Georgia State Alumna Turns Neuroscience Training Into Career in Clinical Trials

ATLANTA - For Yvonne Ogbonmwan (B.S. '07), the path from winning a high school science competition to helping design global clinical trials began with an introduction to a field she once did not know existed.

Ogbonmwan already had an interest in psychology and mental health when she learned about the Atlanta Regional Brain Bee through her science club at South Cobb High School in 2002. At the time, she had never heard of neuroscience.

"The Brain Bee opened up a career path that I had never envisioned," she said, "but for which I am forever grateful."

After winning the regional competition and placing fourth nationally, she found that neuroscience gave a name to something she had already wanted to understand: how biology shapes behavior.

That discovery led Ogbonmwan to Georgia State University, one of the few universities in Georgia at the time with professors working in neuroscience. Though a neuroscience major was not yet offered, students could pursue a neuroscience concentration through the biology program.

Ogbonmwan initially considered medical school but hadn't settled on a career. Undergraduate research began to give her direction.

She joined the laboratory of Professor of Biology and Psychology Kyle Frantz. Frantz, who also serves as director of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry and co-director for science education at the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, provided a setting where Ogbonmwan began to see how much patience, problem-solving and trial and error sit behind a finished scientific result.

"In class you learn about scientific experiments mainly by what results were generated and interpreted," Ogbonmwan said. "It's all very neatly packaged. It doesn't really give you a good sense of the amount of trial and error and the creativity that goes into designing an experiment."

That hands-on experience - and the honors thesis she later designed on opiate addiction - changed how she viewed herself.

"It was going through that process that made me realize that I could be a scientist," she said.

Her work later contributed to a peer-reviewed study on age differences in morphine intake and drug-seeking, published in the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior.

After graduating from Georgia State, Ogbonmwan earned a Ph.D. from Emory University, where she began to realize she was most interested in the practical applications of research and how science could more directly improve patients' lives.

As a postdoctoral researcher with the Grady Trauma Project, she worked on a clinical study examining biomarkers that could help predict post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in people who had recently experienced trauma.

"It was some of the most profound work that I had the privilege of working on," Ogbonmwan said.

Ogbonmwan broadened her experience through the Advancing Healthcare Innovation in Africa (AHIA) program, where she collaborated with scientists, business students and law students from different countries to develop practical solutions to medical challenges. The program showed her how science, business and law can work together to move discoveries toward patients.

Today, Ogbonmwan serves as a senior global setup manager at IQVIA, where she helps pharmaceutical companies design and launch clinical trials.

She meets clients and coordinates with colleagues on project timelines, database setup, laboratory testing, specimen management, data management and logistics.

The job combines the scientific training she gained as an undergraduate with the project management and communication skills she has built throughout her career.

- Story by André Walker

- Image Credit: IQVIA/Yvonne Ogbonmwan