This - with knobs on!
I did the PhD thing but was never really cut out for research.

However, from there I got into patents so I'm now a patent agent. Basically I now help inventors, or more commonly their employers, get patents for their inventions. Being a chemist, most of my clients are small start-up pharmaceutical companies.

Last year a patent I wrote for a small Scandinavian client was granted and as a result they now market a spray which helps relieve the mouth ulcers that affect people undergoing chemotherapy. These can be so bad that they need to be fed through a tube.

It's not exactly a blockbuster drug, and my part in it is only a minor one, but I can honestly say that there are people going through the toughest time of their lives who are now a little more comfortable than they would have been without my involvement. Not everybody can change the world, but if we can all do a little bit to make the worst parts of peoples lives a little better then we can say we have made a contribution.

Next on the agenda - a product that helps people overcome opioid (e.g. heroin) addiction. It won't cure them - only they can do that - but it will hopefully help some and I may be able to contribute to it reaching the market.

Things to do before you die? Make a contribution. However small.

*click*
( Ugi , it's a game of give and cake, Tue 19 Oct 2010, 17:54, 1 reply)

Definitely
You are so right, anything that helps people suffering from something that bad has got to be a good thing and it's great that you can say you've been a part of it. It's really interesting to see what people go into after their PhDs as well!

A click for you too, sir.
(Petite chien is going to do science to it, Tue 19 Oct 2010, 21:04, closed)