Keith--The Pursuit of Challenge

There were many roadblocks in Keith’s journey towards becoming a biochemist and saving lives. Keith hadn’t chosen to study chemistry because he was good at it, nor because he was (originally) passionate. In fact, during the open-ended days of high school, he felt lost amidst the countless paths to explore, and chemistry stood out as one of his most challenging subjects. Yet, despite the risk of jeopardizing his entire future livelihood, Keith still chose to challenge himself and pursue a career in the field of chemistry. And before long, what began as a personal hurdle to overcome gradually transformed into a lifelong passion he would pursue.

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At first, Keith had no intention of working on biochemistry and gene-therapy. Instead, he spent his time studying the broad field of chemical engineering, focusing his undergraduate studies on refining raw oil into purified substances and synthesizing many of the household products we use daily. When he started his graduate program, his focus eventually shifted towards a smaller niche: carbon dioxide absorbents and carbon capture technology. However, three years into the program and before he even had the opportunity to finish his chemistry degree, his studies were abruptly interrupted by external circumstances–the Trump administration scaled back research into global warming, and Keith’s advisor lost a major portion of his funding. With limited options available, his advisor even suggested that he give up studying for his PhD. “There was tons of drama with him,” Keith explains. “It was a frustrating experience. But at that point, three years in, you’re gonna need to get that degree.” Determined not to waste years of his studies, Keith searched for an alternate solution. 

When asked why he decided to enter chemical engineering in the first place, Keith responded with a quick laugh. “It was a very…ironic experience. At least for me.” The irony began in high school, when Keith first began to grapple with his schoolwork. Up until then, he was always at the top of his class. However, thrust into an open-ended environment where there were countless paths to explore and subjects to study, Keith felt lost. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do for my future. My grades were good for the first semester, but I lost interest in studies after that. I didn’t know what I wanted to do in the future. And my grades just slid drastically. I went from being at the top to the middle to even the bottom, for some time.”

Thankfully, however, he had back-up options available. Keith still had a knack for humanities. His homeroom advisor just so happened to be his chemistry teacher, the class he was having the most trouble with. He advised Keith to ditch the STEM path he had chosen and go down the humanities route their school offered. Yet, Keith quickly disregarded that suggestion–deep down, he knew he wouldn’t enjoy a life of humanities, preferring to remain directionless than traverse down a road he hated. And, partially to prove his teacher wrong and partially to prove himself wrong–that he can master STEM, especially chemistry, and enjoy it while doing so–Keith decided to stick with his path.

Of course, just because Keith decided to stick towards grappling with chemistry doesn’t mean it was any easier. Throughout the rest of his time in high school, chemistry remained a difficult subject. Yet, this difficulty had also shifted into a personal challenge Keith was dedicated towards overcoming. And upon graduating high school, Keith took this challenge a step further: he decided he would major in chemistry. After his bachelors, he decided to get a PhD, leading us to his predicament of switching studies.

Eventually, Keith found a way to somewhat salvage his time spent researching carbon capture. Keith would change directions and switch his graduate program’s focus towards biomaterials. However, just because he found a solution didn’t mean the solution was easy. “I had to switch my lab and research under a different professor, in a totally different direction,” he said. “Making an absorbent is nothing like making biomaterials. They’re all materials, but they have totally different synthesizing procedures, functions, and properties. And I had to relearn everything from scratch, too.” Nevertheless, in spite of the difficulty, Keith managed to graduate. Additionally, in his final months of study, he even managed to obtain an internship at ThermoFisher under their gene therapy department, launching him into the world of biomedical chemistry. 

A majority of Keith’s experiences were also affected by his parents, he says. “My parents never cared too much about what my grades were,” he recalled. “When I was in elementary and middle school, classes were easy. They didn’t have anything to worry about. But when I entered high school and I started to struggle with my courses, they continued to stay distant.” This wouldn’t mean they weren’t aware of Keith’s situation. “They knew I was struggling but believed I would be able to get over it myself.” Perhaps this “absence” was what allowed Keith to develop his personal, grappling relationship with the study of chemistry–he wasn’t pushed to succeed in chemistry, so when he decided he wanted to do well in the subject, it came from a place of personal motivation and passion, not external pressure. In any case, Keith comments that he was still grateful to his parents for all the work they’ve done, though he wishes “they could be more involved” at times. 

Upon finishing his internship at ThermoFisher, Keith was able to land a permanent job at Sangamo Therapeutics, a company based in California. There, his struggles with chemistry was able to take on a new shape: now, chemistry became rewarding in itself, instead of just a mere challenge to overcome. Now working in the field of biochemistry and participating in the research of gene therapy drugs, Keith was responsible for producing the medicine that would save lives (at, hopefully, an affordable cost, too).

Nevertheless, just because Keith was outside the realm of education doesn’t mean his struggles wouldn’t continue in some way, one of which is the painfully realistic monetary and security concerns of having a job as a chemist. “Many of my friends, even after graduating with their degrees, didn’t pursue a career in industry related to chemistry,” Keith admits. “Some went to accounting, business, or even managing solar panels.” This is all because work is unstable and hard to find–with chemistry being so inherently tied to research, as we’ve seen with Keith’s case, cuts in funding also means the potential to lose your job at every turn, or the inability to find jobs at all, in niche, underfunded studies. And all this is done for a salary that’s realistically uncompetitive with lucrative, contemporary studies in areas such as computer science and artificial intelligence. 

Another difficulty is one that comes along with every business–sometimes, research itself is just too difficult. Upon starting work at Sangamo Therapeutics, Keith was tasked with finding means of mass-producing a gene-therapy medication for his patients. In particular, Sangamo was developing a cheaper alternative to the genetic disease Hemophilia Type A. As of the time of writing (March 2025), Pfizer owns the only cure for this genetic disease, though it needs to be administered bi-weekly at expensive rates. Despite Sangamo having produced a cheaper, one-time use product approved by the FDA (all of which is available for the public on news articles), Pfizer, who had originally shown interest in the deal, backed out, deciding to produce Sangamo’s new cure. Keith didn’t comment on his personal opinion of why Pfizer backed out, but according to him, some people believe it’s because the production of Sangamo’s drug means less profit for Pfizer.

However, Keith was aware of all these difficulties upon deciding to be a chemist–that was why he had chosen the subject in the first place. “I knew that chemistry was going to be difficult monetarily,” he said with a laugh. “Yet, I still decided to go with it.” Just like how he knew, deep down, he didn’t enjoy the humanities in high school, he was additionally presented with the choice of more profitable degrees in college, such as computer science. “I just couldn’t do it, and it wouldn’t have been worth it for me.” But for Keith, the challenge was never a deterrent—it was the point. In the end, fulfillment outweighed fortune or convenience. And from my interview, it looks as if Keith doesn’t regret his decision.