Alyssa Tonsing-Carter

She/Her

I am queer and I am a PhD trained pharmacologist in science policy.//

I knew going in to graduate school that I didn’t want to be faculty. I just wanted to learn more about pharmacology. I studied molecular pharmacology and cancer biology in graduate school. I chose to do a postdoc not to move toward a faculty position, but to learn more about an area of interest: natural products and clinical drug-drug interactions. I then took a Program Manager position for a small academic research center to learn more about the administrative and compliance of doing clinical trials. During that time I discovered science policy, so I applied for a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship. I am now in my first fellowship year at the National Institutes of Health. I am learning about the different facets of science policy and how many different careers are possible for scientists. I hope to help work toward improving the lack of LGBTQIA+ representation in STEM and in health research I have seen throughout my career.

Instagram and Twitter @AlyssaTC_PhD