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Q&A with Cary Lai '94
Cary Lai '94 is an associate professor in the Biology Department at the University of San Francisco (USF). Prior to USF, he worked as a scientist in the biotechnology field at Genentech and LakePharma. He earned undergraduate degrees in biology and chemistry at M.I.T. and earned his Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley in the Molecular and Cell Biology Department.
Why do you do what you do?
I loved certain aspects of doing research at biotechnology companies—for example the excitement of scientific discovery and working on projects that could turn into the next important cancer or HIV drug. What I always missed was teaching and mentoring students though, something that I first got experience doing as a part of my Ph.D. studies. The most satisfying aspect of my job as a professor at USF is helping to train the scholars and scientists of this next generation.
Has the biotechnology program at the University of San Francisco adapted its curriculum and/or research in an effort to combat COVID-19? If so, please explain.
Many of my current and former students who work in the biotechnology field quickly shifted to developing new tests and therapies for COVID-19. For example, one of my former students, Shahrad Daraeikia at Centivax Inc., helped developed COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies that are in clinical trials right now as a treatment for infected patients; read more about that here. Another one of my former students, Sarah Ives at Distributed Bio, was awarded a Gates Foundation grant for her work on universal viral vaccines and was featured in the Netflix docuseries, “Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak.”
What was the transition to remote teaching like this past spring? What has your experience teaching remotely been like this fall?
The transition from in-person teaching to online teaching was rapid and unexpected. The San Francisco Bay Area was the first locality in the U.S. to issue a shelter-in-place order last March, and there was no way that I would have predicted that would happen just days before the order. My lecture-based classes quickly shifted to being taught online through Zoom. My lab-based classes offered a bigger challenge, and I had to adjust the contents of the courses quickly to account for the lack of in-person labs.
USF has continued with only remote classes through the Fall 2020 semester, although research labs with a limited number of graduate students were able to reopen on campus mid-summer. We plan on beginning to hold in-person lab classes again in the Spring 2021 semester. All in-person classes and research involve smaller numbers of students in the labs with social distancing and personal protective equipment used.
What was your experience like at Tower Hill?
I was at Tower Hill for the full 14 years—from pre-kindergarten all the way through 12th grade. Being at one school for so long was really a special experience—I treasure the fact that I was able to grow up with so many of my classmates from early childhood all the way through young adulthood.
How do you feel that Tower Hill influenced your life and career?
The most valuable part of my Tower Hill experience were the wonderful teachers that I had through those years. Now that my daughters are in school, I see the pivotal role that a good teacher can make on their education and development.
Just as one example, one of my favorite classes was AP European History with Dr. Wasson. As someone who has always been STEM-focused, I was never particularly interested in the subject matter of this class, and I never took another history class after that one. Despite that, I still utilize things that I learned from Dr. Wasson in my life and work regularly today—particularly his lessons on presenting opposing arguments.
