MENTOR PROFILE

Banvir Chaudhary
Associate Director,
Clinical Data Management
Amgen

 

When did you first realize you wanted to go into science? Were you a child, adolescent, young adult?

I was about 11 years old when I decided to become a physicist like Homi J. Bhabha, one of the pre-eminent nuclear physicists from India. My seventh-grade biology teacher Mr. P. N. Kaul had portraits of some of the top Indian scientists in his class room, including Nobel Laureate Sir C. V. Raman. He used to talk about them from time to time.

 

What was the MOST effective attribute/characteristic of your FAVORITE career mentor, and how did that help you?

Consistent encouragement was important, coupled with a definition of realistic expectations. These characteristics helped me to chart my career course and put energy into the next step. I was able to progress from a small town college to a modest university to the premier research institute for science in India. When opportunities arrived, I was ready.

 

Where were you born and raised?

I grew up in a small town in India. My father, who grew up on a farm in a nearby village, was the first from our family to get a formal education and become a school teacher.

 

Where did you receive your formal educational training?

I received my Bachelors of Science from Jat College, a college in my home town that was affiliated with Agra University (in Agra..   I then went to Birla College (in Pilani), which was an affiliated college of University of Rajasthan where I received my Masters of Science degree in Physics. In 1964, I was fortunate enough to win a fellowship to study at the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) where I received my Ph.D. in Particle Physics in 1970.

Who do you most admire, and why? (It can be a living or deceased person – someone famous or whom you know personally and does not have to be a scientist)

Richard Feynman, a great physicist and a great teacher who also knew how to have fun. Another famous physicist, Freeman Dyson, once wrote that Feynman was "half-genius, half-buffoon," but later revised this to "all-genius, all-buffoon".

 

Once you retire professionally, what would be the ONE thing you want people to most remember about you?

“Retire professionally” is an alien notion to me. While I have moved on from being a research scientist in physics to working in information technology and corporate management, I wish to continue to be an active and productive member of society long after I “retire” from my current line of work. ONE thing I would like people to remember me for is always asking questions and only accepting evidence-based answers.

The other thing that I have learned over the years is to admire and respect the diversity of people for their abilities. In an ideal world, laborer and scientist, farm worker and CEO will all be recognized for their contributions to this society of ours to make it thrive.

One of my favorite quotes is from Oscar Wild: “I am not young enough to know everything.”