Transitioning into IP from science

While obtaining my PhD in biomolecular chemistry, I realized that patents were unrecognized by most researchers as a source of critical information. As I became more interested in Intellectual Property, I decided to start to take free and for-fee patent search webinars and courses to validate my interest and quickly discovered the wealth of opportunities available by combining my technical background with IP law. I was fortunate to obtain a patent editor position with Chemical Abstracts, which allowed me to identify and pursue new products and services not yet available to corporate and firm practitioners. For example, I headed a team to introduce a biopolymer sequence database comprising sequences identified only in patents. Due to this idea, I was approached to be a patent liasion/technical analyst/searcher for a multinational pharmaceutical company. Within a year, I became a patent agent and due to my expertise (I keep up technically and legally), the company requested I attend law school at night (they paid tuition, books, etc) as long I continued to work full time. I warn you it will not be easy (I worked from 6:30 am to 4:00 pm) and went 4 nights a week to law school from 6pm to 10 pm arriving home at midnight. My patent attorney career spanned 20 satisfying years. I now work as an independent consultant in IP strategy to apply my specialized genetic engineering knowledge to shape, optimize, and merge IP under the America Invents Act with new business models needed by traditional pharma, newly formed innovative companies, tech transfer offices, venture capital firms, etc.