Inspiring Grads: Science 1

Neann Mathai

Job history

2021–Present Cheminformatics Data Scientist BenevolentAI

2018–2021 Research Fellow: Cheminformatics University of Bergen and University of Hamburg

2017–2018 Senior Programme Officer Management Sciences for Health

2015–2017 Programme Officer: Strategic Information Management Sciences for Health

2015 Business Data Analyst Mettler-Toledo International

Academic history

2018 – 2021 PhD in Cheminformatics University of Bergen

2013–2015 PhD student in Food Science (not awarded) Cornell University

2011–2013 MSc in Computer Science (Computational Chemistry) University of Cape Tow n

2009 BSc Honours in Computer Science University of Cape Tow n

2006 - 2008 BSc in Computer Science and Chemistry University of Cape Tow n

What do you do?

I work as a cheminformatician/ computational chemist for a pharmaceutical tech company where my team uses computational techniques to drive the chemistry of drug development projects. This includes everything from pulling together data packages and analyses for the chemistry to running simulations which gives you more insight into how the chemicals of interest are behaving.

What pulled you towards cheminformatics?

I discovered computational chemistry in my first year at UCT and I went on to do a Masters (with the Department of Computer Science) at UCT in computational chemistry, thoroughly enjoying it along the way.

I then pursued a PhD in a similar topic to my Masters but had to leave before completing this and started working in public health. During my public health work, I was using all sorts of statistical data analysis techniques to understand and model public health scenarios to deliver better health services and outcomes to people around the world. I missed pharmaceutical/medicinal chemistry research though. I then went to pursue a PhD in Cheminformatics, so that I could use the techniques I was using from my public health work within basic medicinal chemistry research.

How do your degrees help you in your job?

The theory from the Computer Science and Chemistry coursework I took at UCT directly relates to the work I am doing now. This is obviously not usually the case for most people (and it wasn’t the case for me for part of my career) and it is certainly not sufficient.

Transferable skills and the logical thinking that these disciplines equip you with are very important, but they are usually only realised once you grasp the theory of a discipline. It is important to keep building on your skills and drawing connections from one set of skills to the next.

What has been a highlight of your career so far?

Realising that nothing needs to be wasted. Every next step is a new opportunity to learn and equip yourself, whether that is progressing in the same field or making lateral moves across fields.

What advice would you give to current students?

There will be hiccups, but nothing needs to be wasted and every individual has a unique combination of skills and experiences which can be used for the greater good. So, keep pushing when chapters in a vocational life are hard and use easier chapters to stretch and push yourself. Seek holiday internships (UCT research groups love having undergrad students during the vac for research) and vac-work. If it is not possible to take on the more relevant unpaid vac-work (I hope that vac-work these days will cover living costs at least!), apply and transfer the skills you have been acquiring during your study within the communities you are spending your vacation time. This may be hosting remedial lessons for children in the community or learning the processes of small businesses.

What is the next thing you want to achieve or learn?

I have just started working in industry within the pharmaceutical sector and this is quite different to how research is carried out in academia. I have a lot to learn about the industrial research process and how it complements and builds on the very important academic research bringing therapies to scale. My immediate goals are to gain a better understanding of this process and the areas within this process which can be improved upon my cutting edge academic research.

BOOK & COURSE recommendations

I would highly recommend courses in basic statistics and data science. So much of work these days involves implementing basic statistical principles.