The Atlanta BEST Program “Beyond the Professoriate: Transforming Pathways for Biomedical Research Careers” Funded by: NIH 1DP7OD Emory Laney Graduate School, in partnership with the Emory Office of Postdoctoral Education and Georgia Tech Nael A. McCarty, Program Director

RFA-RM 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.

The Atlanta BEST program will establish programmatic alternatives for adapting pre-doctoral and postdoctoral training to meet 21 st 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 Program Objectives Aim 1To expose trainees to a broad variety of career pathways beyond the academy Aim 2To provide trainees deep immersion into a specific career pathway beyond the academy Aim 3To better equip faculty at Emory and Georgia Tech to train graduate students and postdoctoral fellows for the 21 st 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

Career Tracks Program Structure TrackTitleLead Institution Track 1Law and Business: Entrepreneurship and ConsultingGeorgia Tech Track 2Communications: Scientific Writing, Journalism, Public Policy and Outreach Emory Track 3STEM EducationGeorgia Tech Track 4Technology Transfer and Intellectual PropertyEmory Track 5Research: Non-tenure Track, Governmental and Contract Research Organizations Georgia Tech Track 6Industrial 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.

Career Tracks Track 1 Detail TrackTitleLead Institution Track 1Law and Business: Entrepreneurship and ConsultingGeorgia Tech TI:GER-lite program Kauffman FastTrack TechVenture Course, Emory OTT

Career Tracks Track 2 Detail TrackTitleLead Institution Track 2Communications: Scientific Writing, Journalism, Public Policy and Outreach Emory 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

Career Tracks Track 3 Detail TrackTitleLead Institution Track 3STEM EducationGeorgia Tech Educational program thru CETL, certificate program Research and Science Teaching Prog. for Postdocs Certificate for Teaching Science

Career Tracks Track 4 Detail TrackTitleLead Institution Track 4Technology Transfer and Intellectual PropertyEmory Kauffman FastTrack TechVenture Course, Emory OTT Internships, Emory OTT

Career Tracks Track 5 Detail TrackTitleLead Institution Track 5Research: Non-tenure Track, Governmental and Contract Research Organizations Georgia Tech 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

Career Tracks Track 6 Detail TrackTitleLead Institution Track 6Industrial Science: Biotech / Pharmaceutical (GA-Bio)Emory Kauffman FastTrack TechVenture Course, Emory OTT Emerging Leaders Network thru Georgia Bio First Contact program Internships at Atlanta-area biotech companies

Typical student experience YearEventTime commitment OneCompletion of IDP, quarterly advisory meetings3 hours Lecture series on leadership training8 two-hour sessions Lecture series on business & law of biotech industry 10 one-to-two hour sessions Career symposium, networking, 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” ? TwoPart-time internship within a specified Track4 - 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) YearTimingEvent OneStarting in mid-MarchCompletion of IDP Starting in AprilLecture series on business & law of biotech industry Starting in JuneLecture series on leadership TwoStarting in SeptemberPart-time internship in Track of your choice BothStarting in JuneFaculty development program

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 Vision for Intended Outcomes in 5 Years

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. Application Guidelines