OETIS Chronicle FY2023 Q2

The OETIS Chronicle

Office of Education, Training & International Services

Celebrating International Education Week

By: Mitchell Furumoto

This year Sanford Burnham Prebys joined educational institutions across the country in celebrating International Education Week (IEW), a joint initiative of the U.S. Departments of State and Education, which is held in November to celebrate our international diversity and global ties.

Our inaugural IEW Alumni Success Stories panel featured four former Sanford Burnham Prebys postdoctoral researchers who have gone into successful careers in their home countries: two who moved on to faculty positions in academia and two who moved into industry. We greatly appreciate our alumni speakers, Dr. Chandan Singh, Dr. Caroline Stienne, Dr. Julia Westman, and Dr. Marcin Poreba, who joined us at different hours of the day and night via Zoom to generously share their experiences transitioning from a postdoc position into their current roles, provide insights into the academic and private sectors, and answer questions from current postdocs and graduate students. They talked about how their postdoctoral training experiences at the Institute helped prepare them and the professional development opportunities they leveraged to move on in their

International Education Week

DEI Lunch & Learn

Fishman Fund Award Ceremony

STEM Shadow Day

GSBS Holiday Luncheon

Trainee Accomplishments

Postdoc & Graduate Student Counts

careers. Dr. Westman emphasized how she believed the Torrey Pines Leadership Development Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys prepared her for eventually leading her scientific team.

We look forward to growing our International Education Week lineup with your participation; we welcome ideas for next year’s programming. See next page for a look at our Alumni Panel and see where they are now!

IEW: Alumni Success Stories Panel

•••

Lund,

•••

•••

DEI Lunch & Learn

By: Angelica Rocha, Ph D

In November, the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Council hosted an inaugural Lunch and Learn where DEI Committee co-chairs and members shared their committee’s mission and vision, proposed initiatives for the year, and encouraged feedback and collaboration from an audience of approximately 50 students, postdocs,

faculty, and staff. The event ended with an informal Meet ‘n Greet where attendees could ask questions; several have since joined Sanford Burnham Prebys’ DEI efforts!

The DEI Council was honored to have Dr. David Brenner open the event and express a commitment to DEI as our CEO and President. He shared his goal for DEI at the Institute to be highly integrated into all programs and his vision for the Institute to become a model for how to do DEI well in the biomedical sciences. Dr. Brenner emphasized the importance of recruiting diverse talent and providing mentorship, career development and infrastructure so that students, faculty, and staff, at all levels, are able to grow and develop within the Institute.

The Education and Training DEI Committee shared that this year they held a STEM Shadow Day and will hold regular DEI Discussion Groups that are led by trainees. Other committees’ initiatives include recruitment efforts to attract postdoctoral scholars and junior faculty, a book club, and invited speakers to address key topics.

Julia Westman, Ph.D.

Scientist, Hansa Biopharma

Skåne County, Sweden

Chandan Singh, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University

Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

Marcin Poreba, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology

Wrocław, Dolnośląskie, Poland

Caroline Stienne, Ph.D.

Team Leader, Immuno-oncology, Evotec

Toulouse, Occitanie, France

Fishman Fund Award Ceremony

By: Nisha Cavanaugh, Ph D

The Fishman Fund Awards were established in honor of the Institute’s founders, Dr. William and Lillian Fishman, to support the next generation of scientific leaders. Awardees, their friends and families, Fishman Fund donors and Advisory Board members, and special guests gathered on October 12, 2022, in the Sanford Consortium Roth Auditorium. Awardees delivered speeches thanking the generous donors who made this award possible and described how the Fishman Fund will support activities that facilitate their ability to reach their research and career goals.

As testament to the success of the Fishman Fund Awards, keynote speaker and Assistant Professor Caroline Kumsta, Ph.D. who won in 2011 said:

"I wrote in my application that I wanted to become an independent PI and pursue aging research. And guess what? I am doing it. I became an independent PI, with my own lab."

The Fishman Fund Award allowed her to travel to two conferences in Japan which empowered her to venture into a new field of research and establish her lab’s research program.

We cannot wait to see what this year’s awardees accomplish! Read more about them in the Beaker Blog.

Career Development Awardees:

Congratulations to the 2022 Fishman Fund Career Development Awardees & Fishman Fund Fellow!

Tanja Eisemann, Ph.D. (Bagchi & Wechsler-Reya labs)

Guillem Lambies Barjau, Ph.D. (Commisso lab)

Shanshan Yin, Ph.D. (Adams lab)

Fellow: Cynthia Lebeaupin, Ph.D. (Kaufman lab)

Photos taken by Derrick Tuskan

STEM Students Shadow Sanford Burnham Scientists

By: Paula Checchi, Ph.D.

On November 17th, the Institute celebrated STEM Shadow Day, hosting nearly forty young scholars from underrepresented backgrounds from San Diego and Imperial County high schools as well as students from San Diego State University, San Diego City College, and Southwestern Community College A collaboration between the San Diego MESA Alliance and several of Sanford Burnham Prebys’ Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committees, the goal of the event was to provide visiting students a unique experience to tour labs and engage with trainees, faculty and staff at our Institute, thus witnessing the “real world” of work in a scientific environment.

An anonymous follow-up survey of attendees revealed 84% of attendees were more interested in pursuing STEM as a direct result of their participation in the

event, and 92% reported wanting to complete an internship at Sanford Burnham Prebys. Importantly, 100% of attendees specified the event solidified intent to pursue a STEM degree. Of the experience, one attendee remarked:

“Sanford Burnham Prebys is the trailblazer for upcoming discoveries using state-ofthe-art technology. I would have never thought that a company would use AI, Virtual Reality headsets, and even sonar technology to better equip the team. Also, Sanford Burnham Prebys really puts in the effort for inclusivity, and diversity on the team. All of the labs were run by people all over the world. I felt seen and would love to work with them."

Special thanks to our Keynote Speaker, Dr. Alessandra Sacco, workshop leaders Milagro Ramos & Kevin Brown, our California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM)-funded SPARK interns, Education & Training DEI Committee members and the following graduate & postdoctoral trainees for presenting posters: Dr. Karina Barbosa Guerra, Tatiana Moreno, Dr. Valeria Guglielmi, Rachael McVicar, Dr. Shanshan Yin, Paloma Sánchez Pavón, Yu-Ling (Linda) Chang, & Michaela Lynott.

GSBS Holiday Luncheon

By: Megan Elyamani

The Graduate School celebrated the holiday season at BJ’s this year with an all you can eat lunch! Students brought gifts for a white elephant gift exchange and some even dressed in their best holiday attire.

Dr. James Kent defended his Ph.D. thesis on October 3, 2022.

Dr. Kent, a student in Dr. Francesca M. Marassi laboratory, successfully defended his thesis titled “Pathogen Virulence Factors: Structural Biology at the Interface Between Host and Pathogen.”

Dr. Karina Barbosa defended her Ph.D. thesis on November 28, 2022.

Dr. Barbosa, a student in Dr. Ani Deshpande laboratory, successfully defended her thesis titled "Chromatin Control of Cancer Stem Cells in Acute Myeloid Leukemia."

Pictured left is Dr. Barbosa with her mentors Dr. Peter Adams and Dr. Ani Deshpande.

ChadTough Defeat DIPG Foundation Grant Awardee

Congratulations Theophilos Tzaridis, Ph.D., a postdoc in the Peter Adams & Robert Wechsler-Reya labs, for being one of eight researchers around the world to receive a ChadTough Defeat DIPG Foundation Grant!

Postdoc & Graduate Student Counts

Office of Education, Training & International Services

Diane Klotz, Ph.D. Director

Associate Dean, Administration & Professional Development

Megan Elyamani Program Coordinator, GSBS

Education & Training

Nisha Cavanaugh, Ph.D.

Associate Director, Career Development & Postdoctoral Programs

International Services

Mitchell Furumoto Manager, International Services

Leadership Support

Guy Salvesen, Ph.D.

Faculty Advisor, Graduate Education & Postdoctoral Training

Nicole Villa, M.A. Program Coordinator, OETIS

Angelica Rocha, Ph.D.

Assistant Director, Institutional Research & Academic Planning

Paula Checchi, Ph.D.

Program Manager, Recruitment, Outreach & Achievement

Susie Bolor Senior International Advisor