Tim Subashi
Senior Scientist

Pfizer Global Research and Development, Groton, CT

"Like I got hit by a bolt of lightning."

How many of us could say that we had such a "eureka!" moment when trying to figure out the age-old question of "what do I want to be when I grow up?" And while sitting in a cell biology class, no less. Senior Scientist Tim Subashi discovered his passion while learning about recombinant DNA at a seminar given by Nobel Laureate Paul Berg at the Pennsylvania State University.

Tim went on to receive his degree in Microbiology from Penn State and joined Pfizer Global R&D soon afterwards. He started in Discovery within the Infectious Disease department, before moving into Natural Products, and then into his current role within Exploratory Medicinal Sciences. In this area, Tim supports therapeutic area project teams such as oncology, metabolic diseases (like diabetes) and cardiovascular programs by providing target proteins for use in high throughput screening, structural biology and assay development (an assay is a test used to measure the effects of potential new medicines against the disease area target proteins).

Tim's efforts were recognized when he was awarded the 2004 Pfizer Global Research and Development Achievement Award for introducing Wave Bioreactor technology for cell culture to the Pfizer labs.

This year marks Tim's 25th year at Pfizer - and his motivation is still running high because, "Our work is a righteous work. We bring people hope." Not a bad reason to get out of bed each morning. Also bringing meaning to his days are his wife, a fellow Pfizer Scientist and three children.

When not growing microscopic cells in the Pfizer labs, Tim likes to grow things on a giant scale-giant pumpkins, to be exact. He's even had a few that have tipped the scales at 400lbs.