(Boston)--In an effort to broaden opportunities for participation in professional development activities for graduate and postdoctoral trainees, Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) will develop a software application (app) that will enable identification and sharing of these opportunities with local institutions.
The Burroughs Wellcome Fund supports research and education in the biomedical sciences and will provide the funding via the Career Guidance for Trainees program. This program is geared toward supporting pilot projects to enable better approaches to prepare graduate students and postdoctoral researchers for successful careers in the biomedical sciences. The $50,000 grant entitled "Training Opportunities To Augment Learning" (TOTAL) will seek opportunities across a wide spectrum of biomedical science careers, including academia, industry, business and administration, communications, law, policy and teaching.
"Institutions that offer graduate and post-doctoral training in the biomedical sciences are increasingly concerned with preparing their trainees for a wide range of professional opportunities. Our hope is that this new app will assist our trainees as they explore options and build skills to achieve their career goals" explained Barbara M. Schreiber, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry and co-PI on the NIH-funded Boston University's Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BU's BEST) award.
"Many institutions including BUSM have developed an array of offerings including formal coursework, workshops, seminars, career panels, site visits to industry sites and internships. However, in locations where multiple institutions offer these activities, there is considerable duplication of effort and pooling resources is a means by which we can expand programming," added Linda E. Hyman, PhD, professor of microbiology and associate provost for the Division of Graduate Medical Sciences at BUSM and co-PI on the NIH-funded BU's BEST award.
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Drs. Hyman and Schreiber look forward to working with Karim Kabbara (Senior Solutions Architect) and their partner institutions (MassBioEd, Tufts University Sackler School of Biomedical Sciences and the University of Massachusetts, Boston).