Office of Research Training and Development

National Institute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases

Investigators

Abstract

ORTD serves trainees in Maryland and Montana, including Postdoctoral, Visiting and Clinical Fellows; Medical Students; Postbacs; Graduate Students; and Summer Interns. Katie Soucy, M.S., is the Training Director, and the office has a staff of six. ORTD creates and conducts programs, seminars, and workshops, along with individual support for career counseling, interpersonal communication, and time management. ORTD emphasizes efforts to identify speakers and presenters from different backgrounds and areas of expertise to engage with trainees at all levels. Outreach and recruitment are key endeavors, with the goal to recruit outstanding, competitive candidates for training positions. To fulfill the ORTD mission and increase awareness of NIAID training opportunities, content on the public facing website, social media accounts, and internal email communication is carefully curated with emphasis on creating unique content including contributions from current trainees. ORTD has been leveraging Handshake, a platform highly utilized by US colleges and universities, to reach new populations of prospective fellows and share the unique training opportunities available in NIAID. ORTD has also committed to validating and filling gaps in the trainee database by connecting with alumni, working with PIs and lab staff, and building relationships while trainees are on campus to better evaluate trainee engagement, track trainee next steps (and changes to plans during their time in NIAID), and identify trends across all training levels. Efforts to solidify the alumni data for postdoctoral fellows have helped the ORTD connect with more senior alumni who are farther along in their careers and invite them back for career talks and other engagement with current fellows. NIAIDs electronic Individual Development Plan (eIDP) system has fully launched to all of DIR and VRC and new fellows are initiated in the system within a month of onboarding so that all fellows have an IDP for the duration of their training. IDPs are also being utilized for renewal packages to reduce paperwork and redundancy and streamline processes with further development of the system on the way to continue improving on the existing process. ORTD coordinates many programs and events annually for all training levels: INRO 2023 launched successfully, continuing to host the February event has proven successful and provides flexibility that may not have otherwise been available. Twelve outstanding candidates from diverse backgrounds were selected to attend the interview event in February 2023 and then successfully matriculated into NIAID laboratories in June 2023. Ten of the INRO 2022 fellows are remaining in NIAID for a second year. For the first time, ORTD hosted an INRO Kick-off event to bring fellows from both cohorts together to get to connect and get to know each other; feedback from all fellows was overwhelmingly positive and the event will be included in future years. Additionally, the ORTD Sponsorship Funding Program supported 6 fellows outside of INRO. The 2022 Annual Fellows Workshop that took place virtually in October 2022, provided fellows with the chance to share their research by giving virtual presentations. Five NIAID fellows received awards for their outstanding research presentations. The 17th Annual Fellows Workshop will be in person for the first time since 2019 on December 1; the day will include a plenary talk from Dr. Clifford Lane, scientific talks from selected fellows, a series of concurrent mini-talks and lightning talks from those who submit abstracts, and a resource fair with invited guests from offices and groups who support research efforts across campus, including the NIH Library, RTB, and FAES. All NIAID staff and trainees are welcome to attend. Also, for the first time since 2019, the NIH SIP was fully onsite with all summer students reporting to campus. NIAID welcomed 68 summer interns starting in May 2023. With all fellows on site in lab full-time, ORTD modified the summer programming and offered more asynchronous, Quick Tip Videos, to allow more flexibility for fellows lab schedules. The new pre-recorded Quick Tips topics include Career Planning, Informational Interviews, and Writing a Strong Resume and CV, amongst others. In addition, ORTD took advantage of the fact that fellows are all onsite by hosting the Summer Seminar Series in a hybrid model so that fellows have more face time with senior scientists and, for the first time, one of these seminars was hosted in-person at RML with Maryland fellows attending virtually. A new series of panel discussions was also introduced for Summer 2023 to give fellows the chance to talk to postdocs and other NIAID staff about their career paths. Postbacs participated in the Postbac Poster Day, hosted by OITE approximately 51% of postbacs shared their research during this event and 34 won awards for their presentations. New this year, ORTD worked with NIAID Clinical Fellows to launch a Clinical Case Review Series; this series will be hosted monthly starting in June 2023 and is led by a Clinical Fellow who selects the case and prepares the discussion for each session. 10 Clinical Fellows have agreed to participate with the series. At the end of the series, participants who attended at least 7 sessions over the course of the year (June May) will have the opportunity to complete an evaluation and receive a certificate of completion signed by Dr. Holland. Along with the continuation of the Medical and Graduate School Workshops the new Case Review Series is an outstanding addition to an annual curriculum that is helping NIAID postbacs as they prepare for their next steps. Through suggestion from the FAC, ORTD has started a series of unstructured Career Chats with NIAID alumni to discuss their career paths; this series aims at bringing in a diverse group of alumni from many different career paths to discuss the resources that most helped them while in NIAID and how they made the decisions that led them to their current role. ORTD continues to host the Grant Writing Seminar Series which allows fellows the opportunity to participate in a comprehensive series of workshops and receive individual assistance on grant writing. Postdocs and Predocs are also provided with a series of Skill Blitzes on more efficient writing and a series on Applying for Faculty jobs that offered insight into the different elements of an academic job application. In its eighth year, the Rocky-Beth Fellowship Program once again supported one trainee interested in conducting research between labs in both Bethesda, MD and Hamilton, MT.