From Technician to Trailblazer: How Sokhom Pin Designed His Own PhD Program While Working in Industry

Dr. GPCR Podcast
Jul 10
2 min read

Watch Episode 169

What if you could earn a PhD while supporting a family and working full time in drug discovery? That’s exactly what Sokhom Pin did. In a field where traditional academic paths often dominate the narrative, his story offers a powerful alternative.

Breaking the Mold

Most scientists follow the usual script—graduate school, lab rotations, dissertation defense. But Sokhom’s journey started differently. As a lab technician at Johns Hopkins, he was fascinated by science but also grounded in real-life responsibilities. With a growing family and a full-time position, traditional PhD training just wasn’t an option.

Instead of choosing between academia and career, he engineered a third path: a partnership between BMS and UConn that allowed him to do industry-based research while pursuing his doctorate.

“I couldn’t afford to quit my job. So I designed my own PhD program,” Sokhom shared.

How It Worked

BMS funded the research, salary, and even tuition
UConn accepted the research done in the BMS lab as part of the dissertation
Sokhom met weekly with advisors and monthly for presentations
All research was publication-quality, high-impact, and strategically focused

This approach allowed him to avoid the experimental churn common in academia. He only pursued experiments that were scientifically sound and directly publishable, a skill honed from years of hands-on work in high-throughput screening.

A Model for Future Scientists?

Sokhom’s experience speaks to a larger truth: there’s no single way to become a scientist. His hybrid path is a model of possibility for professionals in the biotech industry who still dream of earning advanced degrees without leaving the bench, or their paycheck, behind.