Career Development and Outreach in Arthritis Musculoskeletal and Skin Disease

National Institute Of Arthritis And Musculoskeletal And Skin Diseases

Investigators

Abstract

The Career Development and Outreach Branch (CDOB) organized and supported a host of training and career development activities this year. To complement the professional and career development activities, the office participates equally with outreach and recruitment of future trainees. This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CDOB transitioned our entire program to a virtual platform accessible to all NIAMS trainees that features personalized mentoring and guidance to prepare them for careers. Most recently, our CDOB has been utilizing a trainee database to capture trainee data developed with our NIAMS Scientific Information Technology Branch (SITB) for evaluation and archiving of our trainee career preparation. A major training planning instrument utilized has been the Independent Development Plan (IDP). The IDP allows the trainee, and their respective mentor(s), and our training office to customize a professional development program. Mandates are in place to require all NIAMS trainees (Postdoctoral Fellows, Research Fellows, Visiting Fellows, Clinical Fellows, Pre-Doctoral Fellows, Postbaccalaureate Fellows, and Summer Research Fellows) to complete this tool annually with the assistance of their mentors and the training office. Our CDOB uses this tool to customize a program individualized for each trainee, including the identification of mentors, training skills assessment, creation of a 5- year plan overview, trainee review, evaluation by mentor(s), and evaluation of the CDOB. To date, the NIAMS CDOB offers a tremendous portfolio of resources and trainings for all trainees (NIAMS and NIH-wide). These include: (1) Career Exploration: Pathways Program to Academia, Biotech, and Science Policy/Writing; (2) Ethics, Responsible Conduct in Research (RCR) trainings; (3) Grant Writing Courses; (4) Professional Program Preparation for all Postbac Fellows; (6) professional development with CV/resume preparation and interviewing; (7) scientific communication; (8) Women in Science Seminar Series, (9) SciPhD Certificate Program, (10), and (11) Postdoc and Postbac Journal Club. NIAMS has teamed up with other institutes to provide seminars, resources and information on programs that are beneficial to our trainees, for example NIH-Oxford Cambridge Scholars Program, NIH Graduate Partnership Program, NIH Independent Research Scholars Program (IRS), and the NIH Distinguished Scholars Program (DSP). The NIAMS training office has been active in outreach, diversity initiatives and recruitment. Prior to the pandemic, the office established mentoring programs with scholar programs at Morgan State University, Howard University, University of Maryland at Baltimore County (Meyerhoff Scholars Program), and Montgomery College. To increase visibility and focus on diversity initiatives and outreach as a result of the pandemic, the office piloted the inaugural Intramural NIAMS Training Research Opportunities (InVTRO) program. The office successfully transitioned its entire training and professional development portfolio to allow accessibility to competitive research programs and partnering universities listed above for directed outreach, networking and recruitment. InVTRO was successfully launched for the 2021 summer research program, through which competitive summer students from across the U.S., including Puerto Rico, were selected among thousands of applicants to participate in this eight-week virtual program. InVTRO provided an online interactive platform featuring online streaming of basic and CORE laboratories, IRP campus and facility tours, interactive live video conferencing/interviews with current trainees and faculty, participation in laboratory meetings, participation in grand rounds including mock patient visits, multiple weekly journal clubs, interactive courses in bioinformatics, courses in responsible conduct in research, and daily Q&A sessions regarding the NIAMS IRP research portfolio, as well as other components. InVTRO was designed to be an ongoing resource, and is currently scaled for our entire training program. Additionally, the CDOB participated virtually in conferences conducted by the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS)and Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), as well as the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS). We are actively working with several NIH groups, including NIH Training Directors, Training Grant Populations, Special Populations and Diversity Program Coordinators, Office of Research on Womens Health, Scientific Interest Affinity Groups, and Demographic Affinity Groups (Women Scientist Advisors Committee, SACNAS and Black Scientist and Friends Network). The CDOB continues to sponsor postdoctoral and post-baccalaureate trainees with an emphasis on underserved minorities populations (per the NIH guidelines) to support the biomedical research workforce.