Careers After a PhD: From Toxicology to L’Oréal

The Next Step: Career and Grad School Advice from Our Alumni · Oct 29, 2026 · 50m

Whitney Christian earned his PhD while raising two young children—and made career decisions shaped by both his scientific interests and his family’s needs.He joins The Next Step to share his path from working as a lab technician to earning his doctorate at URochester and building a career in industry.A 2012 graduate of our Toxicology program, Whitney raised two young children during graduate school and navigated the unexpected loss of his PhD mentor. He discusses the support and decisions that helped him finish, why he chose consulting over a postdoc at Yale, and how that choice opened doors…