Scott McAuley, PhD
Equity Research Analyst
Scott is currently an Equity Research Analyst at Paradigm Capital specializing in healthcare and biotechnology. In 2019, he earned his PhD at the University of Toronto with a focus on early stage antibiotic drug discovery.
*The views and opinions expressed in this profile are those of the professional and do not necessarily reflect the official policies of their employer.
Tell us about your career path
I completed an MSc in chemistry with a PI that was an advocate for academic commercialization and grad students to be vehicles of commercialization.
Throughout my MSc, I started to pursue more business education opportunities such as the MaRS entrepreneurship 101 program. When I started my PhD in biochemistry, I outlined very early on that my goal was to continue to pursue the business side of science, not stay in academia.
In my PhD, I worked at the campus incubator impact centre to help students/faculty with commercialization ideas. In all, this set of experiences was instrumental for him getting hired at Paradigm Capital.
Tell us about your role
Healthcare equity research analysts reside at the intersection of science, commercialization, and business. Their main priority is to identify companies that they believe are promising from an investment perspective and to communicate this knowledge and enthusiasm with potential investors.
In essence, they need to understand the impact of science from the lab bench to the stock market and need to have knowledge from clinical trial design and company valuation.
It’s an interesting role because it has links to finance, business, science, intellectual property, clinical development, medical affairs. You need to understand science from the lab bench all the way to the market.
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What skills from graduate school do you recommend applicants showcase on their resume?
Talk about any experience you have had with business and commercialization. This can be something like volunteering or working at a startup and the key is to have a sense of how science goes from the bench to clinical trial to the doctor’s office.
Also, get some public speaking experience because it’s important for meetings that take place each morning. I also collaborate with colleagues from varying backgrounds so the ability to write succinctly in a non-technical format is important.
Lastly, any background in finance is helpful, and joining finance campus clubs is a good way to improve knowledge.
What skills and experiences would help a job-seeker stand out as a candidate?
I was told that my communication skills were key for getting me hired, in particular, the ability to distill complex information into non-technical language that others can disseminate.
Additionally, the ability to synthesize large amounts of diverse information to create strategies is helpful. These strategies pertain to industries of interest so that I can determine whether or not I should be interested in investing in a particular company.
How has COVID impacted your work?
The valuations of companies have changed drastically because their timelines have been altered. There is a greater focus on healthcare because most of these companies have done quite well, resulting in the broadening of my clientele.
In addition, a lot of effort has been dedicated to determining how the pandemic has affected each company.
Depending on the company’s location, there have been very different impacts with respect to supply chain, manufacturing, and the ability to run clinical trials. Some companies’ efforts are also being accelerated based on how directly their product impacts COVID-related health issues.
Clinical trials are being approved much quicker, there’s more funding available, and company valuation has increased drastically.
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