Who is Barry Peterson? - Elementary School

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Who is Barry Peterson?
Changing Careers Later in Life

Barry Peterson and his twin brother were born in Teaneck, NJ on August 22, 1948. His father was a mechanical engineer and so it wasn’t surprising that Barry found science and math easier than reading and writing.

In college Barry studied physics instead of math, because physics was most like math but it meant only taking one year of German while people studying math had to take two years of German. (When he was in Germany last year trying to order a meal, he wondered then if he hadn’t made a mistake at this early time in his career!)

School
Although Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) was not his first choice of a college, Barry went there because they gave him money to come (most likely because his father went there). To this day, he says that the other students at RPI were the smartest (although not socially smart) people he’s ever known. This did not help his grades but he learned that he could compete with the smartest people and make it.

Barry got his degree in physics from RPI in 1970, the same year they started having a lottery for serving in the military. Lottery numbers were given out based on a person’s birth date. His came up as number 336, so it was wasn’t likely that he would be sent to fight in the Vietnam war. (His twin brother, who did not go to college, went into the military before they started the lottery so he was already in Vietnam. Luckily he came home safely from the war). Since he didn’t have to worry about being sent to war, Barry was able to go on to study physics in graduate school at the University of Connecticut.

Studying physics in graduate school was getting away from practical things so Barry started looking for related courses where he could take what he knew about physics and apply it to real problems. He learned about the biophysics (physics as it relates to biology) program at the University of Rochester, so he went there after getting a Masters in Science in Physics from the University of Connecticut in 1972.

One of the teachers at Rochester needed a student to help with his studies in the physiology of breathing. He had a fancy new machine that wasn’t working, so he figured that Barry’s background in physics would be helpful. Thus began Barry’s career in physiology!

Barry stayed for an extra year in Rochester after getting his PhD degree in Biophysics in 1977. He then spent two more years studying how the lungs work at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

First Job
After his finishing his training, Dr. Peterson went back to the University of Rochester for 4 years as a college teacher and then went to the University of Texas Health Center at Tyler to do more work on lung injury for the next 16 years. During that time he called himself a physiologist, but his best work was in developing new methods for measuring physiological results.

Changing Careers
Dr. Peterson’s group has the job of coming up with ideas and then developing new ways of doing things that would help in the development of new drugs. The job has turned out to be fun, a good match, and a surprising combination of almost everything he had done before. The new job makes use of his background in physics, his work with the human subjects review board for clinical trials, his experience in developing new ways to do things, and his experience doing research. The biggest differences he has seen between his past job at a university and his current job in a drug company is that he no longer has to apply for money to do his work, but he does have to be very careful about who he talks to and what he says about his new work.

However, he can say that he is working with different colleges and companies to develop new ways to look at the effects of new drugs on lung diseases. He is also directing a dozen studies in the United States and Europe. He really enjoys being able to travel to England, France, and Sweden a lot to work with other people who study the same things (all of whom speak terrific English—fortunately).

Outside Interests
Now that someone else is paying Dr. Peterson to fly places, he has decided he really likes to travel. He also hopes to learn to speak French.

At home he enjoys woodworking and tennis with his daughter. With the new job, though, he hasn’t had much time for doing either of those things.

When he was working at the college in Texas, Dr. Peterson did a lot with K-12 science and math teachers in the East Texas area—but that’s another story.

Advice
For students thinking about a career in physiology, Dr. Peterson recommends that they take all of the math, science, and literature courses they can comfortably handle (be sure not to get burned out at this stage—you’re just beginning!).

Students should also try and get good at reading, writing, and talking in public, as being able to get your ideas across to others in the shortest time and number of words is something he’s noticed all successful people he knows can do.

If students can learn another language too, that can be very helpful, since some of the best jobs have their people travel all over the world.

Students should be sure to apply to “good” colleges—not because the teachers are better but because classmates will be smarter. It makes sense to always try to be around people who are smarter than you (see RPI, above).