A Career in Science

Biomedical alumnus oversees clinical trials worldwide

When Dr. Christopher Daniels first began his journey at East Tennessee State University, he didn’t plan on pursuing a doctoral degree.

During his undergraduate studies, Daniels began doing research under the tutelage of Dr. Robert Schoenberg studying chlamydia trachomatis reinfections. That helped spark his love for science, and inspired him to pursue a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences.

Daniels credits his time at ETSU, and the mentors he found along the way, for helping him get to where he is today.

“I would have to say my work doing undergraduate research in Dr. Robert Schoenberg’s lab really turned the tide for me wanting to go into science and pursuing a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences,” Daniels said. “That was really a turning point for me.”

Daniels (Class of 2014) is now the Senior Director of Laboratory and Scientific Operations for Medpace, a clinical research organization based out of Cincinnati – Daniels’ hometown.

“I think the size of the program at ETSU, the Biomedical Sciences

Program, allows the faculty to have close interaction with their students on a mentor level,” said Daniels, who spent his time at the Quillen College of Medicine working in Dr. Krishna Singh’s lab. When Daniels first joined Medpace, he did so as the Associate Director of Clinical Laboratories doing clinical studies with a team of scientists, and said the freedom afforded to him to work through issues during his studies was huge and something he carried over to his career.

“Dr. Singh was very involved,” Daniels said. “She wanted us to do well and succeed, spending time with us and taking the time to help if we had issues with an experiment or couldn’t figure something out.

“She was an excellent mentor who allowed us to have a little bit of freedom to try different experiments of our own to see if they would succeed or not,” he continued. “I think that’s a big advantage compared to some of the bigger universities that have a huge number of doctoral candidates in their graduate programs.”

Singh is proud of Daniels’ accomplishments at Quillen and beyond.

“Christopher Daniels was one of the best graduate students in my cardiovascular research laboratory,” Singh said. “I still remember that he used to be the first one to come to the lab every morning, and the last one to leave the lab in the evening. He was a self-motivated, sincere and hard-working student. It gives me a wonderful sense of pride to know that Dr. Daniels has done so well at Medpace Reference Laboratories, climbing up to a senior leadership position in a short time.”

Daniels now heads a large team of scientists, technicians, and researchers supporting clinical trials for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies across the globe. In fact, three of those he’s hired to his team are also graduates of Quillen College of Medicine.

“We have around 40 people with doctoral degrees on my team, and they come from all over the globe, and to get three people hired from ETSU, from the Ph.D. program at Quillen, that’s pretty cool,” Daniels said. “They’ve been very good employees, and excellent scientists.”

In total, Daniels spent nine years at ETSU – time he looks back on fondly.

“I think sometimes, you know, faculty at smaller universities are underrated but, man, there is stellar faculty at Quillen,” Daniels said. “I think it really prepared me for a career in science.”