1. What does your job entail?
My role as a vice president, equity research analyst at Wells Fargo covering biotechnology stocks essentially means that I cover stocks for a senior analyst and serve as an analyst covering my own stocks simultaneously. I represent the sell side of finance and publish research about companies that clients may be interested in investing in. My clients are hedge funds and other types of investors, some of whom specialize in health care. Typically, publicly traded companies have several analysts assigned to cover them.
2. What does a typical day look like for you?
My workday revolves around the stock market's opening and closing. I wake up at 5 a.m. and start working at 6 a.m. We monitor the news flow for companies that we cover. This will typically happen before 9:30 a.m., when the market opens, or when the market closes at 4 p.m. During the day, we write reports about companies that we cover and speak with the management team of these same companies. We publish the research we gather and “sell” it to our clients who are trying to determine if they should invest in these companies. Take, for example, Company X, which has a clinical trial coming up. We need to establish the impact of the clinical trial (whether the results are positive or negative). We must learn the lay of the land and interpret the outcomes so that we can help our clients understand how the stock will react once clinical trial findings are released.
3. How did Weill Cornell Graduate School prepare you for this position?
WCGS provides many opportunities for networking and is a huge hub for biotech equity research analysts. This job is very different from anything we learn in medical sciences, so it’s important to attend as many career panels and exploration events as possible.
My thesis advisors ensured that my presentation and communication skills were stellar. You need to be really good at writing and communicating the research to companies/clients. There were many opportunities to write and present at lab meetings; Physiology, Biophysics & Systems Biology meetings; and conferences. This was especially valuable to me as someone who didn’t grow up speaking English. At the end of the day, what’s important is that you deliver the content in a manner that is comprehended by the party receiving the information.
A Ph.D. in medical sciences helps tremendously with two essential skills: attention to detail and the ability to understand scientific publications.
4. What was your most memorable moment as a graduate student?
As an international student from Spain, orientation week was my first time living in the United States and my first time in New York City. The friends I made during that week became friends for life. To this day, they are my support system. Orientation set the tone for the remainder of my graduate school training – it set the tone for the experience and the community I made.
5. What advice would you give students interested in pursuing a similar career?
Start as early as possible. Learn about the equity research field. I didn’t even know this career existed until a year before graduation, when my advisor’s wife mentioned this career path.
Network. Network. Network. Attend industry drop-in hours. Try to do an internship if you have the chance. There are a few licensing exams. You can take one of these licensing exams, Securities Industry Essentials, before you begin a job. In my case, I passed the CFA Level I exam. This allowed me to stand out among the applicants for equity research analyst positions.
Be social – learn how to socialize. You need to socialize with clients as part of this job. Get comfortable with socializing; you must be an extrovert. You have to go out of your comfort zone. Attend panels, approach panelists afterward, introduce yourself and ask if you can add them to LinkedIn. Over LinkedIn, invite them to coffee to learn more about this industry. Never turn down a coffee chat. It’s come full circle. I was asking for coffee chats as a student, and now students and recent graduates are reaching out to request coffee chats. Mentorship can be found at work too, so make sure you take all the opportunities that are presented to you every day – you just never know.