The Atlanta BEST Program
“Beyond the Professoriate: Transforming Pathways
for Biomedical Research Careers”
Funded by: NIH 1DP7OD018424
Emory Laney Graduate School, in partnership with the
Emory Office of Postdoctoral Education
and
Georgia Tech
Nael A. McCarty, Program Director
RFA-RM-12-022
Announced March 4, 2013
NIH Director’s Biomedical Research Workforce Innovation Award:
Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) (DP7)
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. McCarty, Contact PI and Program Director
Cora MacBeth, Associate Program Director
Keith Wilkinson, Lisa Tedesco, Mary DeLong, Wendy Newstetter, MPIs
Steering Committee:
Julie Gazmararian, Steve Deweerth, Steve Sencer, Par Marstellar, Giselle
Bennett, Cora MacBeth, Todd Sherer, Huw Davies, Marie Thursby, Michael
Sacks, Julia Melkers, students TBN
Partnerships:
GaBio, GRA, Carter Center, CARE, Healthcare Georgia Fdn, The CDC,
American Cancer Society, Kaiser Permanente, GTRI, GaTech’s TI:GER, etc.
Program Objectives
The Atlanta BEST program will establish programmatic alternatives for
adapting pre-doctoral and postdoctoral training to meet 21st 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 21st 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
Track 1
Title
Law and Business: Entrepreneurship and Consulting
TI:GER-lite program
Kauffman FastTrack TechVenture Course, Emory OTT
Lead Institution
Georgia Tech
Track 2 Detail
Career Tracks
Track
Track 2
Title
Communications: Scientific Writing, Journalism, Public
Policy and Outreach
Postdoc Exec Council - Science Writing Workshop
Workshop on communicating to public and media
Internships: AAAS Policy Fellowships
Scientific Writing at Emory group
Course on Science Writing
Writing Center
Lead Institution
Emory
Track 3 Detail
Career Tracks
Track
Track 3
Title
STEM Education
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
Track 4
Title
Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property
Kauffman FastTrack TechVenture Course, Emory OTT
Internships, Emory OTT
Lead Institution
Emory
Track 5 Detail
Career Tracks
Track
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
Track 6
Title
Industrial Science: Biotech / Pharmaceutical (GA-Bio)
Kauffman FastTrack TechVenture 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,
Two
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 FastTrac TechVenture”
?
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.