Title: Dental Student
Employer: SIUE
Previous Role: Research Analyst, Baxter Healthcare

Riley graduated in 2017 with degrees in Integrative Biology and Chemistry. He was involved in undergraduate research at Illinois, including May Berenbaum’s entomology lab and Satish Nair’s biochemistry lab. After graduating he entered the workforce for a year, working in drug discovery at Baxter Healthcare as a Research Analyst. He is currently a dental student at SIUE’s School of Dental Medicine, class of 2022.

His advice for students applying to dental schools is: “Do not put off gaining a diverse set of experiences to display yourself as a well-rounded candidate; grades alone will not cut it, take advantage of the fantastic variety of research and extracurricular opportunities that UIUC can provide. Additionally, look to the community for more opportunities like shadowing and volunteering."

Riley would be a great person to talk with if you are considering dental medicine as a career or if you’re interested in what it’s like working in the research side of the pharmaceutical industry. Contact Christina Swanson at alumnimentor@sib.illinois.edu if you would like to connect with Riley. You can also contact him directly at rjdonohoe@sbcglobal.net.