Career Profiles
In 1979 a young David Olsen stood in the Messiah College gymnasium. He had no idea what he wanted to study as a college student, and he had been sent with the other undecided students of his class to the gym, where department representatives had set up stations to help the unresolved narrow down their options. Glancing at the various departmental signs, including English, history, and math, David did not find anything seemed to pique his interests until his eyes rested on "Natural Sciences." After deciding on a general field of study, David first chose a major in biology. Assuming that he ought to be getting A's in his major, and soon noting that he only seemed to get B's in biology, he then switched to chemistry.
David didn't limit his time at Messiah to scientific activities; he pursued his extracurricular interest in photography by serving as the photography editor for both the yearbook and the newspaper. Around this time the campus newspaper editors ran a contest to rename the paper. Since the swinging bridge had just been built, David thought it would be fitting to unite the new additions to campus, and The Swinging Bridge was born.
Although David was not entirely sure what vocational path he wanted to pursue after graduation, he figured that any substantial position in the field of chemistry would require a master's degree and a doctorate, so he headed to the University of Maryland for graduate study.
David did not stop at the University of Maryland. He continued on to the Max-Plank Institute of Experimental Medicine in Germany, where he completed a 3 year postdoctoral study. In 1991 he accepted an offer to work at Merck Laboratories, where he has been ever since. He has held many positions at Merck, working with numerous forms and styles of chemistry, and he is now a senior investigator.
David works in the laboratory these days very little given his current position, spending most of his days designing experiments and interpreting experimental results generated by scientists in his group. He spends a substantial amount of time somewhere many wouldn't expect - at a desk. When asked what he does all day, David laughingly replies, "Check email." He illustrates that even biochemists are bound to paperwork.
REMEMBER...
• "Try to find somebody in a field you might be interested in, and try to spend a day with them on the job."
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David uses his gifts and skills to serve humanity through the natural sciences. His talent in highly technical scientific research enables him to address pressing human issues in ways that not many others can. For example, a drug for HIV that he co-discovered with a team of research scientists has been used to extend the lives of thousands of patients, and he is currently working on discovering a drug for Hepatitis C viral infections. "I do what I can given my opportunities," David admits, but quickly shifts the praise: "The Lord has helped me and put me in a position where I can make a difference," he says. Moreover, David doesn't stop serving others when he clocks out. He is very involved in missions work and teaching at his church, and in the raising of his three young children at home.
Profile by Angela Kriebel, 2005
Choosing a Major