Leah Cannon, Ph.D.

Content Manager at Life Science Network

Dr. Leah Cannon trained and worked as an emergency veterinarian before doing a Ph.D. in molecular cardiology at the Victor Chang Institute in Sydney, Australia. She then moved to sunny San Diego to do a postdoc in the genetics of cardiac aging at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute. Writing and communicating has always been her favorite part of the job, so after her postdoc she transitioned to doing science writing and marketing.

Career path

I have always enjoyed writing. I am one of those people who actually loved writing my Ph.D. thesis! During grad school and my postdoc I came to realize that there is not enough room for us all to stay in academia and that I could leverage my communication skills better in an industry role. So I volunteered for several organizations in San Diego to get experience in science writing and editing, event planning and community management. This, along with a lot of in-person networking, allowed me to meet my current boss, Erik Clausen. When he founded Life Science Network, he approached me and asked if I would like to create content for him. I jumped at the chance as this is the perfect job for me.

Education

• BVSc (Hons), University of Queensland, 2004
• Ph.D., Molecular Cardiology University of New South Wales, 2011