He Thought He’d Be a Surgeon. One Year in the Lab Changed Everything.
What our Summer 2026 intern class took away from a candid conversation with BMS Chief Research Officer Robert Plenge — on career uncertainty, first principles, and learning to hold your ‘why’ tightly and your ‘how’ loosely. Robert Plenge was a basketball-obsessed teenager with a plan: play through injuries, study hard, become an orthopedic surgeon. It was a good plan. And then a single research fellowship year arrived and, as he put it, “totally changed my life.” That pivot – from confident plan to complete redirection – became the through line of this summer’s Fireside Chat between BMS Executive Vice President and Chief Research Officer Dr. Robert Plenge and our Summer […]
He Thought He’d Be a Surgeon. One Year in the Lab Changed Everything. Read More »
What our Summer 2026 intern class took away from a candid conversation with BMS Chief Research Officer Robert Plenge — on career uncertainty, first principles, and learning to hold your ‘why’ tightly and your ‘how’ loosely. Robert Plenge was a basketball-obsessed teenager with a plan: play through injuries, study hard, become an orthopedic surgeon. It was a good plan. And then a single research fellowship year arrived and, as he put it, “totally changed my life.” That pivot – from confident plan to complete redirection – became the through line of this summer’s Fireside Chat between BMS Executive Vice President and Chief Research Officer Dr. Robert Plenge and our Summer














