Lantheus Luminaries: Paul L., Research Investigator
June 10, 2025 | 3-Minute Read Time
Lantheus Luminaries offers a closer look at the people and processes that make our purpose to Find, Fight and Follow® disease possible.
Meet Paul L., Research Investigator
Our commitment to improving patient outcomes is keenly felt in our labs, where Lantheus products are developed, optimized and validated. Throughout that process, the safety of patients falls directly in the hands of medical lab team members like Paul L., a Research Investigator.
Paul began working in life sciences while pursuing a PhD at Tufts University. With a background in material science and analytical chemistry, a career focused on advancements to improve efficiency of cancer radiotherapy was a natural transition. Paul joined the Lantheus team in 2023 and quickly became an integral part of our daily lab work.
An Essential Role in Patient Safety
For Paul, a typical day revolves around providing essential analytical support to our Process Development team. “The Process team will synthesize a batch of drug product, and my group will analyze that drug product to determine if the synthetic process modifications made by the Process team improved the quality and stability of the drug product,” Paul explains. In short? “The specifics of my role can vary, but at its core, my function is to ensure patient safety.”
Collaboration is critical in this task. Paul’s team works closely—and quickly—together.
“The window we have to work with drug products is very narrow due to the half-life of radioisotopes. To gain an accurate understanding of whether our experiments were successful, we have a matter of minutes in some instances. A key skill for success in my role is to be able to communicate, respond and pivot if needed. This is all predicated on having an innate trust and respect for my team members, allowing us to execute impactful, complex and time-sensitive research.”
Beyond the lab, Paul engages with Lantheus’ global manufacturing network as a subject matter expert (SME), ensuring the smooth implementation of new analytical processes for quality control testing.
Personal and Professional Motivations
At every step of the way, Paul is motivated by the same purpose that drives each of us on the Lantheus team.
“Like many, I’ve lost several family members to cancer and Alzheimer’s and know firsthand how devastating these diseases are for patients and their families…. Knowing that what I do helps safely provide diagnostic information to patients is what gets me out of bed every day. Additionally, being part of a team that is supporting the commercialization of two Alzheimer’s diagnostic agents is the most rewarding scientific effort I have ever been a part of.”
While these pursuits fulfill Paul’s personal and professional motivations to advance science, they find time outside of the lab to flex the creative side of their brain.
“I spend much of my time cooking and baking sourdough bread with my partner, Nick. A lot of my time is happily spent tending to our 70+ houseplants and ever-expanding garden…. Finally, one of my favorite things to do is exploring my practice in the yoga studio. I’ve found that investing time and energy into myself and important folks in my life helps me recharge and keep things in perspective.”
Paul has tapped into something that is true for each of us on the Lantheus team: maintaining perspective is crucial. When we enjoy our own personal time and relationships, we’re reminded of how our work impacts patients’ ability to do the same.
Paul’s dedication to our work, mirrored by countless others in our labs, underscores the vital role that R&D professionals play in bringing our purpose to life.
