What can you do with that PhD? 🤷♀️ Chapter #10
Interview with Rhea, a Clinical Scientist who found her sweet spot in Strategic Partnerships
Rhea’s journey from clinical development to strategic alliances reveals how operational acumen, cross-functional empathy, and a global mindset can turn scientific rigor into business transformation. In this chapter, we unpack her pivot from protocol writing to partnership brokering—how she leveraged her trial execution know-how, embraced business frameworks, and built trust across cultures to become a Principal Alliance Manager at a leading global pharma.
If you've ever sat in a study governance call thinking, "There has to be more than managing CRF updates", Rhea’s story is your north star. Her transition shows that forging billion-dollar partnerships isn’t just about contracts and KPIs—it’s about enabling innovation through relationship stewardship, scientific fluency, and aligned vision.
The Breaking Point: When Clinical Ops Was No Longer Enough
Rhea’s career began in the trenches of Phase II oncology trials. With a PhD in Pharmacology and six years coordinating clinical programs across Europe, she could navigate safety reviews and protocol amendments in her sleep. But something was missing.
Repetitive Scope: “I started to feel like I was copy-pasting timelines more than advancing science. The work was important, but reactive.”
Limited Strategic Influence: She was executing studies, but not shaping the science-industry ecosystem that brought those studies to life.
Global Curiosity: Rhea wanted to operate beyond trial sites—to engage with diagnostic developers, digital health partners, and biotech innovators shaping the pipeline upstream.
The final straw? A very important late-stage trial delay was caused by misalignment with a CRO partner, which was going to jeopardize her career. “That’s when I realized—if we’re going to accelerate access to novel therapies, we need people fluent in both science and partnerships.”
She set her sights on a new frontier: alliance management.
The Identity Shift: Becoming a Strategic Partner, Not Just an Operator
Transitioning to a Principal Alliance Manager role wasn’t about switching companies—it was about shifting mindset.
“Suddenly, I wasn’t judged on how many studies I closed, but on how effectively I could steward a multi-year, multi-million-dollar alliance,” she says. That shift brought new challenges:
Letting Go of Control: “In clinical ops, I owned timelines. In alliance management, success meant influencing without authority.”
Navigating Ambiguity: Each partner, from diagnostic start-ups to real-world evidence providers, had different cultures, priorities, and languages.
Learning the Business of Science: She upskilled fast, taking courses in contract law, corporate strategy, and even intercultural communication to build fluency with both internal stakeholders and external collaborators.
How Rhea Built the Bridge to Alliance Management
She didn’t just apply blindly. Rhea reverse-engineered her way in, deliberately crafting experiences that matched the role’s expectations:
Shadowing Alliance Leads: At her previous company, she asked to join quarterly business reviews and governance meetings between pharma and CRO partners.
Building Her Network: Rhea reached out to alliance managers at diagnostics firms, learning to talk “strategic objectives” instead of “study milestones.”
Telling the Right Story: On her résumé and in interviews, she translated her clinical ops wins into partnership metrics, highlighting vendor performance management, issue escalation protocols, and relationship continuity during team turnover.
Life as a Principal Alliance Manager: Challenges, Wins, and Purpose
Today, Rhea manages alliances with external innovation partners across oncology and precision medicine.
Her job? Ensuring that the science works, the business aligns, and the relationship thrives.
The Core of Her Work:
Partnership Governance: Running joint steering committees, aligning on shared KPIs, and navigating tension points with transparency.
Issue Mediation: Acting as the “translator” between internal R&D teams and partner companies to resolve data-sharing bottlenecks or IP concerns.
Strategic Expansion: Identifying where a successful pilot can become a broader collaboration—thinking not just operationally, but longitudinally.
What Lights Her Up:
“Watching a partnership I nurtured lead to a companion diagnostic approval? That’s impact at ecosystem scale.”
What Tests Her:
“When partners have conflicting goals, I have to channel both diplomat and scientist. It’s like couples therapy, but with regulatory implications.”
Lessons from Rhea’s Story
Build Your Strategic Muscles: Start with internal partnerships. Volunteer to manage an external vendor relationship or lead a contract renewal discussion to get comfortable with ambiguity and alignment.
Soft Skills Are Business Skills: Influencing without authority, resolving conflict, and articulating shared goals—these aren’t “nice-to-haves,” they’re your core deliverables.
Embrace Your Hybrid Identity: Rhea didn’t abandon her scientist roots—she expanded them. She’s still asking: How do we bring better therapies to patients faster? But now, she does it through the power of aligned partnerships.
Thinking of Alliance Management? Ask Yourself:
Where are you already influencing external partners, even informally?
Could you co-lead a pilot collaboration or coordinate a multi-stakeholder initiative?
Who at your organization currently manages partnerships—and could you shadow one governance call a month?
Until next time, fellow PhD leapers!
— Matteo