The Atlanta BEST Program Beyond the Professoriate Transforming

The Atlanta BEST Program “Beyond the Professoriate: Transforming Pathways for Biomedical Research Careers” Funded by: NIH 1 DP 7 OD 018424 Emory Laney Graduate School, in partnership with the Emory Office of Postdoctoral Education and Georgia Tech Nael A. Mc. Carty, Program Director

RFA-RM-12 -022 Announced March 4, 2013 NIH Director’s Biomedical Research Workforce Innovation Award: Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) (DP 7) Objectives: The purpose of this FOA is to seek, identify and support bold and innovative approaches to broaden graduate and postdoctoral training, such that training programs reflect the range of career options that trainees (regardless of funding source) ultimately may pursue and that are required for a robust biomedical, behavioral, social and clinical research enterprise. Collaborations with non-academic partners are encouraged to ensure that experts from a broad spectrum of research and research-related careers contribute to coursework, rotations, internships or other forms of exposure. This program will establish a new paradigm for graduate and postdoctoral training; awardee institutions will work together to define needs and share best practices.

The Atlanta BEST Program Nael A. Mc. Carty, Contact PI and Program Director Cora Mac. Beth, Associate Program Director Keith Wilkinson, Lisa Tedesco, Mary De. Long, Wendy Newstetter, MPIs Steering Committee: Julie Gazmararian, Steve Deweerth, Steve Sencer, Par Marstellar, Giselle Bennett, Cora Mac. Beth, Todd Sherer, Huw Davies, Marie Thursby, Michael Sacks, Julia Melkers, students TBN Partnerships: Ga. Bio, GRA, Carter Center, CARE, Healthcare Georgia Fdn, The CDC, American Cancer Society, Kaiser Permanente, GTRI, Ga. Tech’s TI: GER, etc.

Program Objectives The Atlanta BEST program will establish programmatic alternatives for adapting pre-doctoral and postdoctoral training to meet 21 st century scientific workforce needs by engaging in a transformation of the culture of training – in both a top-down and bottom-up approach – by creating new opportunities for both the trainees and the training/mentoring faculty. Specific Aims Aim 1 To expose trainees to a broad variety of career pathways beyond the academy Aim 2 To provide trainees deep immersion into a specific career pathway beyond the academy Aim 3 To better equip faculty at Emory and Georgia Tech to train graduate students and postdoctoral fellows for the 21 st century workforce

Program Structure Year One: Breadth • Trainees’ Personal Career Choices and Leadership Development Completion of the online IDP specifically designed for STEM trainees Networking with Emory and GA Tech alumni and representatives Taking advantage of availability of courses at Emory or GA Tech to develop career skills Quarterly mentor meetings with the Director of the Internships of the career path(s) of interest • Lecture Series on leadership training • Lecture Series on the Business and Law of the Biotechnology Industry • Leveraged Career Opportunity Programs at Emory and Georgia Tech Year Two: Depth • Part-time nternship in one of six career tracks

Program Structure Career Tracks Track Title Lead Institution Track 1 Law and Business: Entrepreneurship and Consulting Georgia Tech Track 2 Communications: Scientific Writing, Journalism, Public Policy and Outreach Emory Track 3 STEM Education Georgia Tech Track 4 Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Emory Track 5 Research: Non-tenure Track, Governmental and Contract Research Organizations Georgia Tech Track 6 Industrial Science: Biotech / Pharmaceutical (GA-Bio) Emory The BEST program will coordinate and build upon existing expertise and professional development programming at Emory and Georgia Tech to provide career guidance and to create a cohort of expert mentors in a variety of STEM careers that can serve as internship and/or individual career advisors.

Track 1 Detail Career Tracks Track 1 Title Law and Business: Entrepreneurship and Consulting TI: GER-lite program Kauffman Fast. Track Tech. Venture Course, Emory OTT Lead Institution Georgia Tech

Track 2 Detail Career Tracks Track 2 Title Communications: Scientific Writing, Journalism, Public Policy and Outreach Postdoc Exec Council - Science Writing Workshop on communicating to public and media Internships: AAAS Policy Fellowships Scientific Writing at Emory group Course on Science Writing Center Lead Institution Emory

Track 3 Detail Career Tracks Track 3 Title STEM Educational program thru CETL, certificate program Research and Science Teaching Prog. for Postdocs Certificate for Teaching Science Lead Institution Georgia Tech

Track 4 Detail Career Tracks Track 4 Title Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Kauffman Fast. Track Tech. Venture Course, Emory OTT Internships, Emory OTT Lead Institution Emory

Track 5 Detail Career Tracks Track 5 Title Research: Non-tenure Track, Governmental and Contract Research Organizations Gov'l and NGO Career Fair, Partnership with RSPH Internship at CDC Internship with Medical Benevolence Foundations or Non-governmental agencies Carter Center American Cancer Society Healthcare GA Fdn CARE Am Heart Association Lab management course (five 2 -hour sessions) Grant-writing course Internships at GTRI Lead Institution Georgia Tech

Track 6 Detail Career Tracks Track 6 Title Industrial Science: Biotech / Pharmaceutical (GA-Bio) Kauffman Fast. Track Tech. Venture Course, Emory OTT Emerging Leaders Network thru Georgia Bio First Contact program Internships at Atlanta-area biotech companies Lead Institution Emory

Typical student experience Year Event Time commitment One Completion of IDP, quarterly advisory meetings 3 hours Lecture series on leadership training 8 two-hour sessions Lecture series on business & law of biotech industry 10 one-to-two hour sessions Career symposium, networking, Optional seminars or workshops at Emory or GT *(Each trainee receives $1, 000 of Professional Development Funds, to use to cover costs associated with these workshops) Examples: “Professionalization Workshops” “Beyond the Professoriate” “Kauffman Fast. Trac Tech. Venture” Two ? Part-time internship within a specified Track 4 - 8 hours per week for 1 semester (8 – 10 weeks) * Professional Development Funds can only be provided to trainees who are U. S. citizens or permanent residents.

Timing for First Cohort (compressed) Year Timing Event One Starting in mid-March Completion of IDP Starting in April Lecture series on business & law of biotech industry Starting in June Lecture series on leadership Two Starting in September Part-time internship in Track of your choice Both Starting in June Faculty development program

Vision for Intended Outcomes in 5 Years • Short-Term Goals: Broaden the potential career choices of trainees by providing exposure to careers outside of tenure-track academic positions, encouraging self-awareness and enabling preparation for a career path that fits best • Intermediate Goals: Enable faculty to engage more broadly in training pre-doctoral and postdoctoral candidates, preparing them for career options beyond replication of their own path • Long-Range Goals: Identify and disseminate best practices developed from this work; incorporate the findings from this program into new structures for pre-doctoral and postdoctoral training • Intended Outcomes: Culture change, from both the trainee and trainer perspectives, resulting in improved training for a diverse array of careers

Application Guidelines To be considered for the program, graduate applicants must: be full-time students in a doctoral program, in good standing both with their respective graduate school and in their programs, have completed at least one year of graduate study, have completed their qualifying examinations (this may require program-specific flexibility), and have a strong letter of support from their mentor To be considered for the program, postdoctoral applicants must: have completed at least six months in their mentor’s lab and have a strong letter of support from their mentor Application guidelines and instructions can be found on the best website at gs. emory. edu/sites/best.