The 11th Annual VPA and Shared Resources Symposium
The 11th Annual VPA & Shared Resources Symposium, sponsored by Office of Postdoctoral Affairs in the Graduate school and The Office of Biomedical Research & Training (BRET) was held on April 19, 2017.
This day-long event was organized for Postdoctoral Fellows to showcase their research, network with invited speakers, peers, faculty, and get career tips/advice from invited speakers.
Numerous prizes were awarded throughout the event including Postdoc of the Year, Mentor of the Year and best poster awards among others.
Pictures from the Symposium can be found here.
Below, you will find the following information about the 2017 VPA Symposium:
Keynote Speaker, 2017
Breakout Sessions, 2017
Lightning Rounds, 2017
Full Schedule, 2017
Keynote Speaker
Marcus Whitney - CEO and Co-Founder, Health:Further
Marcus Whitney is an entrepreneur, investor, writer and public speaker. In 2015 he founded The Unlikely Company with the sole mission of using entrepreneurship to help solve income inequality by providing tools, programming and funding to “unlikely” entrepreneurs all over the world. He is also the Co-Founder and President of Jumpstart Foundry, the leading accelerator in the Southeast. He co-founded Moontoast, Southern/Alpha and Clariture Health and serves on the board of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, but he planted his roots and has thrived in Nashville, Tennessee.
Marcus set the tone for his platform with his 2014 TEDx talk in Nashville entitled “Nashville Hustle: To Change Your World, You Gotta Lie a Little.” His talks often center around counterintuitive truths that enable people to be empowered and control their destiny. Marcus’ personal journey from humble beginnings to entrepreneur, mentor and respected leader has given him a unique point of view that resonates with audiences of all types: If you want to achieve something, you can. It’s that simple.
Through The Unlikely Company, Jumpstart Foundry and his other roles, Marcus has left a tremendous impact on Nashville’s red-hot entrepreneur scene and the community at large. He continues to bring hope to those who want to control their destiny through entrepreneurship and make a positive impact in their communities.
Some of his accomplishments include: Founder and CEO, The Unlikely Company, Co-Founder and President, Jumpstart Foundry, Co Founder and former Chief BD Officer, Moontoast, Co-Founder and Board Member, Southern/Alpha, Co-Founder and Board Member, Clariture, Graduated of Leadership Nashville, Class of 2015, Member of Young American Leaders Program, Harvard Business School, Author, Create And Orchestrate.
Breakout Sessions
This year we are introducing breakout sessions covering disparate career development topics. Sessions will be held during lunch and participants may chose to attend any one.
BREAKOUT SESSION 1: Intellectual Property Case Study
Seth Ogden, PhD, JD, Patterson Intellectual Property Law
Seth Ogden is a Registered Patent Attorney at Patterson Intellectual Property Law firm in Nashville, TN. He obtained his B.A. from University of Virginia and a Ph.D. in Caner Biology from Vanderbilt University in 2009. He later shifted his career focus, bringing his talents to the realm of intellectual property, obtained a J.D. from American University Washington College of Law in 2012 and began litigating on behalf of pharma innovators. Seth is focused on patent infringement litigation and patent prosecution in the fields of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, industrial chemicals, software and electronic devices. He has also provided non-infringement and invalidity opinions and strategic positioning reports in the areas of biotechnology (diagnostics and biologics), pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals and material science. In addition to patent matters, he has handled a range of trademark and copyright issues, and also maintains a robust veterans’ benefits pro bono practice.
BREAKOUT SESSION 2: New and Junior Faculty at Vanderbilt
James Dewar, PhD, Dept. of Biochemistry
Anita Disney, PhD, Dept. of Psychology
Kelsey Hatzell, PhD, Mechanical Engineering
Maithilee Kunda, PhD, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Maithilee Kunda is an assistant professor of computer science and computer engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Vanderbilt University. Before coming to Vanderbilt, she worked as a research scientist in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. Her work in artificial intelligence, specifically in computational cognitive systems, looks at how visual thinking contributes to learning and intelligent behavior with a focus on interactive applications for individuals on the autism spectrum. She holds a B.S. in mathematics with computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in computer science from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and she currently directs the laboratory for Artificial Intelligence and Visual Analogical Systems.
BREAKOUT SESSION 3: Careers in Bioinformatics and Data Science
Mathilde Granke, PhD, Axial Healthcare
Lindsey Morris, PhD, Axial Healthcare
Judsen Schneider, PhD, Concert Genetics
Judsen Schneider is a product manager at Concert Genetics in Nashville, TN (formerly known as NextGxDx). Jud performed both his PhD, in Cell and Developmental Biology, and fellowship, in Molecular Endocrinology and Biophysics, at Vanderbilt University. In his current role, Jud operates at the intersection of personalized medicine and routine clinical practice by building products for health plans, clinicians, and hospitals to enable personalized medicine in modern healthcare. Complementing this is 12 years of experience in clinical and biomedical research, and deep experience in genetics, genomics, next-generation sequencing, and high-throughput data analysis. Outside of science, Jud has experience in economic development, government relations, technology commercialization, and education. Jud has founded programs at Vanderbilt University designed to facilitate the commercialization of laboratory-developed technology by building bridges between scientists, businesses, investors, and state government. He is intimately involved with Life Science Tennessee, the state’s biotechnology association, currently serving on the Board of Directors.
BREAKOUT SESSION 4: Leveraging your PhD skills into a successful career
David Shifrin, PhD, Owner, Filament Life Science Communications
David is a writer, editor, and occasional podcaster. His overarching goal: to help people communicate their ideas on science and healthcare more effectively. After finishing his PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology at Vanderbilt, David opened a one-man shop called Filament Life Science Communications. There, he created marketing and technical content for early-stage life science and healthcare companies. Recently, after three years at Filament, David joined Health:Further as the Community Editor. In that role he is building an online publication focused on the future of health and managing the Health:Further Festival’s online community.
Lightning Rounds
We introduced a new format for oral presentations this year, called Lightning Rounds. Lightning Rounds provided an opportunity for postdocs to introduce and generate interest in their research/poster in a 5 minute oral presentation ahead of the poster session(s). Lightning Round presentations were chosen by the symposium planning committee.
Abstracts selected for Lightning Round talks were also eligible for awards for best talk.
Lightning Round I: 10:45 AM - 11:45 AM, 208 Light Hall
- William Beavers, Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology
- Kelli Boyd, Translational Biology Shared Resource (TPSR)
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Benjamin Mueller, Chemistry
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Anthony Hmelo, Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (VINSE)
- Loren LaPointe , Biochemistry
- Brian Millis , Nikon Center of Excellence (NCoE), Cell Imaging Shared Resource (CISR)
- Bartholomew Roland , Biological Sciences
- Linh Dang, Psychology
Lightning Round II: 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM, 208 Light Hall
- Duane Lee, Physics and Astronomy
- Ginger Milne, Neurochemistry Core, Eicosanoid Core
- Gabriela Andrejeva, Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology
- Kung-Hsien Ho , Cell and Developmental Biology
- Hayes McDonald , Mass Spectrometry Research Center (MSRC)
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Joseph Zackular, Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology
- Ralph Hazlewood , Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
2017 Schedule:
April 19th
10:00 AM - 10:15 AM |
Welcome - Mohit Chadha, Ph.D.
Junior Co-Chair, VPA |
Light Hall - North Lobby |
10:15 AM - 10:45 AM |
Opening Remarks - Roger Chakley, D. Phil.
Senior Associate Dean (BRET) Professor, Molecular Physiology & Biophysics, School of Medicine |
208 Light Hall |
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM | Lightning Round I | 208 Light Hall |
11:45 AM - 12:00 PM | Break |
|
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM | Breakout Sessions | 407 A-D Light Hall |
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM | Lightning Round II | 208 Light Hall |
2:30 PM - 2:45 PM |
Remarks & Keynote Introduction - Lawrence Marnett, Ph.D.
Dean of Biomedical Research Professor of Biochemistry, Chemistry and Pharmacology Director, Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology, Biochemistry Department |
208 Light Hall |
2;45 PM - 3:45 PM |
Keynote Address - Marcus Whitney
CEO, The Unlikely Company CEO, Health:Further |
208 Light Hall |
3:45 PM - 4:00 PM | Break |
|
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM |
Poster Session & Networking Social Award Ceremony - Mark Wallace, Ph.D.Dean of the Graduate School Louis B. McGavock Endowed Chair Professor of Hearing & Speech Sciences, Psychology & Psychiatry |
Light Hall - North Lobby Langford Lobby |