Advance registration requested at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PhDCareerConnections_Oct11
Sponsored by the BRET Office of Career Development

Dr. Onyewu is an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science & Technology Policy Fellow with the Division for the Application of Research Discoveries (DARD) at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in Bethesda, MD. She supports current NHBLI efforts to develop and implement evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for adult cardiovascular disease. In addition to documenting the systematic processes and policies that govern this rigorous approach to science translation, Dr. Onyewu is also involved in the development of a new NHLBI initiative focused on reducing cardiovascular risk across the lifespan. She is particularly committed to addressing health disparities, and was recently selected as a 2011 Translational Health Disparities Course Scholar by the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD).

Dr. Onyewu previously conducted health disparities research as a United Negro College Fund/Merck (UNCF/Merck) Postdoctoral Fellow in the Research Center for Genetic Medicine at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. As Study Director for the Assessing Inherited Markers of Metabolic Syndrome in the Young (AIMM Young) Research Study, Dr. Onyewu worked to identify genetic risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome and related diseases among African American college students. Her research interests center around the design of unique interventions that incorporate personalized medicine approaches and foster cardiovascular disease prevention among minority young adults. She has discussed her work and the future promise of genetic testing as a guest panelist on the PBS television program, To the Contrary, and served as Co-Chair of the Medical and Health Stakeholders group for the D.C. Overweight and Obesity Action Plan. While at Children’s National, she contributed to the formation of its Obesity Institute, and worked to establish an annual symposium series. Dr. Onyewu was a Robert & Jane Meyerhoff Scholar at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County where she received her B.S. degree in Biology in 1999. She completed the Medical Scientist Training Program at Duke University in 2007, with a doctorate degree in Pharmacology.

Advance registration requested at https://www.surveymonkey.coms/PhDCareerConnections_Dec11
Sponsored by the BRET Office of Career Development

Dr. Jerome Jourquin joined Susan G. Komen for the Cure (Komen) in January of 2011 as Scientific Grants Manager of the $298 million Research Programs portfolio. For the last 30 years, Komen has been dedicated in finding the cures to breast cancer through raising awareness, advocating for patients, and funding innovative research. Dr. Jourquin is involved with all facets of Grants Management at Komen: from conducting peer-review of new applications to annually evaluating the progress made by the funded scientists. As a scientist, he is also responsible for communicating about the current science in Komen’s portfolio to the Komen Affiliate network, patient advocates, and donors.

Prior to joining Komen, Dr. Jourquin was a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Cancer Biology at Vanderbilt. He joined Dr. Vito Quaranta’s laboratory after completing his Ph.D. in Neurosciences in 2003 at the University of Aix-Marseilles, France. His thesis work focused on studying extracellular matrix-cell interactions in synaptic plasticity. Applying his Cell Biology expertise to breast cancer research, Dr. Jourquin became part of a multidisciplinary team of experimentalists, mathematicians, engineers, and bioinformaticists studying cancer invasion at the NCI-funded Center for Cancer Systems Biology at Vanderbilt (CCSB@V). With a specific interest in data mining and data sharing, Dr. Jourquin also completed in 2010 a Masters in Bioinformatics at Vanderbilt, working with Dr. Bing Zhang in the Department of Biomedical Informatics to create GLAD4U, a web-service designed to build prioritized gene lists based on user queries. Dr. Jourquin’s research studies have been published in various scientific journals.

Advance registration requested at http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2732578215
Sponsored by the BRET Office of Career Development

Dr. Ines Macias-Perez is a Senior Program Manager at Sarah Cannon Research Institute. She oversees the development of investigator-initiated clinical trials for the Hematologic Malignancies Research Program. She ensures the ongoing development of investigator-initiated clinical trials by researching and drafting trial concepts. She is responsible for establishing and maintaining collaborative opportunities and relationships with external partners including translational researchers, our funding partners at pharma/biotech companies and investigators practicing in academic institutions. She also manages the pipeline of industry-sponsored and investigator-initiated studies to minimize gaps and competing studies for our network of sites across the U.S. and U.K.

Advance registration requested at http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2744491849

Co-sponsored by the BRET Office of Career Development and TechVenture Challenge

Dr. Bryan Voss, a 2007 graduate of the Vanderbilt Pharmacology Training Program, is a Research Scientist at Cumberland Pharmaceuticals in Nashville. Dr. Voss’ team develops new pharmaceutical products, through which he is involved in virtually all phases of the drug development process. Dr. Voss evaluates new product ideas, spearheads the development of animal and human study protocols, identifies qualified investigators to execute the studies and liaises with the FDA to ensure a smooth path to approval. Dr. Voss also manages Cumberland’s Investigator-Initiated Research Program and leads their Scientific/Medical writing efforts for peer-reviewed publications.

Advance registration requested at http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2732660461
Sponsored by the BRET Office of Career Development

Panelists represent the fields of healthcare marketing/PR, healthcare consulting, and healthcare investment banking.

Advance registration requested at http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2856157845
Sponsored by the BRET Office of Career Development

Dr. Kathy Amiri is a Senior Medical Liaison with Amgen Oncology. She develops and maintains professional relationships with prominent healthcare providers and key decision makers as they relate to company’s products. She communicates key information about the company and its mission; provides key scientific and clinical information about company’s products; provides a conduit for communication between company’s Research and the medical community regarding ideas for future research with company’s products; and provides corporate value through demonstrated leadership and participation in strategic thinking.
Prior to joining Amgen, Dr. Amiri served as the Director of the Translational Research Laboratory at Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center, where she oversaw preclinical and clinical studies. She was responsible for establishing and maintaining collaborative opportunities with internal as well as external partners including translational researchers, pharma/biotech companies and investigators practicing in academic institutions.
Dr. Amiri is a native of Iran, but grew up I Sweden. She moved to US for her Higher Education and graduated from Wittenberg University in 2000, receiving a bachelor’s degree in Biology. She later attended Vanderbilt University/Meharry Medical College where she studied in the laboratory of Dr. Ann Richmond and received her Doctorate degree in Cancer Biology in 2005.