What are the best paths into equity research through a life sciences undergrad?

Hey everyone! I'll be starting my undergrad at UCL in Biological Sciences soon as an international student in London, and I wanted to get a feel for my career options outside of the pharma industry/academia. I was looking into careers in finance and came across equity research, which piqued my interest.

I definitely want to have biology/biochemistry be a part of my work, so that means I would be looking at biotech equity research. Is the best path into "specialized" biotech equity research straight after undergrad or after a PhD?

I'm asking this because using my undergrad years & summer internships to best position myself for a PhD program is very different from doing so for biotech equity research recruitment, so it would help to have an idea about which path I should be looking at if I want to go into this career.

Does not having an advanced degree pose a ceiling in terms of career development? And apologies if this question gets asked a lot, but how does the compensation differ right out of undergrad and post-PhD? 

And if I were to keep my options open, how could I best position myself for recruitment aside from spring weeks/summer internships? I heard a CFA 1 helps; how true is that? How crucial are summer internships for equity research (is it like the IB pipeline?)

And how big of a hurdle is visa sponsorship in the finance sphere? Is it common for international students to get sponsored for these financial careers? Once again, I am terribly sorry if these questions have been asked before. I am just trying to get a feel for the things I need to start doing once uni starts in September.