This is the public website for alumni of the Bayer Research Community.
Check back with us soon for more information about the alumni community, as well as photos from the "BRC alumni archives", job search tools, and more.
If you would like to contribute articles, photos, or other information to the site, please contact the moderators at brc_alums@yahoo.com.
We also have several private, members-only Yahoo! Discussion Groups and E-Mail Lists for Bayer and Berlex Research Center Alums:
The following announcement recently landed in the BRC Alums mailbox:
[Bayer] Board of Management’s Plischke and Yale’s VP unveil commemorative plaque.
West Haven Site Dedication Honors Bayer Employees' Contributions Spanning 40 Years
2008-08-06
On July 31, Dr. Wolfgang Plischke, Member of the Board of Management Bayer AG and past President of Bayer’s Pharmaceuticals division, joined Bayer employees and dignitaries from Yale, Orange and West Haven on the Oyster River Bridge at Bayer’s former West Haven campus for a special dedication ceremony honoring Bayer employee contributions to science, patients, and the community.
After an introduction by Sandy Oliver, VP, Public Policy and State Government Affairs, Dr, Plischke opened his remarks by welcoming employees and special guests including Bruce Alexander, Yale’s VP for New Haven State Affairs and Campus Development, Reinhard Franzen, President and CEO, BHCP, Paolo Pucci, CEO, ArQule Inc. and former President, BHC Pharma, Mayor John Picard, City of West Haven, and First Selectman, James Zeoli, Town of Orange.
“It is a great pleasure to be here today with all of you to celebrate the accomplishments of the many talented men and women from all over the globe who have worked at this wonderful campus,” said Plischke. “I had the privilege of working here several years and I have many fond memories of employees and of the local surrounding communities.
“Historically, the West Haven campus opened over 40 years ago as Dome Laboratories, a Division of Miles laboratory, with 250 employees. Throughout our 40-year history on this site, employees made many contributions to expanding our knowledge of science and developing medicines to improve the health of people worldwide.”
Plischke listed a few significant facts about the site:
- Alka Seltzer was manufactured here
- Cipro was manufactured and supplied to aid the US government during the anthrax outbreak
- Nexavar ®, the first oral treatment for kidney cancer, was discovered in research laboratories here.
“These advances couldn’t have been made without the support of the vast infrastructure of talented individuals working collaboratively in the areas of research, manufacturing, distribution, product development, regulatory, legal, finance and others who dedicated themselves to their work to improve the lives of patients.
“I’m confident that this legacy of dedication and commitment will continue as we turn to a new chapter in the history of this site under the leadership of Yale--its new owners.”
Speaking on behalf of Yale, Bruce Alexander paid tribute to the many talented employees who have worked on campus.
“I’ve been a big admirer of Dr. Plischke and the Company,” said Alexander. “Today, I’d like to celebrate and acknowledge the many traditions Bayer brought to this campus including research to cure disease and improve the quality of life around the world and a legacy of community partnerships.”
“I’m proud that Yale will continue the great traditions Bayer began.”
Plischke and Alexander together unveiled a bridge plaque that reads:
From 1965-2007, this was the Bayer HealthCare
(formerly Miles Laboratories) campus.
During that time Bayer HealthCare employees
made important contributions to science
and to the health of individuals worldwide.Orange’s First Selectman James Zeoli commented that it is “fitting that this bridge has brought us all together—symbolizing the ties between West Haven, Orange, Bayer and Yale.”
“We’re excited and honored that Yale chose this site and plans to carry on its traditions,” he said.
West Haven Mayor John Picard added his thanks to Yale for deciding to move to the site. He also acknowledged the “incredible relationship and friendship built with Bayer over the years.”
“You can tell a lot about the character of a company by what it does when no one is looking,” he said. “The good Bayer has done for the community speaks volumes.”
Chemical & Engineering News has followed up on their earlier coverage of Bayer's West Haven Research Center shutdown with a new article (ACS membership/subscription
required to access link) focused on how Bayer Alumni, predominantly chemists, have fared over the past few months.
Several passages seemed particularly noteworthy. Regarding job prospects for chemists in Connecticut:
"Of the 28 Ph.D. chemists who had worked in the Bayer R&D center, 16 left for jobs at companies outside Connecticut, scattering to California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Colorado, and Canada. Three other Ph.D. chemists went to Bayer's German operations. The research associates, Bayer's term for bachelor's- and master's-level scientists, had better luck in Connecticut. At least 22 secured jobs at local drug or biotech companies. Another 17 ended up at firms across the Northeast and California, and a handful of others shifted to careers outside the lab."
It's no secret that having a good, pre-existing, professional network is a big help when job hunting. The article offered a few examples, including maintaining a weblog, participating in alumni networking groups, etc. Although writing a weblog can have its pitfalls, doing so has helped at least one Bayer Alum:
"[Derek] Lowe started working at Vertex Pharmaceuticals' Cambridge, Mass., site in July...A Vertex official contacted Lowe after reading his blog, called "In the Pipeline," where he occasionally updated readers about a side project dubbed "Vial Thirty-Three." His brand of scientific curiosity appears to be a match for Vertex."
The entrepreneurial spirit is also alive and well among BRC Alums. Several have launched consulting groups, scientific services companies, or joined promising startups.
"[Uday] Khire, meanwhile, is learning the ups and downs of starting a new business. Cheminpharma, the contract research company he founded in March, had a slow first three months, but it has since picked up some small projects from biotech companies. Khire has hired two former Bayer colleagues: a research associate who is working full-time and another who is working part-time. "I'm missing that regular week-to-week paycheck, but it's exciting," Khire says. Within the next year, he hopes to expand the relationship with biotech firms and to establish new relationships with big pharma."
Perhaps the most interesting line in the article is this one:
"Though they couldn't have imagined it last November, all the chemists C&EN talked to say they are happier in their new situations."
While not all alums have found their next positions yet, the morale at alumni events has been very high, and most seem to have found ways to reinvent their careers in interesting and exciting ways. For those who are still looking for the right opportunity, the BRC Alums network seems ready to help:
"And despite scattering far and wide, they have maintained a strong network of former colleagues. Rudolph frequently sends e-mail updates to a list of West Haven alumni, and they also keep track of one another through professional networking sites such as LinkedIn. Staying in touch helped colleagues provide each other with practical and emotional support during the job search. "I don't think I've ever known such a big, happy, dysfunctional family," Kramss says."
Many thanks go to Chemical & Engineering News, and especially their correspondent, Lisa Jarvis, for their continued strong coverage of the BRC Alums.
Links to original C&EN articles (ACS membership or C&EN subscription required to access the links):
The Bayer Research Community Alumni website was mentioned in the April 16, 2007 issue of Chemical & Engineering News (a subscription is required to access the full article). Here's a quote:
A "Bayer alumni" website they established enables former West Haven employees to keep in touch and pass on potential job opportunities they encounter in their search. Lowe, for example, has posted jobs he heard about through his blog.
"Every day you get a couple of e-mails with job leads," Rudolph says. "We really stuck together and didn't see each other as competitors, even though in some ways we were." His former Bayer colleagues are "a good bunch of people," he adds. "That is something I will hopefully have in my new company."
The level of collegial support has been "tremendous," Kramss adds. "It really blunted some of the dismay over being away from one's colleagues and friends. Now we have a means of staying in touch with one another." And as more scientists from West Haven find work, it creates a new network for others to tap into. Word of mouth is the best way into a company, the chemists say.
If you are a BRC alum, but you are not already a member of one of the private websites or groups, please take a look at the Yahoo Group links or the LinkedIn Group link elsewhere on this page.
Now that we have quite a few BRC Alums using LinkedIn, it's worth pointing out a potential area of confusion when using LinkedIn. Unfortunately, it is very easy to create multiple, redundant LinkedIn accounts if one is not careful.
LinkedIn accounts are keyed to email addresses, so if you use more than one email address, and you receive an invitation at an address that is not part of your LinkedIn profile, you may be prompted to create a new LinkedIn account.
To avoid the resulting confusion, simply add your various email addresses to your LinkedIn account by editing your account settings.
If you have accidentally created multiple LinkedIn accounts, take these steps to resolve the issue:
For more information, please review the LinkedIn FAQ. 
Many BRC Alums have been using LinkedIn to help to manage their professional networks.
LinkedIn has several features specifically designed for groups like ours, so today we are launching the "Bayer Research Community Alums" LinkedIn group as a complement (not a replacement!) for our private Yahoo groups (see the sidebar on the right for links to the Yahoo groups).
All members of the BRC Alums and Beyond Berlex Yahoo groups are invited to join the LinkedIn group, as are individuals from the broader Bayer/Berlex alumni community.
The Yahoo Group will remain our forum for private group communications, while the LinkedIn group will aim to facilitate one-on-one networking among a broader community.
Through the BRC Alums Group on LinkedIn you can:
Whether you use LinkedIn already or you're new to LinkedIn, if you are part of the Bayer/Berlex Research Alumni Community, please feel free to join the members-only BRC Alums LinkedIn Group!
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