Lana Gent is a director of science at the American Heart Association in Dallas, Texas, where she coordinates networks of volunteers, the drafting of science guidelines for emergency medicine and the production of instructional videos on first aid.

What do you do?

I help to gather input from resuscitation scientists around the world who evaluate the scientific evidence that goes into the creation of our resuscitation guidelines. I'm not usually the one who is giving the talk or is the first author, but it is my team that ensures that those experts are able to do the presentation or create the publication.

How did you learn about this job?

Our lab was in a crunch for money and that made me think about what I wanted to do. Do I continue on this pathway of being a traditional lab scientist? Colleagues were encouraging me to be a medical-science liaison — a professional who teaches physicians how new medicines work — and I was going to interviews. During that process, I was contacted by a recruiter representing the American Heart Association. I didn't think I was the best fit; I didn't have a resuscitation-science background or management experience, but the recruiters knew that I had transferable skills. I convinced everyone that if I could learn stereotactic brain surgery in mice, I could learn resuscitation science.

Why is this job right for you?

No one goes to school for the type of position I have. You wear a lot of hats. The hiring manager could see that I took initiative and was passionate. I had shown that I could take on new challenges and bring people together.

What has the job taught you?

I had to learn to be resilient and inquisitive and not walk along just one path. Sometimes as scientists we pride ourselves on being contemplative, and the greatest skill set here is to simplify information and to be quick on your feet.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. For more, see go.nature.com/iyssud .