One of the skills I think we don’t talk about enough in science is communication. This is especially so for organic chemistry where the reaction schemes we are all so familiar with are effectively hieroglyphics to those outside of our field of expertise.
I was reminded of this reading a recent ACS Central Science interview with Dani Schultz and LC Campeau from Merck, who host the Pharm to Table podcast—a platform created to help the wider public hear the stories about the people behind the chemistry and science that happens in the chemistry team Merck & Co in the USA.
A major takeaway for me is that great chemistry only has impact if people can understand it, trust it, and use it. Whether that’s through a paper, a talk, or a podcast, we should always be thinking about how to reach a wider audience and explain our work in a way that’s relevant beyond our immediate circle. I remember late in my corporate career having to give a 10-minute presentation to a general audience where I could not show full chemical structures. Beforehand I was terrified that nobody would understand the technical value of the work, but afterwards I got more questions and complements than I had ever received before from experts outside of chemistry who said they finally understood the wider value of the work the team had done.
The article also strongly reinforces something I’ve seen time and again: collaboration is a key driver of success. Reaching out to others working on related problems – even if they don’t have the exact solution you nee, can spark ideas that simply wouldn’t emerge in isolation. Many of the most useful innovations come from that shared problem‑solving space between academia and industry, or different chemistry (or scientific) functions within a company.
Finally, Pharm to Table strikes me as a fantastic resource for anyone considering industrial process chemistry. By openly discussing what the job actually involves, from technical constraints to career paths, it offers a practical view that many students and early‑career scientists rarely get.
Well worth a read and a listen.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acscentsci.6c00691
