‘ASPIRE Spotlights’
Partnership with Decode Health Expands Opportunities for Interns to Impact the Healthcare AI Industry
Dec. 19, 2023—This article was originally published in the 2021- 2022 Annual Report By Dora Obodo, Graduate Student Graduate school internships are a relatively new idea. However, the ASPIRE Program within Vanderbilt University School of Medicine’s BRET Office of Career Development is leading the way in fostering these invaluable opportunities for its biomedical PhD graduate students and postdoctoral...
From anecdote to evidence: ASPIRE publishes collaborative study showing participation in career development activities does not impact time-to-degree or productivity in grad school
Dec. 19, 2023—This article was originally published in the 2021- 2022 Annual Report Written by Elizabeth Woods and edited by Kim Petrie, PhD The landscape of graduate education and postdoctoral training in the biomedical sciences has changed dramatically in the last decade as PhD programs have had to grapple with the demands of a diversifying economy. PhD scientists...
2022 ASPIRE Mock Interview Day
Dec. 18, 2023—This article was originally published in the 2021- 2022 Annual Report By Leah Mann, Graduate Student The BRET Office of Career Development’s ASPIRE Program hosted its second annual Mock Interview Day on March 28, 2022. Although this year’s platform looked different than that of the first Mock Interview Day held prior to the COVID-19 shutdown, the event...
Advancing Science & Entrepreneurship: Catherine Leasure, PhD, Awarded the Second ASPIRE to Innovate Postdoctoral Fellowship
Dec. 5, 2023—This article was originally published in the 2022 – 2023 Annual Report By Ashley Brady Catherine Leasure, PhD, has been awarded the prestigious ASPIRE to Innovate Postdoctoral Fellowship. In her new role, which began on July 1, 2023, she will focus on forming a start-up company based on technology developed at Vanderbilt University by Gregor Neuert,...
Becoming Citizen Scientists: A Trip to Explore Science Policy and Technology
Dec. 5, 2023—This article was originally published in the 2022 – 2023 Annual Report By Mandy Truelock In October 2022, a group of Vanderbilt PhD graduate students and postdoctoral fellows (all pictured below) had the unique experience to travel to DC to dive headfirst into two intensive days of science policy immersion. With such a wide range of...
California Aspiring
Dec. 5, 2023—This article was originally published in the 2022 – 2023 Annual Report By Sam Lisy In May 2023, a select group of PhD and postdoctoral trainees packed their bags and headed to the birthplace of biotechnology. The ASPIRE Program’s 4th installment of ASPIRE on the Road took twelve trainees to San Francisco, California, for a jam-packed...
Crafting the Next Step: ASPIRE’s Career Architect Program
Nov. 27, 2023—This article was originally published in the 2022 – 2023 Annual Report By ASPIRE Staff The BRET Office of Career Development ASPIRE Program aims to equip PhD student and postdoctoral scientists for the next professional step. For this particular initiative, ASPIRE wanted to encourage trainees to adopt the mindset of an architect, designing a career...
Turning the Kaleidoscope of Careers at the 2023 ASPIRE Symposium
Nov. 27, 2023—This article was originally published in the 2022 – 2023 Annual Report By ASPIRE Staff The 2023 BRET Annual Career Symposium with this year’s theme, “A Kaleidoscope of Biomedical Science Careers,” was held on June 2nd at Vanderbilt University’s Student Life Center. The symposium, sponsored by the BRET Office of Career Development ASPIRE Program and...
You Never Know Who You Will Meet: A Graduate Student’s Perspective of the 2023 ASPIRE Career Symposium
Nov. 27, 2023—This article was originally published in the 2022- 2023 Annual Report By Cherie Scurrah, Graduate Student Each year, the ASPIRE Program hosts a day-long career exploration event, and this year’s theme was “A Kaleidoscope of Biomedical Science Careers.” I am a third year PhD student (almost 4th year, thank you very much), and I am ready to...
First ASPIRE to Innovate Postdoctoral Scholar Earns NSF I-Corps Award with Hydrogel Technology to Promote Blood Vessel Growth
Nov. 27, 2023—This article was originally published in the 2021- 2022 Annual Report By Jess Roetman, Graduate Student From innovating to funding a novel biotechnology, Karrie Dudek, PhD, has had a terrific year as the inaugural Postdoctoral Fellow of the ASPIRE to Innovate program with the recent announcement of an award from the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps...
On the Road Again
Nov. 27, 2023—This article was originally published in the 2021- 2022 Annual Report By Haley Stubbs, Graduate Student In the spring of 2018, the ASPIRE Program launched an initiative called ASPIRE on the Road to give graduate students and postdoctoral trainees an up-close look at careers in the biopharma industry. Ten trainees traveled to Boston for the...
ASPIRE Internships Offer a Window to the World Beyond the Lab
Jul. 16, 2021—This article was originally published in Results & Discussion, Issue 3, Spring 2016. By Kathleen L. Gould, PhD, Associate Dean for Biomedical Sciences This fall, the BRET Office of Career Development launched its internship initiative as part of the ASPIRE Program. ASPIRE is funded by a BEST (Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training) Award from the NIH...
Beyond Grant Writing: Exploring Career Opportunities in Scientific Communication through the Vanderbilt ASPIRE Program
Jul. 15, 2021—This article was originally published in the 2018-2019 Annual Report. By Natalya Ortolano, Graduate Student I had an interesting discussion about future career options with my six-year-old niece recently who asked a question I ponder daily, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I explained in kid-accessible terms that I was currently...
Look and Act the Part: The Importance of Professionalism in One’s Career Development
Jul. 15, 2021—This article was originally published in Results & Discussion, Issue 9, Spring 2019. By Christopher Smith, Ph.D., former Postdoctoral Fellow, now Postdoctoral Affairs Program Manager, North Carolina State University Landing a dream job can be a daunting task for even well-seasoned scientists. However, with underdeveloped soft skills, such as effective communication and emotional intelligence, or an...
Our Journey Into Business and Management Consulting
Jul. 15, 2021—This article was originally published in Results & Discussion, Issue 7, Spring 2018. By Siwei He and Aparna Shekar, Graduate Students Working towards a Ph.D. in the biomedical sciences not only instills a wide repertoire of positive personal and professional qualities in trainees, but also opens many doors in a wide gamut of career paths....
BRET Trainees Get a Look “Inside the Beltway”
Jul. 15, 2021—This article was originally published in Results & Discussion, Issue 1, Spring 2015. by Suneethi Sivakumaran, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow This past fall, the BRET Office of Career Development and the Vanderbilt ASPIRE Program partnered with the Vanderbilt Office of Federal Relations and other campus offices to provide trainees an externship opportunity in federal stem policy...
Bridging the Gap Between Science and Business
Jul. 15, 2021—This article was originally published in Results & Discussion, Issue 5, Spring 2017. By Derrick Cumberbatch, Graduate Student “Participating in this module helped me have a more entrepreneurial mindset, which has changed how I view my career. Seeing business as an integral part of everything we do has made me more mindful in how I...
ASPIRE on the Road: Boston
Jul. 14, 2021—This article was originally published in Results & Discussion, Issue 8, Fall 2018. Exploring the Most Innovative Square Mile on the Planet By Ralph J. Hazlewood, Ph.D., and Jessica M. Overstreet, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellows The BRET Office of Career Development ASPIRE Program furthered its mission to empower and prepare biomedical trainees at the Ph.D. and...
ASPIRE Trainees Fly to San Diego
Jul. 14, 2021—This article was originally published in the 2018-2019 Annual Report. By Lorena Infante Lara, PhD, with contributions from Salma Omer, Graduate Student La Jolla, San Diego, CA, is home to a sizable life sciences cluster, housing over 1,200 life sciences companies and more than 80 independent and university-affiliated research institutions. For trainees interested in developing...
Pin Drop: Alumni Employer Proactive Worldwide Visits Campus
Jul. 13, 2021—This article was originally published in the 2018-2019 Annual Report. By Justine Sinnaeve, Graduate Student Proactive Worldwide wants to know how job candidates have been fire-tested and how they have learned from those experiences. The good news is that the management consulting firm is all too familiar with the challenges that Vanderbilt Ph.D. students and...