When Jeff Nathan (BA 2013, MCB) received his undergraduate degree with a concentration in immunology and pathogenesis, he assumed he’d pursue a predictable path in research or medicine. A decade later, he’s carved out a very different kind of career for himself: as an acquisition professional for the U.S. Department of Defense.
Nathan currently serves as an assistant program manager for the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. The office develops, procures, and fields sensors, protective garments, decontamination equipment, and medical countermeasures to warn of and defend against chemical or biological weapons.
Such a position wasn’t even on Nathan’s radar as a new MCB graduate; he was still planning to go into research. But a short stint at a firm that supplied scientific instrumentation and software services left him wanting more than a career in the lab. His work performing protocols for kidney and liver transplant diagnostics, where every day looked much the same, became a bit monotonous. When, by chance, he overheard someone mention a graduate program to study biohazardous threat agents, his antennae went up.
Read about Jeff Nathan's unique career trajectory at the link below.