For our 2nd ASPIRE on the Road trip for 2023, we will be taking trainees to visit St. Louis, MO Oct. 18-20. Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows will spend time with area biotechnology and pharma companies learning about career paths, hearing from key leadership, touring the facilities, and meeting with alumni.

We will be visiting  Pfizer’s Chesterfield site, hosted by alumnus, Larry Thompson, PhD, Associate Research Fellow, Medicinal Sciences & BioTherapeutics.  Pfizer’s St. Louis site houses their  BioTherapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences group and enabling partners. This team is responsible for advancing Pfizer’s biologics, vaccines, and gene therapy portfolio by developing manufacturing processes and dosage forms, applying state-of-the-art analytical technologies, conducting non-GMP manufacturing and scale-up studies. This critical work enables the development of potential new medicines to treat ailments in oncology, rare disease, internal medicine, inflammation & immunology, and vaccines, including biosimilars.

We will also be visting Bayer, the Danforth Plant Science Center, Eurofins in St. Charles, Millipore-Sigma at the Laclede site,  and BioStl/BioGenerator Ventures, a non-profit organization whose mission is to foster collaborative efforts to advance innovation & entrepreneurship in the city and region.  We hope to also find the opportunity to visit some smaller companies and start-ups in the area as we dive into the region a bit more over the coming weeks building the agenda. In addition there will be an alumni happy hour that will take place at a local restaurant on the evening of Thursday, October 19 which will include BRET alumni in all types of careers who are located in the St. Louis area.

Twelve trainees will be selected to attend. Travel costs and accommodations will be covered by the ASPIRE Program for those selected to participate.

Co-sponsored by Vanderbilt University Basic Sciences, Office of the Dean and Vanderbilt University Development and Alumni Relations.

ASPIRE On the Road is an initiative of the Vanderbilt ASPIRE Program aimed at broadening the training experiences of biomedical Ph.D. graduate students and postdocs by organizing site visits to companies and organizations to help our trainees make well-informed career decisions.

These site visits will provide postdoctoral fellows and graduate students the opportunity to learn about different career options by touring a variety of workplaces and meeting professionals in a range of roles.  We intend to arrange site visits at local biotech start-ups, clinical research organizations, healthcare accelerators, universities and more.

Read more about past trips here: https://medschool.vanderbilt.edu/career-development/aspire-on-the-road/

Exploring the Most Innovative Square Mile on the Planet & ASPIRE Trainees Fly to San Diego & Pgs 7-9 of our 2021-2022 ASPIRE Annual Report