Making the Leap: A Non-Academic Career Planning & Job Search Boot Camp

Speakers

Organizer

Monica L Kerr, PhD

The New York Academy of Sciences

Monica Kerr earned her PhD in cell and developmental biology from the Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program at Harvard Medical School. She studied in the cancer biology laboratory of National Academy of Sciences member Lewis Cantley where she identified a new protein in the PI 3-kinase pathway. She then explored the role of this previously uncharacterized protein in Norbert Perrimon's laboratory, employing functional genetic techniques in Drosophila.

Drawn to an interest in improving graduate and postdoctoral training, Kerr subsequently took on the role of Instructor and Curriculum Fellow in the Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Department at Harvard Medical School. Through this unique experience, intended for biomedical PhDs interested in teaching and higher education, she taught and developed science-based curricula for undergraduate, graduate, and medical school science courses as well as spearheaded career advancement initiatives for science PhDs. Throughout her tenure at Harvard, Monica received two teaching awards and founded a new Professional Development Series for Life Scientists. She was also selected to participate in a 3-week in-residence training program for Educators in Health Professions through the Harvard Macy Institute, where she learned about innovative teaching practices and approaches to creating institutional transformation.

Kerr joined the New York Academy of Sciences in February 2010 as the Director of Science Alliance, a program dedicated to helping young scientists attain successful and rewarding careers. Kerr leverages her science PhD training and expertise in higher education to oversee the conceptualization, development, and organization of the Academy's preeminent career and professional training seminars, workshops, and courses for graduate students and postdocs in the sciences. She launched the successful new programs From Scientist to CSO: Leadership & Management Development for Careers in Business and Industry and Making the Leap: A Non-Academic Career Planning & Job Search Boot Camp. Kerr is also the course director and lead instructor for the technology entrepreneurship class From Idea to IPO. She regularly presents career and professional development workshops at graduate and postdoctoral programs throughout New York City and abroad, and has been invited to speak at local and international events on topics spanning PhD training and careers, entrepreneurship education, and women in science. Kerr was recently certified as a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® practitioner, allowing her to administer and use the MBTI® tool in future career development, leadership training, and teambuilding programs for scientists.

Speakers

Melanie Sinche, MS

Harvard University

Melanie Sinche currently serves as Director of the FAS Office of Postdoctoral Affairs in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. In this role, she serves over 1,000 postdocs across a variety of disciplines, assisting with their career and professional development, and advises university administrators on issues pertaining to postdoctoral scholars. Melanie is also currently serving on a committee within the National Postdoctoral Association to improve data collection on postdoc services across the U.S. She is an accomplished career counselor, trainer, and speaker. In addition to building two university career centers for postdoctoral scholars, she has offered career development presentations and training sessions for universities, government agencies, professional associations, and non-profit organizations across the country.

Melanie came to Harvard from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where she served as a Consultant and Career Counselor. In this role, she assisted in the design, planning, and implementation of the first NIH-wide career center for intramural trainees. Her duties included defining services, recruiting staff, developing workshops, creating content for the career center website, and authoring a careers blog for scientists. Prior to working with the NIH, Melanie served as the Founding Director of the Office of Postdoctoral Services at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Melanie earned a Bachelor's degree from Colgate University and a Master's degree from the University of Michigan. Melanie completed a second Master's degree in counseling at North Carolina State University and possesses the National Certified Counselor (NCC) credential.

Keith Micoli, PhD

New York University School of Medicine

Keith received his BA in marine biology/neurobiology from New College of Florida in 1993 and his PhD from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2001. His dissertation project studied HIV/AIDS pathogenesis and focused on the role of HIV-1 gp41 cytoplasmic tail in apoptotic cell death. Keith continued at UAB as a postdoc on an NRSA T32 fellow, studying HIV fusion with target cells and worked to identify mutants of gp41 that were deficient in mediating virus entry. During his stay at UAB, he was also a research associate and Instructor in the Department of Pathology and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Biology at Samford University.

Keith's interest in postdoctoral training at a national level was developed by volunteering with the National Postdoctoral Association, where he was Chair of the Policy Committee, Strategic Planning Committee, and a member of the Outreach, Membership, Finance, and Meeting Committees. He served on the NPA Board of Directors for four years and was Board Chairman from 2004 to 2006. During this time, the NPA transitioned from a special project of AAAS into an independent 501(c) non-profit corporation. During his tenure as Chair, the NPA successfully worked with the NIH to start the K99/R00 grant mechanism and helped NIH and NSF develop a unified definition of a postdoc.

He left academic research to pursue a full-time position with New York University School of Medicine as Postdoctoral Program Director in 2008. Since that time, the program has developed numerous formal programs to foster postdoc training, including a grantwriting course, lab management series, and a course in pedagogy. He has also expanded his role to include career development programs for graduate students and organized a popular career discussion series that brings PhDs who have chosen a wide variety of careers together to discuss what their transition was like and how people can position themselves to be competitive when opportunities present themselves. His biggest challenge has been the organization of What Can You Be with a PhD?, a career symposium that brings together over 1300 graduate students and postdocs from New York City for two days of talks and workshops. This program featured over 110 speakers and covered 20 different career options and numerous career development workshops in 2011 and planning for the 2013 version is underway.

His passion is encouraging postdocs and graduate students to take responsibility for their own success and providing the resources they need to develop their own careers.

Lauren Celano, MBA

Propel Careers

Lauren Celano is the co-founder and CEO of Propel Careers, a life science search and career development firm focused on connecting talented individuals with entrepreneurial life sciences companies. Propel works with current leaders and actively cultivates future leaders through full time placement, internships, mentoring, career coaching, and networking. Propel Careers is engaged across all areas of life sciences, including therapeutics, medical devices, healthcare IT, diagnostics, consulting, venture capital, and investment banking. Prior to Propel Careers, Lauren was a senior account manager for SNBL USA where she worked with emerging biotech companies in Europe, Asia, and the US to help characterize and advance their drug molecules. Prior to SNBL USA, she held business development positions with Aptuit and Quintiles, where she focused on IND enabling studies to advance therapeutics from discovery into the clinic.

Earlier in her career, Lauren held positions as a marketing manager and account manager at Absorption Systems, where she was responsible for managing life sciences companies in the northeastern United States. She has a BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Gettysburg College and an MBA with a focus in the health sector and entrepreneurship from Boston University. Lauren is on the membership committee of the Boston Chapter of the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association and she also serves on the programming committee of the Capital Network.

Jeanne Garbarino, PhD

The Rockefeller University

Jeanne Garbarino, PhD, is the Director of Science Outreach at The Rockefeller University in New York City. Jeanne earned her PhD in nutritional and metabolic biology from Columbia University, where she developed an environmental and genetic model to study the process of lipid-induced cell death using yeast as a model system. She continued her studies in lipid metabolism as a postdoctoral researcher at The Rockefeller University, where she characterized proteins involved in the cellular transport of cholesterol. In addition to her role as a scientific researcher, Jeanne has been involved in many science communication and outreach initiatives, including co-founding SpotOn NYC (SoNYC), which is a monthly science discussion series held at The Rockefeller University in collaboration with Nature.com and Ars Technica. Jeanne is also the biology editor of the popular science blog, Double X Science. As a science writer, Jeanne often contributes to Nature.com, Scientific American, and Huffington Post Science, as well as Double X Science.

Laura Stark Malisheski, PhD

Harvard University

Laura Stark Malisheski holds a PhD in neuroscience from Yale University and completed post-doctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania before making a transition to career counseling. She has ten years experience counseling graduate students and PhDs through the challenges of graduate study and into careers, both within and outside academia. Laura specializes in working with those seeking academic faculty positions and those considering career transition beyond academia.

In addition to career counseling, Laura coordinates an extensive line-up of career events for graduate students and presents many career and professional development workshops. She has spoken at numerous professional conferences, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society for Microbiology, and the American Chemical Society and has written career articles for media outlets such as ScienceCareers.org and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Sharon Belden Castonguay, EdD

Baruch College

Sharon Belden Castonguay is a career consultant with over a decade of experience working with PhDs and MBAs at all levels of their careers. She is currently the Director of the Graduate Career Management Center at Baruch College's Zicklin School of Business. Previously, she served as an assistant director for PhD career services at Harvard. She first became known for her expertise in negotiating compensation when teaching a course in career development and serving as a career counselor at Boston University School of Management. She received her doctorate in human development from Harvard, where her research focused on career decision making within the business world.