Postdoctoral fellows and senior graduate students interacting with expert Dr. Kenneth To at Career Day.
It’s not every day that you’ll find a room full of top health and research professionals in the province who are ready to be put on the spot and answer questions about their career paths. But on October 8 that was exactly the scene UBC students discovered in the Graduate Student Society Ballroom. What was the occasion? The Faculty of Medicine’s Career Day.
Organized annually by the Faculty of Medicine Postdoctoral Professional Development Team, Career Day is an opportunity for postdoctoral fellows and senior graduate students to meet with experts from a variety of fields and sectors – everything from academia and research, industry and business, through to government and communications.
First established in 2006, Career Day continues to be a popular event. This year, over 80 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows were in attendance. They came prepared, armed with questions to ask invited experts about their career journey and eager to discover what steps they took to get to where they are today.
According to Lisa Wong, a co-organizer of the event and the Graduate and Postdoctoral Research Coordinator for the Faculty of Medicine, the success of Career Day lies in the fact that it’s informal and highly personal, giving postdoctoral fellows the chance to engage with experts face-to-face.
“Postdoctoral fellows are in a bit of a transitional period – they have completed their doctoral degrees and are transitioning into careers as independent researchers” says Wong. “A lot of times, we find that postdoctoral fellows don’t necessarily get exposed to careers outside of academia – so the purpose of events like this is to give registrants an opportunity to engage with researchers who have branched out into a variety of career paths in a slightly more informal and intimate setting.”
With 28 experts from local research institutes, pharmaceutical companies, and government agencies, registrants were given ample opportunity to learn from leaders in their respective fields during intimate breakout sessions and an hour-long networking session at the close of the event.
Dr. Erin Pleasance
For former UBC student, Dr. Erin Pleasance, this year’s Career Day was particularly special as she was returning not as a student, but as an invited expert.
“I have such visions of myself here as a graduate student – now ten years ago,” says Dr. Pleasance, who is now a staff scientist at BC Cancer Agency. “I’m really interested to hear from other people about what kind of things they’re interested in, and questions they have and I’m hoping some of my experience will be useful for someone else to hear. I’m really excited about the kind of work that I do so I hope to show that excitement in the field of medicine.”
The event was also a special occasion for guest speaker, Dr. Wendy Boivin, who says she has Career Day to thank for helping her land her current position at Boehringer Ingelheim as a Medical Science Liaison. Read Dr. Boivin’s full story here.
What did the students think of the event? We got a chance to sit and chat with a few of the postdoctoral fellows and graduate students who attended the event and capture their educational background, career aspirations and expectations of Career Day.
Ravi Munuganti
Student: Ravi Munuganti
Program: PhD student in the Experimental Medicine Program
Why you’re here today: I’m going to be finishing my PhD so I am looking for job opportunities in industry so I am here to ask experts about the best way to approach industry and look for opportunities.
Where do you hope to be in 5 years? Working as a research scientist in the pharmaceutical industry.
Anna D’Souza
Student: Anna D’Souza
Program: Cellular and Physiological Sciences
What are you studying? I am conducting research on diabetes, using animal models to figure out therapies for Type I and Type II diabetes.
Why you’re here today? I am exploring my options beyond academia. We don’t really get exposed to careers in industry and other areas, like government, so this is a great opportunity to talk to people in these fields and it’s a really small, one-on-one setting.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Working in diabetes research, but also chronic disease in general.