Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise It was the stuff of rock-n-roll dreams. Tom Stratton and his buddies from Cranford, N.J., had played in an indie-rock band since he was 13. When Tom was a Rowan University sophomore in 2004, the band called Socratic did a show in Los Angeles, and a record company offered them a contract that night.

He left school, played drums and guitar on tour in Asia and Australia and throughout the U.S., recorded albums, and now 10 years later is still earning high praise for his work, though not as a musician. Tom Stratton has become a very talented biomedical scientist conducting top-level pharmaceutical research in a lab at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.

Stratton is doing this sophisticated work even though he still doesnt have a college degree, though at age 30 he is well on his way toward earning one as a chemistry major at Rutgers University-Newark.

Stratton returned to college last year after deciding that music as a career had played itself out. The music industry is very difficult, but it was a no-regrets experience, he says as he sits in a small room filled with whirring equipment on the top floor of the medical school, a white lab coat protecting his regular clothes. It was awesome and it made me who I am.

Theres a recording studio farm in Massachusetts that the Rolling Stones had built, Stratton recalls happily. There are horses, pigs they make breakfast for you and clean up after you. We recorded our first record there. We did our second album in Hollywood with a guy named Mark Hoppus. He was an idol of mine as a kid. Socratic made four albums that got wide distribution.

But as web streaming took over the music world, the bands record company folded. After self-producing and distributing its last album, the group disbanded and Stratton shifted mostly to audio mixing and other studio jobs to make his living. He considers that some of his finest and most satisfying work, but didnt see a durable career in it. He also bought, and still owns, a piece of a bar and music club in Kenilworth called 10th Street Live.

For his decision to return to college, Stratton gives great credit to his super supportive mother and stepfather. Mary Beth Occi is a nurse and James Occi is a biomedical researcher and for as long as Tom can remember, conversation at home was filled with discussions of science and the healing arts. The more they talked, the more Tom recognized their passions in himself.

His first time in college, he was a chemical engineering major. While he did fine, he says, school always took a back seat to his music. Now, with his parents guidance, his focus is firmly back on science.

Read more here:

From Rock-'n'-Roller to Biomedical Scientist