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Who is Francisco “Paco” Andrade? Research is His Life
Paco always knew he was going to be a scientist, but there were no role models in his family for this career. Science and math were topics of great interest to him growing up, although he was not particularly good at either of them. However, he was fascinated by all things medical. During high school, Paco took a battery of tests to define career alternatives. He remembers one option was banker (like his dad), and another was dentist. Scientist was not one of the options. That didn’t stop him though. College YearsEarly on, Paco decided that he was going to study medicine and then get into biomedical research. So when it came time to chose a college, he selected the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico, which is a medical school in a university that is known for its strong program in engineering and computer science. So, in addition to the regular medical school curriculum, he got the opportunity to take classes in more advanced math and statistics, physics, computer programming, and assorted fun things that were very useful later on in graduate school. He graduated in 1988 with his Bachelor of Medicine degree.
Learning About Physiology
Paco then decided to move to the US to go to graduate school. He got his Ph.D. in physiology studying how muscles fatigue at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas in 1994. He continued his training on how to study muscle function by taking postdoctoral positions at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX, at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington, KY, and at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH from 1994 to 1998. He also had the opportunity to spend a year (1996-1997) in Sweden at the Karolinska Institute as a guest investigator. Finding a JobWhen it came time to look for a position, Dr. Andrade had to decide what kind of career he wanted to have, His childhood dream of becoming a biomedical researcher was still strong, so he chose to pursue only those jobs that were at research-intensive institutions, which had less of an emphasis on large-group teaching. In 1998, he accepted a position back at Case Western Reserve University as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology. This spring (2004) he accepted a new job and moved again this summer to the Department of Physiology at the University of Kentucky.
Muscle Research
Most of Dr. Andrade’s time is spent on keeping the research operation going. He coordinates projects, writes grant proposals and manuscripts, and sustains collaborations. There are some specialized techniques that only he can do. They function as his excuse to stay close to the lab bench. There is also an administrative load that comes with extramural funding: budgets and personnel issues that need to be managed in conjunction with departmental and institutional administrators, regulatory issues, and the like.
Free Time
He also enjoys doing some outreach work for the university, mainly science-related talks to schools and civic groups. This is the type of teaching that he enjoys the most, and he doesn’t consider it work. Advice for a New InvestigatorI guess the best advice is the one given by investors: manage your portfolio. After all, what is a career but one of the greatest investments of time and effort you’ll ever make? Figure out what strategies (always more than one) fit your working environment and personal interests and plan your career accordingly. Where do you want to be in 5 years? In 10 years? If you’re in academia, how much teaching/research/service do you want to do? For your research, what ratio of safe low-yield to high-risk projects do you need?
Recent Publications
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