Meet Our Team
The BRET Office of Career Development ASPIRE Program is located in Light Hall, Suite 340. For general inquiries, email bret.career.development@vanderbilt.edu or call 615-875-8981.
Assistant Dean for Biomedical Career Development
Assistant Dean for Biomedical Career Development
Associate Professor of Medical Education and Administration
Kim Petrie is Associate Professor of Medical Education and Administration and the founding Director of the BRET Office of Career Development at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Kim currently serves as Assistant Dean for Biomedical Career Development, where she aims to help biomedical sciences Ph.D. students and postdocs connect with meaningful careers. She has developed and delivered dozens of career development workshops and helped hundreds of biomedical Ph.D.s identify and pursue their professional goals. Kim was co-PI on Vanderbilt’s NIH Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) award, which aimed to broaden training experiences for biomedical PhDs and empower them to make well-informed career decisions. Kim holds a BA in Biology from Lawrence University and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Vanderbilt, where she was an F31 NRSA fellow. Outside of work, she’s a podcast junkie and an Audible addict: recommendations are welcome!
Director of Career Engagement and Strategic Partnerships
Assistant Dean of Biomedical Career Engagement and Strategic Partnerships
Associate Professor of Medical Education and Administration
Ashley E. Brady, Ph.D., is Assistant Dean of Biomedical Career Engagement and Strategic Partnerships and Associate Professor of Medical Education and Administration. She manages the design, development, and delivery of curricula and programs to provide professional skills training for biomedical sciences Ph.D. students and postdoctoral fellows. She is also responsible for developing and managing relationships with internal and external partners, and providing career advising services for trainees.
Prior to her role in the BRET office, Dr. Brady served as Associate Director of Foundation Relations at Vanderbilt University. In this role, she cultivated relationships with private foundations and served as a match-maker to help faculty and trainees identify and apply for non-federal funding opportunities. Dr. Brady obtained her B.A. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Centre College and her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Vanderbilt University. She pursued post-doctoral studies at both the Centre Nationale de Researche Scientifique (CNRS) in Montpellier, France and the Department of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University.
Assistant Director
Associate Director, Office of Career Development
Director, Strategic Affairs and Events
Kate Stuart is the Associate Director for the Office of Career Development. She meets with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, facilitates the annual Career Symposium, coordinates the Beyond the Lab podcast and video series, designs the annual report, teaches seminars, and manages the ASPIRE branding. Kate is a Gallup certified Strengths Coach and enjoys incorporating StrengthsFinder into career and professional development.
Kate is also the Director of Strategic Affairs and Events for the BRET Office. In this role, she works closely with the Senior Associate Dean of BRET, BRET Director of Operations, and other leaders to provide strategies for communication and events. She oversees the execution and planning of trainee-centered events, programs, internal affairs, and activities.
Kate has been with the BRET Office of Career Development since 2012 and at Vanderbilt since 2007. Prior to her time with BRET, Kate coordinated undergraduate student-alumni career engagement with the Vanderbilt University Alumni Association. Kate completed her undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt in Human and Organizational Development in 2004. Besides spending time with her family, gardening, and coaching basketball, Kate loves to carefully craft clever out-of-office messages to make emailers laugh when they miss her.
Program Manager
Assistant Director, Office of Career Development
Angela Zito is the Assistant Director for the Office of Career Development. In her role, she meets with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and focuses on professional development opportunities, including the module program, Ph.D. Career Stories, the ASPIRE workshop series, and ASPIRE Mock Interview Day. Angela is also a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach.
After completing her BA in Psychology at CSU Sacramento, she went on to receive her MEd in Higher Education Administration at Vanderbilt University. She began working for the Commons Center during her graduate program, and continued on with Vanderbilt Student Centers working on training and development programs for the undergraduate student employees. In her spare time, she loves sewing, reading, and spending time with her family.
Program Manager APMM
Program Manager, Office of Career Development
Program Manager, ASPIRE Program in Molecular Medicine (APMM)
Mary Gray Lindstrom is the Program Manager for the Office of Career Development and the ASPIRE Program in Molecular Medicine (APMM). In her role, she supports BRET and APMM events. She provides administrative support as well.
Mary Gray earned a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management with a concentration in event planning from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa (Roll Tide!).
During her tenure at Vanderbilt University, she has served as a Program Coordinator in the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Computer Engineering, an Administrative Assistant II at the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities, and in a similar capacity at the Program in Classical and Mediterranean Studies. These roles allowed her to earn valuable experience in Higher Education. Outside of work, she enjoys trying new restaurants and finding antiques at estate sales!
Postdoc Support
Assistant Director, Postdoctoral Support
Project Manager, Outcomes Research
Janani Varadarajan (Jan) is the Assistant Director of Postdoc Support & Project Manager of Outcomes Research in the Office of Biomedical Research Education and Training (BRET) at Vanderbilt University. Jan supports the biomedical sciences postdocs navigate their time in training by providing individualized advising on the various helpful resources available in Vanderbilt, individual career advising as well as programmatic support in career and professional development. Additionally, Jan supports the analysis, interpretation, and visualization of academic and career outcomes data from Vanderbilt’s biomedical research training programs for the Ph.D. students. Prior to her role in the BRET office, Jan was a postdoc in Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the National Cancer Institute, NIH. Jan received her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Purdue University, Indiana, and an M.A. in Microbiology from the University of Texas at Austin, Texas. She hails from this coastal city in south India called Chennai, which is home to the second longest urban beach in the world.