Dr. Payne acquired her interest in chemistry from a high school teacher. As an undergraduate at the University of California at Davis, she designed her own major entitled Environmental Biochemistry, keeping the math and scientific method from chemistry while adding at little biology and environmental science into the mix. She applied to a job posting at the UCD Career Center that seemed to match her interest and major in environmental biochemistry and she was hired as a biochemist in the Biochemical Design group at Stauffer Chemical in Richmond, CA. After a few years with Stauffer Chemical, Lori applied to join the Peace Corps, another long held goal from high school. Because of her biochemistry background, Lori was placed at a regional research center in Costa Rica as an agroforestry extensionist and served as resource for other Peace Corps volunteers. Lori's desire to learn more about the trees and plants she was working with morphed into a doctorate in chemistry from Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge. From there, Dr. Payne sought a position in medicinal chemistry at Merck & Co., Inc. in New Jersey where she was hired as a Senior Research Chemist in the Analytical Research Department. Lori was promoted several times at Merck and its joint venture Merial in the 10 years she was there when she decided to move back to the West Coast and join the contract research organization (CRO), BASi as Laboratory Manager. Dr. Payne's most recent promotion was to Vice-President of the company in the Analytical and Discovery Services area.

From biochemist to Vice-President: Matching education and interests with job opportunities

246th National Meeting (2013)

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