Alumni Profiles Series: Devin Bridgen

Devin Bridgen received his bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering at Cornell University and his Ph.D. through Duke University’s Biomedical Engineering Department under the guidance of Lori Setton. Prior to his Ph.D., he pursued a role as a research and development engineer at Sadra Medical (acquired by Boston Scientific) and he was a Whitaker International Fellow at the University Hospital of Basel. After Duke, Devin continued his career as a research scientist at SQZ Biotechnologies, an early-stage biotechnology company creating cell therapies. He pivoted into a role as senior manager and associate director of business strategy at SQZ, followed by a position as director of exploratory research. Since 2023, he has served as the senior director of preclinical and translational research at Tabby Therapeutics.

Tell me a bit about your journey since leaving Duke.

I completed my Ph.D. at Duke in biomedical engineering, with a focus in tissue engineering. I knew going into my Ph.D. that I wanted to pursue a career in industry because I enjoy taking an early-stage technology and translating it into a product that can help people. As I was wrapping up my Ph.D., I was looking for opportunities within industry that would be the best fit for me. At the time there weren’t many tissue engineering companies, but there were cell therapy companies in the immunology space. I reached out to a few, with a focus on early-stage series A and series B companies and ultimately found a good match at my first company.

During my time at Duke, I was intrigued by the idea of business development and took a few classes through Fuqua. My first role following Duke had an external partnership element to it, so I got a taste for some of the roles that are typical for business development. I ended up switching over to business development and corporate strategy for two to three years partway through my time at that company. While I enjoyed and valued business development, I find that I am excited being directly tied to the science, and since then have taken on roles leading teams of scientists.

Describe your current role.

About a year and a half ago, I started a new role at a very early-stage company. My official title is Senior Director of Research at Tabby Therapeutics, a company that was spun out from an international academic group. My main role is to lead the research efforts, but because it is a very small company with just six full-time employees, I end up wearing multiple hats, whether that be external communications, human resources, or IT roles.

Image

How did you know that moving into industry was something you wanted to do?

One thing that helped was taking two years in between completing my undergraduate degree and initiating my Ph.D. degree. I spent one year working in industry at a relatively small, early-stage startup in medical devices. I enjoyed the fast-paced environment and thinking about not only science, but the things that make a product successful and helpful to people. I spent my second year doing a fellowship abroad, which despite being in an academic setting was able to give me a taste for a different avenue. Overall, I was drawn to the pace and the translatability of industry work and have continued there since.

Were there experiences during your graduate training that you find important for your professional journey now?

Your network matters a lot. So many people at Duke go on to do interesting things, and it’s worthwhile forming friendships with people not only in your lab, but outside of it. At Duke, I was a part of both the Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG) and the Engineering Graduate Student Council (EGSC). Aside from those, I also was an usher at the Duke basketball games. While those activities are certainly not academically necessary by any means, I formed a lot of friendships that I carry around to this day.

Any advice for graduate students who aspire to careers in industry?

For myself and many others, it’s hard to know what industry really looks like from the student perspective. Graduate students may not get exposure to what a certain type of position actually does or what a certain title means. One piece of advice I have is that it’s worthwhile to reach out within your network. If you think that, for example, you might work at a startup, start reaching out to people working there. Not only might you form a relationship and learn a few things along the way, but you may even end up working at that company. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people and have a genuine conversation along the way.

Another piece of advice is to know how to speak about your research from a practical standpoint. Thinking about why your research matters, why could it matter, and what is the bigger picture is important to communicate. Being able to speak about your science with others on a high level is essential to getting others excited about what you do.

---

Image

Author

Anicka AbiChedid
Ph.D. student, Cell and Molecular Biology

Anicka AbiChedid is a Ph.D. student in cell and molecular biology at Duke University’s School of Medicine. She recently began her thesis work in the laboratory of Dr. Christopher Counter where she uses ultra-sensitive sequencing methods to explore the origins of cancer-causing mutations. Anicka is passionate about improving treatment approaches in the clinic and working toward making science more accessible to the public.