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In college Barry Peterson majored in physics rather than math, because physics was most like math but it required only one year of German, whereas math majors had to take two years of German.  (When he was in Berlin last year trying to order a meal, he wondered then if he hadn’t made a mistake at this early stage in his career!)

Barry received his Bachelor in Science in physics from RPI in 1970, the same year they instituted the lottery for the military draft.  Lottery numbers were assigned by birth dates. His came up 336, so it was clear that he would not be drafted.  (His twin brother, who did not go to college, was drafted before the lottery was instituted so he was already in Vietnam.  Fortunately he made it home safely).  Without the draft hanging over Barry’s head, he was free to attend graduate school in physics at the University of Connecticut.

Graduate physics was getting a little too theoretical for him so Barry started looking for related programs having to do with the application of physics to real problems.  He found the Biophysics program at the University of Rochester, so he went there after getting a Masters in Science in Physics from Connecticut in 1972.

One of the professors at Rochester needed a graduate student to help with his studies in respiratory physiology.  He had a fancy new mass spectrometer 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 in Biophysics in 1977.  He then spent two more years as a postdoctoral fellow in pulmonary medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Changing Careers
Making a move from the academic world to industry so late in a career is unusual—but Dr. Peterson got help from his daughter.  He found a job on the Pfizer web site by digging through long lists of pharmaceutical jobs that all required 5-10 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry.  He finally found one that just said “experience making physiological measurements in humans.”  He applied online for that job, but, as expected, that application never went anywhere.  So he attended a scientific meeting where Pfizer people would be present and gave his resume to three or four of them.  One of them happened to know the person who had posted the job so Dr. Peterson got a call the following week.  He mentioned to the interviewer that his daughter had asked him to take her to the Northeast to look at colleges and that it would be no trouble for him to stop by to visit for a while in Groton, Connecticut.  The interviewer agreed, they met for an hour, and Dr. Peterson was invited back for a formal interview.

Part of the formal interview process involved giving a seminar on his research. It wasn’t until he was preparing for that seminar that Dr. Peterson realized what the focus of his past research had been.  Because the Pfizer job involved technology development, he decided to review his work from that viewpoint and was surprised to see a pattern in his studies that he had not seen before. He got the job in December 1999 and was named Associate Director of Clinical Technology at Pfizer Global Research and Development. 

Dr. Peterson’s group has the job of identifying and developing new technologies that would help in the drug development process.  The job is a delightful, fortuitous, and surprising combination of almost everything he had done prior to starting at Pfizer. The job makes use of his background in physics, his work with the human subjects review board for clinical trials, his experience in the development of pulmonary (and other) technologies, and his experience directing academic research.  The biggest differences he has seen between his previous academic work and his current pharmaceutical work is that he no longer has to apply for research funds, but he does have to be much more careful about confidentiality. 

However, he can say that he is working with a variety of universities and companies to develop new imaging methods for measuring the effects of experimental compounds on lung diseases.  He is also currently directing a dozen studies in the United States and Europe.  He particularly enjoys the opportunity to travel to the UK, France, and Sweden regularly to work with his scientific colleagues there (all of whom speak terrific English—fortunately).

At home he enjoys woodworking and tennis with his daughter, but there is currently very little time for either of those activities. 

In his past career in Texas, Dr. Peterson was also very active in supporting K-12 science and math teachers in the East Texas area—but that’s another story.

2. Peterson, B.T.  Permeability: Theory vs. practice in lung research.  Invited review for Am. J. Physiology. 262 (Lung Cell. Mol. Physiol. 6): L243-L256, 1992.

3. Peterson, B.T., and R. Tate.  Albumin fraction and measurement of total protein concentration.  Am. J. Physiol. - Heart and Circulatory Physiology 33: H1723-H1726, 1993.

4. Peterson, B.T., D.E. Griffith, J.C. Connelly, and R. Tate. Differential effects of salmeterol on lung endothelial and epithelial leakage in sheep., J. Appl. Physiol.  80: 1666-1673, 1996.

5. Peterson, B.T., E.J. Miller, D.E. Griffith, R. Rowjee, and P. McWaters. Modulation by pentobarbital of neutrophil responses to E. Coli endotoxins in sheep: role of lung epithelium.  European Resp. J. 16: 697-703, 2000.