New America Media, News Report, Vickie Cheng
SAN FRANCISCO – Elsa Eder stands in her lab coat, preparing to inject genes from one cell into another. Biotechnology isn’t something the 40-year-old former journalist ever expected to be studying, but when she lost her job with a local media outlet at the height of the Great Recession she was suddenly forced to make a dramatic career change.
She eventually came across City College of San Francisco’s Bridge to Biotech program, which works to expand access for the city’s low-income and minority residents to this rapidly growing sector.
“I noticed the Bridge to Biotech course on [CCSF’s] website a couple of times, but never had the courage to try,” says Eder, who is Filipino American. She holds a bachelor’s degree in international studies and psychology, as well as a master’s degree in communications.
With no background in science, she credits the program’s counselors for helping her get past her own reservations about being qualified. “They were very supportive … [and] explained to me what the course was about in detail, semester by semester,” she said.
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