Susan Tamraz

I've been in biotech for 36 years, starting fresh out of college in 1990 with my biology degree from UCSD. I was hired by an older PhD who had gotten her degree in the 60s, and she wanted to shape me since I had no experience. I started at a small biotech company called Sitel, where I spent about 5 years bouncing around different areas. I began working with human blood, isolating platelets and doing platelet assays, then moved into molecular biology. I also got into animal studies, working with cell culture and proliferation assays, so I was doing both in vivo and in vitro work. I had kids young and took some time off, and then I had a car accident that left me disabled for a while. I was out of the lab for 7 years, from 2011 to 2018. I came back in 2018 and worked for a company called Tokogen, which got me back into my career. Today, I'm a lab manager at Kalidi, where I'm still doing a lot of bench work but also managing lab operations, dealing with instruments, calibrations, ordering, and making sure things run smoothly. I work with virus here, specifically with our lead candidate virus. Although working at the bench for many years has been fulfilling in itself, I like being able to have a broader understanding of how the company works. In 5 years, I see myself being more involved with the operations of the company, not just the lab. Right now, I've been designated as the coordinator for our lab move, which is a big deal and honestly scary, but I don't mind taking on that challenge.