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Finding Your North Moment

Cory Nicholas, 3rd Year Graduate Student UCSF, BMS program

Through your journey to your current career or professional training, you have undoubtedly struggled with difficult times in your life or challenging decisions that have impacted your path.  For example: you may have experienced hardship when selecting a major in undergraduate school, completing your major, finding a job after school, wondering what career to pursue, applying and deciding on a graduate school or medical school, surviving an advanced degree program, choosing a thesis lab, medical specialty, post-doc or residency, and selecting a job after obtaining your advanced degree.  Even after making all of these tough decisions and persisting through hard times, you may still question your direction and career choice – I know I do.

Finding Your North, by Frederick L. Moore, Ph.D. and Michael L. Penn Jr., M.D., Ph.D., is a new book written to help you visualize your internal compass and find your North or purpose.  It is geared toward careers in Science or Medicine (and the business careers related to these fields), but the lessons learned from this book can be applied to any career. 

The book is co-authored by 10 leaders of our generation – 4 of the authors hold Ph.D.s, of these: 2 are scientists, 1 is a CEO/CSO of a biotech company, and 1 is an entrepreneur; 4 have M.D.s, of these: 3 are doctors and 1 a holistic health director; 1 has a M.D./Ph.D. and is a marketing product manager at Genentech; and 1 is the director of business development at Genentech.  Furthermore, all of the authors have overcome the additional challenges that face minority students and citizens, and they all continue to give back to their communities via directing community groups and/or starting non-profit organizations.  Just like you and I, these authors have struggled at some point in college, advanced degree programs, and the professional world, but have overcome adversity, and succeeded to become leaders in their respective fields.

In Finding Your North, the authors write about their personal experiences; their obstacles and the strategies they’ve developed to overcome the hurdles.  These strategies for success were learned the hard way but are presented in this book for easy reference whenever you may experience difficulty along your journey.  For example, Finding Your North discusses: how the authors decided whether to pursue Science or Medicine, how to listen to yourself in order to find balance in your life and find your North, the study skills needed to succeed in college and in advanced degree programs, how to prepare successful graduate and professional school applications, what graduate school is like and how to succeed, what medical school is like, how to succeed, and what to expect as a practicing physician, the struggles encountered and overcome in graduate and medical school, alternate careers in science, and how to discover your true purpose.

To me, Finding Your North is about finding your passion.  I am a third year graduate student at UCSF who is passionate about basic biomedical research, however, I did not know this all along and have struggled immensely along my journey.  I only wish that there was a book like this to read during my dark and difficult days.  I remember when I was a freshman at UC Berkeley; I was intimidated by the size of this huge school, the intelligence and competitiveness of my classmates, and the daunting task of choosing a major.  I was overwhelmed, stressed-out, and scared.  I didn’t yet have the study skills necessary to survive and I almost flunked out of school during my second year.  I lacked direction, goals, and passion to complete and apply my education.  I took time off to do some serious soul searching and reading on various careers in science and medicine.  It wasn’t until I began an internship at a biotech company performing basic cancer research that I realized my passion and was motivated to excel in college and further my education in graduate school.

I wish I could’ve read this book before college and during college, but am thankful I was able to read it during graduate school.  Even though I think I’ve found my North or passion, I still struggle with the difficult lifestyle of a graduate student.  Finding Your North taught me that I am not alone, and relayed strategies to balance my lifestyle, persevere, and succeed.  I also learned about alternate careers in science aside from being a Scientist in academia or in the industry, such as regulatory, legal, sales, marketing, business development, and venture capitalist type jobs.

In summary, finding your passion is a lifelong process, and Finding Your North is a timeless book that you can reference at many different times in your life to help you find your North or passion and to continue Northbound.  Keep your eyes peeled for this insightful book in your local bookstore!

*Authors interested in publishing on FYN's website, please send inquiries to: editorial@findingyournorth.com