
Meet Ben Adams, with the lofty job title Manager of Transplant Products and Laboratory Services!
Ben joined VH Bio in 2017, so we are revisiting our Q&A to introduce you to in more detail!
Describe what your job entails.
A lot! As Manager of Transplant Products I guide a small team in the sales and technical support of One Lambda (ThermoFisher Scientific) products. We support approximately 25 labs across the UK and Ireland and, more recently, in Barbados! I still get to keep my hand in with understanding the transplant diagnostic products, software and instruments, but now have a more strategic role to promote newer products that can add value to our clinical colleagues and their patients. I also have some company-level commitments e.g. within the management team and considering Regulatory and Quality Management. And I’m often found at the business end working on submissions for Tenders, contracts etc.!
Oh, and I’ve helped build a Laboratory Services business alongside our Managing Director where we perform mainly HLA genotyping for research.
What is your career and/or educational background?
I’ve always been very applied academically. I graduated with Honours in Virology but, after a year working at H&M (!) I entered the Clinical Scientist training pathway. Between 2005 and 2017 I worked in Cardiff and Manchester to progress from a Trainee to a Senior Clinical Scientist role – and still maintain my Clinical Scientist registration today. Postgraduate I’ve gained certification from the Royal College of Pathologists and a few diplomas (British Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, and Management and Leadership in the Healthcare Sciences). Right now I’m taking a break from education (although learning Spanish!) and have enjoyed working with VH Bio since 2017.
In your opinion, what is the greatest advancement in the history of science?
The discovery of DNA was pretty pivotal but I sort of want to say polymerase chain reaction (PCR); it’s a bread-and-butter molecular biology technique that so much is built upon!
When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Young me wanted to be an Architect, but then I realised I couldn’t draw so had to think again! I started doing well in Biology so thereafter my direction became pretty well set.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
I try to do a lot of running and have completed over a dozen marathons. And I really like cooking; I spend hours in the kitchen and have a strict no-waste which policy means I always have a full freezer and can be found making weird food like stem soup!
What is your favourite animal?
I think it has to be cats. They’re evil, but I’m definitely a cat person.
What was the worst job you’ve ever had?
I did a stint in a small computer repair business, but I was pretty rubbish as didn’t have a background in IT… or much training! I hated it.
Describe your perfect weekend.
It’d start with a Friday evening trip to Sainsbury’s to bag clearance ahahaha. Thereafter the perfect weekend is one that’s productive – ideally a lot of time being outside, moving, and getting a lot done – whether it’s tidying the garden or pickling carrots!
What is your favourite film?
There’s a film called A Single Man which is Tom Ford’s directorial debut; it’s so beautifully filmed… I love it.
If you had to eat one meal, every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?
You can’t go wrong with curry!
What is on your bucket list?
I really just want to see as much of the world as possible, so ideally plenty of travel and some time spent living abroad. I spent some time living in Sweden and would happily go back. But after a trip to Panama early 2024 I’m seriously considering uprooting to South American in the future!
What is the first concert you attended?
It was Jason Donovan’s Doin’ Fine Tour… I was 9! My Dad took me to Whitley Bay Ice Rink, we (I) had a blast! Little did I know I was going to ditch him in favour of Kylie all these years later!
5 famous people – dead or alive – that you would invite to a dinner party?
I’ve spent years being obsessed with Tori Amos (singer-songwriter) and Kylie Minogue, so definitely those two. And Jeremy Corbyn, he’s got an interesting world-view and politics. I’d rather keep it small to be honest, but if I had to invite two more… maybe Barack Obama, and Ru Paul!
What do you think sets VH Bio apart as an employer?
About this, I recently said ‘I’d learned a lot and been able to spread my wings’ when I hit my 7-year employment anniversary. That pretty much sums it up, a lot of opportunity to learn and try new things, and space to grow. And as a small company, we’re both well looked after and feel like a family.
Thanks for sharing, Ben, we are grateful to have you on the VH Bio team!
If you’d like to connect, find Ben on X – @icingboy – or on LinkedIn!