just providing that additional voice that support, that
Anji Miller:mentorship that's required for someone to really explore their passions.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:And actually figure out, as you say, I think there's some people
Sarah McLusky:get into research because they just love the research and they
Sarah McLusky:love the kind of discovery of it.
Sarah McLusky:But some people very definitely go into research 'cause they think I want to help,
Anji Miller:Yes.
Sarah McLusky:With this medical condition, or, actually do something
Sarah McLusky:that makes a difference in the world.
Sarah McLusky:But that journey can be a real mental shift, can't it?
Sarah McLusky:To go from being in a university and maybe you're trying to get grants for funding
Sarah McLusky:and for research and things like that, to then suddenly producing something that you
Sarah McLusky:can get accredited and sell to customers.
Sarah McLusky:It's a real shift, isn't it?
Anji Miller:And I think life throws so many curve balls at you that you
Anji Miller:do change, you transform over time.
Anji Miller:And we live in a day and age where.
Anji Miller:A career is not just one thing and you do that one thing until you retire.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Anji Miller:You will mature and your skills will develop.
Anji Miller:We are living in day and age where, gene therapy, which is my
Anji Miller:background it was science fiction.
Anji Miller:Not that long ago.
Anji Miller:Now it's a reality, but we have to ensure that everyone can have access to it.
Anji Miller:So I think as individuals develop their career and they mature, they
Anji Miller:have different responsibilities.
Anji Miller:Their drivers and their passions shift slightly, they, things that
Anji Miller:happen and individuals impacted in different ways will really
Anji Miller:shape what their ambitions are.
Anji Miller:So sometimes they'll think okay, I'm really interested in this
Anji Miller:and I'd like to combine it with.
Anji Miller:Is that a thing?
Anji Miller:Half are quite scared to ask the question.
Anji Miller:Others are fearful on how everyone will perceive it.
Anji Miller:And what I do a lot of the time is help those individuals to
Anji Miller:realize it's not just a pipe dream.
Anji Miller:It's something that can become a reality.
Anji Miller:And just because you don't see it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Anji Miller:Or you shouldn't pave the way for it.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah, definitely helping people to just see the possibilities, I think
Sarah McLusky:so often as well, that, and just part of what this whole podcast is about is
Sarah McLusky:helping people to see the possibilities.
Sarah McLusky:Because particularly, you, when you're at school, it's really hard to
Sarah McLusky:know what's out there in the world.
Sarah McLusky:And then even when you go to university and you start to get a bit more of
Sarah McLusky:a sense, but it's still you're very much shaped by the people that you
Sarah McLusky:see, the role models that you see, the situations that you find yourself in.
Sarah McLusky:And so it can sometimes be really hard to conceive of something
Sarah McLusky:different and that's why that mentorship and advice is so valuable.
Anji Miller:Absolutely.
Anji Miller:And school visits are one of my favorites because children, there's no filter.
Anji Miller:You get you get everything raw, and they are clever.
Anji Miller:They feed in, they see every aspect.
Anji Miller:They tap into your passions.
Anji Miller:They can see that you are fired up when you're talking about whatever subject.
Anji Miller:But also they will come in and they will ask you the questions that
Anji Miller:even their colleagues didn't know that they were into this thing.
Anji Miller:They just wanna know because they, they're learning.
Anji Miller:This is when they absorb everything that you say.
Anji Miller:So when I go in, I usually have a rough idea of what I'm gonna talk about, but
Anji Miller:the minute I go in there and I start talking, I know that I'm gonna have
Anji Miller:questions coming from every direction.
Anji Miller:And it's fantastic because I know even from my experience, one good teacher
Anji Miller:can really set you on a path for life.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:And it really, or it can break you down.
Anji Miller:And you will have so many challenges that, it's in your head that they were
Anji Miller:told, you were told, you can never do this, or you are, that's not for you.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:Rather than go for it.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Anji Miller:And I think with young minds it's more of what you do and
Anji Miller:what they see than what you say.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:And so is that your story then?
Sarah McLusky:Was there a particular teacher that either encouraged you or perhaps
Anji Miller:Oh gosh,
Sarah McLusky:formed you in some other way?
Anji Miller:I, coming from first generation British Jamaican um,
Anji Miller:family, so I'm one, the first generation that was born in the uk.
Anji Miller:My parents, they were very big on education and it was
Anji Miller:where they just told me.
Anji Miller:Do not, never set a limit on your ambitions.
Anji Miller:So I, that was instilled in me and it was really where education is key.
Anji Miller:That was, and I still carry that.
Anji Miller:Education is key.
Anji Miller:But even when they, they would ask, and you get these aunts and uncles
Anji Miller:always asking, what do you want to do?
Anji Miller:What do you wanna be?
Anji Miller:And you say, scientists, you can see it clouds over where they're
Anji Miller:thinking scientists, that's not quite doctor, it's not quite lawyer and
Anji Miller:it, as it is with these backgrounds.
Anji Miller:But my parents always, don't set the, don't limit yourself.
Anji Miller:But I do remember, I, and this is why it's so important that we are very careful by
Anji Miller:what we say to our young minds around us.
Anji Miller:I do remember that when I mentioned that I wanted to be a scientist.
Anji Miller:I do remember like having.
Anji Miller:Like a careers teacher who was very dismissive about that ambition.
Anji Miller:And it was almost as though one, now when I look back, it was that this individual
Anji Miller:obviously didn't know anything about the career path, but also it, there was
Anji Miller:nothing supported, nothing encouraging.
Anji Miller:But I've spoken to so many.
Anji Miller:Since then, and they've had the same experience and decades
Anji Miller:younger than me, and they're still having those sort of experiences.
Anji Miller:For me it was really where I think I'm the type of person because I've had so
Anji Miller:many disappointments and knock backs.
Anji Miller:It really, it does hurt.
Anji Miller:And you do stay there nursing your wounds, but.
Anji Miller:It does also cause something in me to rise even stronger and even more determined
Anji Miller:to just, okay, this is what I'm going to do and I'm gonna find a way to do it.
Anji Miller:I don't care what this person said or what they think.
Anji Miller:I know what I want to do and I think it's best that I go down trying.
Anji Miller:Rather than sitting there thinking, okay.
Anji Miller:No don't go for it.
Anji Miller:And it's always in hindsight, people say that, oh, why did you choose this path?
Anji Miller:Why did you do these things?
Anji Miller:Sometimes it's really where you took the opportunities that were there at the time.
Anji Miller:It looks as though it's a carefully curated halfway, but it really was.
Anji Miller:You were in the position that those were the best options.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:So you made the most of them.
Anji Miller:They turned out to be the best options, but at the time you
Anji Miller:were really trying to navigate to whatever goal or whatever target.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:So I would encourage anyone, when you have your dreams and
Anji Miller:ambitions, don't hide them.
Anji Miller:But also when someone is not supportive.
Anji Miller:Do not take it personally, use that as the fuel to, to really carry on because
Anji Miller:you know yourself better than anyone else.
Anji Miller:And school, yes, you do spend most of your time there and you would hope the
Anji Miller:individuals in charge of you see that.
Anji Miller:But someone that you meet in a snapshot who's supposed to advise you on
Anji Miller:something that they're ill-informed on is not gonna give you the best advice.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:So it's really remembering that, and I think it's really.
Anji Miller:We should always encourage each other to, to really just try.
Anji Miller:Yeah, just go for it.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:And I think that's the message that I try to give to others.
Anji Miller:And I think one of the nicest things is when you see that you've spoken
Anji Miller:to someone and they really do take it on board and you see them soaring,
Anji Miller:you see them going from, one height to another, and they pay it forward
Anji Miller:because they remember the generosity that, the advice that you gave them.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:Absolutely.
Sarah McLusky:And I think that leads us really nicely onto the path that you took then.
Sarah McLusky:So you had this vision that maybe confused your family and the careers
Sarah McLusky:advisor was a bit like, okay.
Sarah McLusky:And you went and did it.
Sarah McLusky:Tell us a bit about how you did it, what the steps were.
Anji Miller:Yeah, the thing is, I loved school.
Anji Miller:I come from a big family, so I'm used to being around individuals and I, I.
Anji Miller:When I tell people this, they're quite surprised that I was painfully shy.
Anji Miller:And it is sometimes I do, I talk a lot, but the thing is
Anji Miller:sometimes I do go very quiet.
Anji Miller:I love studying other people . But I loved being at school.
Anji Miller:I loved learning from that early age, but also I enjoyed science.
Anji Miller:At school, I, I enjoyed the lessons and everything, but I think
Anji Miller:academically, when I look back the exams and how they, the exams were
Anji Miller:set were not the easiest things.
Anji Miller:I, when I really started to flourish was when I was at university.
Anji Miller:And I, my first degree is in applied biology and it was a modular degree and I
Anji Miller:remember thinking, wow, my parents were so happy 'cause I was going to university and
Anji Miller:this is something I'd been talking about all the time on track to be a scientist.
Anji Miller:And for them I think it was just really pleased that out of the kids, there's
Anji Miller:only two girls and there's six boys, and it is where the, I'm going to
Anji Miller:university and I'm gonna have a career.
Anji Miller:I, for me, it was really where I started to come alive.
Anji Miller:And I think it is where also I, that's when I started to have my own
Anji Miller:voice, because you have to speak out.
Anji Miller:There's no one else there talking for you, but I'm, I did an industrial
Anji Miller:year, so a year in industry.
Anji Miller:Six months in France and six months in Italy, and then working in the labs.
Anji Miller:And I found that I had a natural ability of working in the labs.
Anji Miller:I loved it.
Anji Miller:Designing my experiments, having a main hypothesis that you're going
Anji Miller:to prove and working towards that.
Anji Miller:I did amazingly and I came back with renewed energy for my final year,
Anji Miller:which I did very well in as well.
Anji Miller:But I also realized that I liked the molecular side of things.
Anji Miller:And I always, as a scientist, I wanted to, it was for me, the natural thing.
Anji Miller:I'm gonna complete a PhD, but I was very ambitious in knowing
Anji Miller:what I wanted it to be in.
Anji Miller:And that was in gene therapy.
Anji Miller:And at the time, gene therapy was very hot and you wouldn't
Anji Miller:have PhD placements or anything.
Anji Miller:So when I spoke to a lecturer, they did advise me and they said, this
Anji Miller:is great that you know that you have a strength for it, but apply for a
Anji Miller:master's as well as a backup, right?
Anji Miller:Just in case you need more time.
Anji Miller:And it worked out really well.
Anji Miller:Cut a long story short, it is where I did find a lab.
Anji Miller:We, and we applied for funding.
Anji Miller:And I managed to do my PhD in cancer gene therapy at Imperial, but I had to take
Anji Miller:a master's in human molecular genetics.
Anji Miller:During the time when I was looking and sending out and turning down.
Anji Miller:Also, at some point I did think, what was I doing?
Anji Miller:Turning down PhD offers.
Sarah McLusky:Wow.
Anji Miller:Because I was going for the subject that I wanted to, by the
Anji Miller:time I completed my PhD. I'd been in the lab for something like seven years.
Anji Miller:And I knew that I did not want to stay in the lab.
Anji Miller:I wanted to go further.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:And it was an exposure to some of the technology that was protected in the lab
Anji Miller:that I had, oh, what's this technology transfer innovation, what is that?
Anji Miller:Because I knew I wanted to use what I had.
Anji Miller:And continue building on it.
Anji Miller:And essentially that's what I did after three Degrees, I went back and did a
Anji Miller:Master's in intellectual property law.
Sarah McLusky:Oh goodness.
Anji Miller:And it was really one of the best things that I'd done that
Anji Miller:everyone thought I was crazy for.
Anji Miller:There was a laughter, there was a joke at home, the perpetual student.
Anji Miller:But the thing is, it was really where it was amazing to, to
Anji Miller:apply the way I approach things.
Anji Miller:Bring in that legal aspect and ever since then it's, I haven't looked back really.
Anji Miller:It's been working towards and roles involving, curating great translational
Anji Miller:research to really ensure that they move further along that development
Anji Miller:pathway to interventions that will be the next diagnostics and
Anji Miller:therapeutics that we have today.
Sarah McLusky:I can see why that combination of both the PhD in
Sarah McLusky:the biological side of things.
Sarah McLusky:Yes.
Sarah McLusky:And then the masters in the intellectual property would make you a very
Sarah McLusky:employable person in the knowledge transfer environment because certainly,
Sarah McLusky:although there's another podcast series that I do called Academic
Sarah McLusky:Adventures, and that's all about spin outs and startups and things like that.
Sarah McLusky:And this intellectual property thing Yes.
Sarah McLusky:Just comes up again and again.
Sarah McLusky:Yes.
Sarah McLusky:And again as one of the most challenging things about
Sarah McLusky:getting things up and running.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah, having that knowledge.
Anji Miller:It's almost as though it's seen as the arch enemy to publication.
Anji Miller:But you can have both.
Anji Miller:If the strategy and timing is right.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:So it, it does mean working very closely with the teams
Anji Miller:and really gaining that trust.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:So that they trust you, that yet they are gonna have that
Anji Miller:publication, which they need to have.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Anji Miller:But at the same time, for it to go further, you need to
Anji Miller:really protect whatever's there, the intellectual assets within that research.
Sarah McLusky:And you said, you mentioned back in the conversation when we were
Sarah McLusky:initially talking about helping to inspire people on their career journey.
Sarah McLusky:You spoke about the importance of mentoring.
Sarah McLusky:Is that something that has personally been important to you?
Anji Miller:This is the strange thing.
Anji Miller:Sometimes I'll do a, I'm on a panel and we're talking about different
Anji Miller:aspects, particularly women empowerment and things like that.
Anji Miller:And someone said is it okay if I have coffee and you end up really informally
Anji Miller:being a mentor for that person.
Anji Miller:And I have formally joined like some mentoring programmmes and
Anji Miller:one of the things I also run two fellowships, different types,
Anji Miller:but they have the same mission of individuals with STEM backgrounds
Anji Miller:to become innovation professionals.
Anji Miller:And one of the big USPs is that mentoring aspect to get the mind
Anji Miller:in the right shape and frame.
Anji Miller:But I never had a mentor for myself until early this year.
Anji Miller:And it is fantastic.
Anji Miller:I've always advocated for it, but you help others and you just end
Anji Miller:up not having one for yourself.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:And it was just something that I said, okay, this is one of the things that
Anji Miller:I'm gonna do for myself because I believe in lifelong learning, and I
Anji Miller:work in the innovation space where you have to keep abreast of everything.
Anji Miller:So one of the things I thought, okay, definitely.
Anji Miller:I want to have this for myself.
Anji Miller:And for me it was for a particular aspect to really feed in, in
Anji Miller:is the strategy and plan that I have the optimal one for myself.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:For others it will be where I'll bring in like a peer level
Anji Miller:mentor, someone who has a lived experience and has tread that path.
Anji Miller:And then I'll bring in someone who is an expert.
Anji Miller:To really get that knowledge about whatever ecosystem
Anji Miller:that person is working in.
Anji Miller:But I do believe in doing and doing that, and I think it's something
Anji Miller:that you can easily do within one conversation or an ongoing relationship.
Sarah McLusky:Yes.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:I think sometimes mentoring doesn't need to be a as structured or formal as
Sarah McLusky:perhaps we think it might be, but yeah.
Sarah McLusky:That's interesting that you've not had one yourself until this year, is it?
Sarah McLusky:I know.
Sarah McLusky:Was it just,
Anji Miller:it's strange
Sarah McLusky:it not finding quite the right person or,
Anji Miller:I think it was, at first, it was something that I just didn't
Anji Miller:even think about because I knew that to fulfill my role, this is what this
Anji Miller:person needs, and my focus was on that.
Anji Miller:It was only after a while thinking.
Anji Miller:I could do with one.
Anji Miller:And then it was the difficulty, how do you select the mentor and it, I believe
Anji Miller:that it's not gonna be a mentor for life, although some relationships are like that.
Anji Miller:A lot of the time it's that stage that you're in, that phase.
Anji Miller:Or that particular need.
Anji Miller:And I think it's different for each person.
Anji Miller:The plan is gonna be very different for each person, but also the personalities.
Anji Miller:For me I'm very outspoken and it is where, someone who is not going to accept
Anji Miller:being questioned or why do you say that?
Anji Miller:Or wanting to know more.
Anji Miller:It's really, they're gonna feel as though I'm trying to pull things that they
Anji Miller:probably feel uncomfortable telling me, but as a mentor, I hope that they would.
Sarah McLusky:Yes.
Sarah McLusky:That's what you want.
Sarah McLusky:You want a little bit of, maybe not brutal honesty, but
Sarah McLusky:definitely honesty from a mentor,
Anji Miller:because when I do and also it's not that they're gonna
Anji Miller:tell you what to do, but they're gonna open your mind so you think
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Anji Miller:And make your own choice.
Anji Miller:And I think that's the important thing.
Anji Miller:So even when I'm preparing someone for.
Anji Miller:They're gonna have a mentor and they've never had one.
Anji Miller:It is where I will outline and give them an idea and let them
Anji Miller:know that this is a guide.
Anji Miller:What you need is gonna be individual to you.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Anji Miller:So you work on that relationship and you hopefully
Anji Miller:it will work out, but if not.
Anji Miller:Let me know and maybe that needs to be a change.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah, definitely.
Sarah McLusky:It sounds from the way you've been speaking, it sounds like the point
Sarah McLusky:you're at now that relationships are almost more important in the work that
Sarah McLusky:you do now than the actual science.
Sarah McLusky:Would that be a fair thing to say?
Anji Miller:It's not more important than, but they do go hand in hand.
Anji Miller:And I think even to be an really, a good innovation professional, you will have
Anji Miller:to have good relationships because you have to gain the trust of the researcher.
Anji Miller:And in academia, there's a passion to that work that someone could be working
Anji Miller:on that, that, that area for decades.
Anji Miller:Why would they trust you with this, talking about this aspect
Anji Miller:that, the structure is not quite fluid with regards to innovation.
Anji Miller:It's changing now, but the thing is, academia was, intellectual
Anji Miller:challenge, academic freedom.
Anji Miller:You do what you want, you publish, and then you've got someone
Anji Miller:else talking to you about, okay, intellectual property, patents, you
Anji Miller:don't disclose, and these terms that they're thinking like, what the hell?
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:So you do have to have the relationship so that can happen, but
Anji Miller:also when you're training someone to, to really be able to do this.
Anji Miller:You have to be able to tap into who they are, so you have to be able
Anji Miller:to communicate and also the needs.
Anji Miller:I, I advocate a lot, whether it's for EDI or the profession, you
Anji Miller:have to be able to communicate.
Anji Miller:So it does change it slightly where you are not as hands-on as you were before
Anji Miller:with being there and dealing with all the science, but you still have to
Anji Miller:understand the science and you still have to under understand the needs.
Anji Miller:So it, it really does start rolling in and as more things come in that
Anji Miller:you're rolling into your role it does dilute each aspect because
Anji Miller:it's a combination of those things.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:I wonder, it'd be lovely to hear about maybe one or two examples of projects
Sarah McLusky:that you've worked on, in, in so much as, like you say, in intellectual
Sarah McLusky:property, confidentiality in so much as you're able to say publicly.
Sarah McLusky:But yeah, some things that really stand out.
Anji Miller:There are, I've worked with amazing scientists.
Anji Miller:Some were really well known.
Anji Miller:Others in their sector, they are a amazing, they're the top dog,
Anji Miller:but also amazing individuals.
Anji Miller:And.
Anji Miller:Those are the ones that really stand out the most because there's your job
Anji Miller:and then that there's that extra piece.
Anji Miller:And I, that's that relationship piece where they will say to you, Anji,
Anji Miller:I'm thinking about blah, blah, blah.
Anji Miller:And it's yeah, let's do it.
Anji Miller:Let's make it happen.
Anji Miller:I remember one of my first roles and that was at St. George's.
Anji Miller:And it's a hospital medical school, and because it's a hospital medical school,
Anji Miller:you get great translational research.
Anji Miller:You've got the clinical aspect, and it is really where it's
Anji Miller:moving away from the bench.
Anji Miller:It's really getting to the patients, whether that's through
Anji Miller:clinical trials or whatever.
Anji Miller:And one of them was a really big consortium, and it was funded by some
Anji Miller:of the top funders, but also one of the leading researchers in that area.
Anji Miller:And I remember when I got this role, it was where they said, personally when
Anji Miller:the director who interviewed me, she was like, it's gonna be really challenging,
Anji Miller:are you sure you want a challenge?
Anji Miller:And I said, yes.
Anji Miller:Tell me about it.
Anji Miller:Because she was really afraid that I was gonna run away from it.
Anji Miller:It ended up being one of the most enjoyable things that I've done because
Anji Miller:it was, I think, enjoyable because the researcher who I was working with was
Anji Miller:such a humble person, but an amazing mind.
Anji Miller:But what he was doing was gonna impact really, not just the global north, but
Anji Miller:definitely the globe and everyone else in those areas that are underrepresented.
Anji Miller:And there was a need that surpasses anything else.
Anji Miller:And for me it meant also applying everything.
Anji Miller:So I was negotiating agreements, working with external partners,
Anji Miller:industry and academia, and then also really outlining, okay, this
Anji Miller:is how we're gonna work together.
Anji Miller:It was a massive project.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Anji Miller:But it was amazing because it was the first time.
Anji Miller:That I really could flex the combination of skills that I put together at
Anji Miller:that time and know that it was gonna lead to something really impactful.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Anji Miller:Other projects that come to mind, it's like even at LifeArc, dealing
Anji Miller:with some of the tech because we work with and we support conditions to really
Anji Miller:treating and addressing unmet healthcare needs in the rare disease space.
Anji Miller:So these are populations that are not attractive because it's
Anji Miller:a smaller market, small number.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:A lot of the time to industry.
Anji Miller:Where you can see and you understand the real needs, and you work with clinicians
Anji Miller:who have clinics, so they see the patients on a daily basis, and you're moving that
Anji Miller:technology closer to being something that's gonna be available as a treatment
Anji Miller:That is hugely impactful because you can see the difference that you make
Anji Miller:because for me, it's also talking about it and advocating for that disease area.
Anji Miller:So it means if it may lead to more funding, it may highlight it so it's
Anji Miller:more attractive for others to, to work in, but also the amazing work
Anji Miller:that's being done by that group, that small community addressing it.
Anji Miller:I think also it brings hope to the patient group.
Anji Miller:Yeah, the patient voice is really important and it's something that
Anji Miller:through my role, you get close to that.
Anji Miller:And understanding really what it's like for a family it's, it's devastating,
Anji Miller:but what they have to go through.
Anji Miller:But you want them to know there's hope.
Anji Miller:There are Yes.
Anji Miller:Individuals working to really make sure that hopefully in, in time there will be
Anji Miller:a treatment or may possibly a cure for whatever they're they are going through.
Anji Miller:I think the last one in the most recent.
Anji Miller:I say most recent is 'cause I still do it and it is, I talked about my
Anji Miller:career journey from going from bench to using my science outside of the
Anji Miller:bench when I just started and I started advocating for it over a decade ago.
Anji Miller:But it is where there's no clear path for someone who wants to do
Anji Miller:this and also it's not well known.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:That you can, as a STEM graduate, you have plethora of roles that you can go into.
Anji Miller:So me with my big mouth is yeah, I think we need to have something.
Anji Miller:And luckily I was working with someone who was like, okay, let's, what we
Anji Miller:gonna do what we gonna, and I designed the fellowship and it was the first
Anji Miller:one of the two that I run also.
Anji Miller:And it was for individuals with a STEM background who enjoy science
Anji Miller:and are passionate about it.
Anji Miller:They wanted to be scientists for a reason and regardless of how much
Anji Miller:experience they have it is that they want to pivot and help get that technology
Anji Miller:really to be becoming something that's gonna have real world impact.
Anji Miller:And it means bringing in that business and legal.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:And all those professional transferable skills that are required in that space.
Anji Miller:And you do this through a year.
Anji Miller:But I work with partners in the sector to deliver this programmme, and now it's
Anji Miller:over nine years and seeing the individuals and it's one, one of them, the very
Anji Miller:first one is open to everyone in Europe, but seeing the individuals forge their
Anji Miller:careers and, they have, particularly in some of the spaces, it's the first
Anji Miller:innovation office that's gonna be set up.
Anji Miller:That's gonna address anything like that.
Anji Miller:It is something that, you know when you're thinking Yes.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:I wasn't crazy.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:And sometimes, there's,
Anji Miller:there is something that can come out of someone just saying,
Anji Miller:okay, how is it gonna be?
Anji Miller:How are you gonna do it?
Anji Miller:And it does mean that you put a lot of work into it because for a long time it
Anji Miller:was something in addition to my main role.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:Now, luckily it's part of my main role.
Anji Miller:It's, yes.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Anji Miller:But it is something that I am hugely proud of because it will go on.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:And individuals, the it's over, it's a hundred and something fellows on last
Anji Miller:count, and they tap in and they feed into that programmme as peer mentors alongside
Anji Miller:the expert mentors that I mentioned.
Anji Miller:And it, it is something that.
Anji Miller:When you're thinking, okay, I if this was my last day, I know that it's
Anji Miller:something that I would look on and say, I'm very glad that I did that.
Anji Miller:They did that.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:That's a lovely thing to be able to have in your portfolio
Sarah McLusky:of things that you've done.
Sarah McLusky:I do like to ask all of my guests on the podcast, if they had a
Sarah McLusky:magic wand, what would change about the world that they work in.
Sarah McLusky:If money and time was no object.
Anji Miller:There's so many things.
Anji Miller:I think because it's at the crux and from my lived experience, the
Anji Miller:challenges that I faced in even trying to forge my own career as a black
Anji Miller:female scientist, it's not been easy.
Anji Miller:Particularly, you wanna step out and do something that when you're
Anji Miller:describing the career, people looking at you, one half of them don't know
Anji Miller:what it is and others are looking at you thinking really, they doubt it.
Anji Miller:I think it would be that
Anji Miller:we would live in a world where it's inclusive and rather than inclusivity
Anji Miller:just being something that is, it's really an act that you do, it falls in
Anji Miller:part in really as part of everyday life.
Anji Miller:It's, yeah, really, truly it would be.
Anji Miller:So regardless of socioeconomic background, your ethnic background,
Anji Miller:anything, gender, anything, it is where you have the opportunity to
Anji Miller:be the best version of yourself, and you are encouraged to do that.
Anji Miller:And it would mean that.
Anji Miller:You would have, you wouldn't have rare conditions.
Anji Miller:No one is interested in it or, no one's even thinking, okay,
Anji Miller:what about this population?
Anji Miller:You would have individuals globally being able to become skilled and change
Anji Miller:the world that they, they come from or they live in or they care about.
Anji Miller:I think it would be ultimately a world where I wouldn't need the wand.
Anji Miller:Yes.
Anji Miller:Because it is where, or I'd use it on something else.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:Because it would be fair.
Anji Miller:It would be equitable.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Anji Miller:And I think, in my world I see everyone.
Anji Miller:I see the good in everyone, and I'll try and bring that out and I'll
Anji Miller:try and really encourage them to take, to adopt that, that mentality.
Anji Miller:And it's really where they adopt.
Anji Miller:And when I talk to the young minds like my daughter, she knows
Anji Miller:that I'm a staunch EDI advocate.
Anji Miller:But the thing is also it's not just what I say, it's what I do.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:And.
Anji Miller:I'd like to a world where everyone just has that one thing.
Anji Miller:And I think it would change so many things.
Sarah McLusky:I think it really would, wouldn't it?
Sarah McLusky:And that is an amazing vision.
Sarah McLusky:I think perhaps to leave our conversation on that that world vision.
Sarah McLusky:If anybody wants to find out more about the work that you do, get in touch with
Sarah McLusky:you, where is the best place to find you?
Anji Miller:Oh, they can find me on the LifeArc website.
Anji Miller:But also LinkedIn.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:It's, that's my Rolodex.
Anji Miller:It's, it is where, and a lot of the time, messages and whatever,
Anji Miller:and also to see what I do.
Anji Miller:Yeah.
Anji Miller:They can see for themselves.
Anji Miller:But, yeah, hopefully I encourage someone somewhere.
Sarah McLusky:Yes.
Sarah McLusky:Yeah.
Sarah McLusky:No, I hope so too.
Sarah McLusky:I'm sure lots of people will be inspired by your story thank you
Sarah McLusky:so much for taking the time to come along and tell us all about it.
Sarah McLusky:It's been fantastic.
Anji Miller:No, thank you for inviting me.
Sarah McLusky:Thanks for listening to Research Adjacent.
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Sarah McLusky:You can also find all the links and other episodes at www.researchadjacent.com.
Sarah McLusky:Research Adjacent is presented and produced by Sarah McLusky,
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Sarah McLusky:And you, yes you, get a big gold star for listening right to the end.
Sarah McLusky:See you next time.