At Atuka’s facility in Suzhou, China, the team that Su Jin oversees as operations manager conducts both small and large scale non-human primate studies for our partners around the world. Born just an hour’s drive away in Changshu, Su Jin has spent all of his study and working life in and around the interconnected cities of the Yangtze delta. He speaks fondly of his hometown, known for its abundant and unique freshwater fish, and a correspondingly wide variety of soup-based cuisine. “The food is just wetter there,” he explains.

Su Jin studied at China Pharmaceutical University in Nanjing, majoring in scientific analysis of traditional Chinese medicine. His first job out of school was in quality assurance at a pharmaceutical manufacturing company in Suzhou. Since joining Atuka, he has rapidly progressed from animal care and management into a much broader operational role, overseeing the local team and serving as the bridge with our labs and scientists in Toronto. 

Why did you choose to move from your previous job to Atuka?

It felt like there were no real opportunities to progress there. Atuka offered a very good opportunity for my personal growth, in a way that aligns with my personal goals. I want to focus on facility management in the CRO field, and here I have a lot of responsibilities. And the people here are very nice! Company culture is also very important to me, and Atuka provides a good work-life balance.

Your job title is operations manager, but what are you really responsible for here?

I’m responsible for internal operations, team management, technician and lab management. Also for the outside operations—I contact our different collaborators and coordinate between China and Toronto. There are always new things for me that I didn’t know before. That’s always a challenge, but then when I do know those things, that’s an improvement, and it feels like real career development.

Is there a cultural difference you find working with Atuka?

I would say just more humanity. Communication is so important between a company and its employees. At my previous job, it was more like “work is work”. It felt like hearing different opinions wasn’t very important to the company. But at Atuka, the senior management is very willing and open to hearing all the different voices from its employees.

Do you have any kind of personal connection to Parkinson’s disease?

I have a relative who has Parkinson’s and daily life is hard for him. He asks me which hospital has the best doctor, is there a drug that can 100 percent treat this disease. But there’s no cure in the world to stop the progress of Parkinson’s. That’s part of my motivation. Fortunately, there are constantly new therapeutics being developed for the disease, and part of this job is always learning new things.  

Either at your work or in your broader life, is there anyone you would consider a mentor or role model?

Actually, it’s a character from an old Japanese anime about basketball called Slam Dunk. I watched it in primary school. This guy, he doesn’t know how to play basketball, but he sees this pretty girl on the team and decides he wants to be on the team too. So he trains and practices hard with this specific goal in mind, and you start to see the progress in his skills. Even when he has problems, he trains hard toward his goal. He just doesn’t stop.

Later when I was in middle school, I was a very bad student. I didn’t like to study. But then I would think about that anime, and it inspired me to work hard. In just one year, I caught up with all of the other students in time for our final examinations. I did well, and I got into a better senior school.