It’s Up and Atom for Young Chemist
Versana Wilson prepared for her high-tech career in chemistry the same way she now carries out her experiments: with intense focus and meticulous attention to detail.
At 24, Wilson has already packed her resume with enough lab experience to put her on the fast track as a research scientist in the pharmaceutical industry--one of California’s major growth fields, according to the state’s Trade and Commerce Agency.
A self-proclaimed perfectionist with an analytical mind, Wilson seems to have found the perfect career. “Imagine [making] a molecule that’s never been made before. Nothing about it has ever been published, and you’re making it,” she said. “Well, I’ve done that, and that’s what drew me into this area when I was in college.”
Now, only 18 months out of UC Irvine, with a double major in biology and chemistry, Wilson is up to the elbows of her white lab coat in the development of generic drugs at McGaw Inc., an Irvine-based producer of intravenous solutions and medical products.
She says she relishes her work, where she operates state-of-the-art instruments--such as the mass spectrometer, used to determine the characteristics of unknown atoms and molecules--in a quest to discover and then replicate the ingredients of name-brand products.
Wilson began honing her competitive edge in college, where she eschewed burger flipping for more relevant jobs.
She spent a year preparing solutions and samples in the chemistry department stockroom for students’ lab experiments. Then came a two-year stint on the computer help desk at the campus library, followed by a semester in the computer lab helping chemistry students use computer software to solve their assignments.
Wilson credits those jobs with helping her develop both the computer and people skills that have proven invaluable in the workplace.
They also helped her work up the gumption to lobby for an opportunity few undergraduates get. “I went to the dean of physical sciences and . . . told him I wanted to get my hands dirty doing real research,” she said. “He saw how enthusiastic I was and took me in to work with graduate students doing research in the chemistry lab.”
She found time in her hectic final two years to put in 20 to 40 hours a week in the lab, without pay.
“The skills I [gained] doing research as an undergraduate made my resume look like [that of] someone who had already been working in the industry for a while,” she said. “That was the key to my getting a job in research and development right after I graduated.”
Her $35,000 annual salary is well above the $26,000 median starting pay for a pharmaceutical chemist with a bachelor’s degree, according to preliminary results of the American Chemical Society’s 1996 salary survey. Overall, the median salary for pharmaceutical chemists with a bachelor’s degree is about $45,000; for those with PhDs, it’s about $75,000. Chemists working in the pharmaceutical industry receive the highest pay of all chemists, according to the organization.
Wilson plans to start work on a graduate degree in a couple of years. For now, she’s focusing on staying current in her fast-changing field.
“I have always been in the mode of wanting to constantly learn more,” she said. “That’s why I love this job.”
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Versana Wilson
Associate research scientist
Employer: McGaw Inc. of Irvine
Previous experience: Research and development lab tech (as a temporary worker), Allergan Inc. of Irvine, June 1994 to June 1995. College jobs: Undergraduate research assistant, chemistry department; lab assistant, chemistry computer lab; trouble-shooter on help desk of library computer system; lab assistant, chemistry department stockroom.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in chemistry and biology, UC Irvine, 1995
