In the process of deciding what career path she would pursue, Karen Thickman, a full-time lecturer in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, participated in many informational interviews as a postdoc at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. During one such interview a staffer at a scientific journal told her that people don’t get doctorates to work nine to five jobs. Despite that flexibility it’s not always easy to find that ballyhooed work/life balance.
