Telling the Scientific Story: A Conversation with Jason McSheene *15

In our third episode, Hellen talks with Jason McSheene, *15, a Medical Science Communications Specialist at Meditech Media. Jason earned his PhD from Princeton’s Department of Molecular Biology. While at Princeton, he created and co-hosted a podcast, “PhD in Progress” with his peers to  have honest, authentic conversations about their professional perspectives and aspirations.

Jason talks about fulling his purpose, to champion education, equity, and empathy, through a myriad of  professional and personal opportunities: “Something that I have stumbled upon and that people, much wiser I am, have known for a while is: you don’t need to address all your passions and interests with one thing.”

In order to break the expectation that his career would fulfill all of his passions, Jason says he first had to recognize when he was having fun in graduate school. He recalls studying how the professors he admired were able to do their work. "I loved their work, but I [realized] I can't write grants all day, everyday," he says. Rather, than pursuing the research professoriate path, Jason chose to focus on what he enjoyed doing. "What I did love: I loved giving lab meetings even if I didn’t have all the data. I enjoyed the process of trying to create a story behind the science," he says. "I enjoyed putting together presentations, I enjoyed the scientific story.”

Knowing his personal commitment to biomedical research along with his passion for science communication and scientific literacy, Jason has pursued multiple paths to fulfill his purpose. It has taken both his professional work as a medical writer and his involvement with the Board of Education in Hamilton Township, NJ,  where he was elected and serves as a board member, to live out his values. He advises incoming and current graduate students to be honest with themselves: “No one is going to be able to tell you what you should do or shouldn’t do. Take the time to really understand, or at least acknowledge, when you’re having fun and what is resonating with you.” He maintains, “Figuring out those trends in one's life is fundamental to living a life that you feel is being lived more well than not.”