Research Description

Dr. Nana Lee brings her valuable expertise as an industry scientist and mother of three back into academia as she is currently pioneering the addition of professional development in biomedical graduate education.

Along with Dr. Reinhart Reithmeier, she developed and implemented the innovative Graduate Professional Development (GPD) course in the fall of 2012 for the Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto which was published in Science Careers. She directed the organization of the first Biomedical Career Workshop in 2013 sponsored by ASBMB, CSMB, Biochemistry, Immunology, U of Ottawa, Faculty of Medicine, and the Banting Research Foundation.

Some of her invited speaking engagements since 2017 about professional development include:

2021

Organizer and Facilitator, GLSE Students Leadership Conference       

Keynote Speaker, Career Development Workshop, Canadian Student Health Research Forum   

Keynote Facilitator (Organziing Committee Member), Life Sciences Career Expo

Speaker, University of Guelph GPD Day

Monthly Speaker, “Creating Your Career Blueprint” Medicine by Design Trainees

Speaker, Introduction to IDPs, PRiME (Precision Medicine Initiative)

Keynote Faculty Speaker, Outreach Program, REACH by CLAMPS, LMP

Speaker, EDI in Scientific Research, Ontario Institute of Cancer Research

Department of Nutritional Sciences Mentorship Program Workshop II on Careers

Speaker and Facilitator, Global Beyond Science Initiative Virtual Conference 

Presenter “Student as Partners Model for GPD Programming” Regional Meeting for Graduate Career Consortium, Boston University

University Health Network Teaching & Learning Symposium Workshop on IDPs

Human Biology Undergraduate Career Development Workshop

“Success In and After Graduate School” Talk for UT Mississauga GPD Day

Speaker, Life Science Career Expo Primer Event (n=177)

Panelist, Science to Business Network “Breaking Down Barriers and Strengthening Diversity in STEM” (n=100)

Ontario Institute of Cancer (OICR) Research Rising Stars Mentorship Workshop

Department of Nutritional Sciences Mentorship Program Workshop on IDPs

“Best Practices in Applying to Graduate Schools, Summer Research and Jobs” (n=111)

2020

Facilitator,”Brainstorming Green Labs Initiative” for FacMed

Speaker and Facilitator “Wise Practices of Mentorship”  GLSE

EDI Panelist, UT Scarborough GPD Day: Diversity and Inclusion in STEM

Speaker, Graduate Professional Development, CLAMPS, LMP Weekly Seminar

Facilitator re: Discussion on Post-Picture a Scientist, Biochemistry, Immunology, Pharm-Toxicology  Speaker, “Wise Practices Using the Individual Development Plan” RSI

Sept 2020          “The Power of Community: Design-thinking our Way to Novel Solutions” Proposal for Presentation Accepted, American Association of Medical Colleges, Graduate Research Education and Training Group Conference, Chicago, USA – planning on hold

Aug 2020           Keynote, Canadian Student Health Research Forum, National CIHR Professional Development Symposium, Virtual Format. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJfuGsr_px8&feature=youtu.be (video availabe until end of July, 2021)

July 2020          “Essentials of Professional Development” Korean Canadian Scientists Group, Toronto

June 2020        Assessing the impact of curricular graduate professional development using complementary quantitative and qualitative measures, Graduate Career Consortium, Virtual North American Conference, Co-Presenters: Helen Miliotis, Rebecca Laposa, Yoojin Choi, Reinhart Reithmeier (n=48 attendees)   

April 2020        GPD Day, Departments of Biochemistry, Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Western Ontario with Science to Business London Chapter, Virtual Discussion

April 2020         Best Practices in Writing the Resume” Women in STEM, Toronto Chapter

Feb 2020          Career Panelist, Global Beyond Science Initiative International Virtual Conference

Feb 2020          Day Two: Next Steps, Graduate Life Sciences and Education (GLSE), University of Toronto

Jan 2020          Best Practices in Applying to Graduate Schools, Summer Research and Jobs, Graduate Life Sciences and Education (GLSE), University of Toronto

Jan 2020          Success in and after Graduate School, GPD Day, U of Toronto Scarborough

2019

“Future Skills and Talent Development: Program Implementation Panel Session“ Canadian Science Policy Conference, Ottawa, Canada.  Facilitator Lead for Panel Workshop with Dr. Bruce Seet (S2BN), Dr. Peter Severinson (Mitacs), Dr. Vivian Nguyen (Carleton) for approximately 30 policy analysts, faculty, students and industry professionals resulting in positive feedback such as “this is the best facilitated discussion I have attended”

“Success In and After Graduate School” University of Ottawa, Department of Biochemistry

“Success In and After Graduate School” Carleton University, Department of Biochemistry

“Career Transitions” IMS Panel, U of  Toronto with Dr. Zayna Khayat, Dr. Wilfrid de Vegas

“Success In and After Graduate School: Reflection, Meaningful Engagement, StrategicCommunications” U of Calgary

“Design Thinking Applied: Generative, Team-Learning in Graduate Professional Development”          Co-presented with Dr. Allan Kaplan and Lead Facilitator for Workshop on Ideation Brainstorming American Association of Medical Colleges, GREAT (Graduate Research Education and Training)National Conference, Seattle, Washington

“GPD: Reflection, Meaningful Engagement, Strategic Communications, Next Steps” Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry, U of Toronto

“GPD: A Seven Year Review and Looking Forward” at Biochemistry Retreat

“Intro to GPD” at Speech Language Pathology Grad Student Orientation

“Graduate Professional Development: Toward Becoming an International Scientist”RIKEN Brain Institute – Tokyo, Japan & Seoul National University, Incheon University, Seoul, South Korea

“Creating Community through Curriculum-Embedded Professional Development Courses”Graduate Career Consortium National Conference, Co-Presenters: Yoojin Cho, R. Reithmeier, New Orleans, Louisiana

”A New Frontier: Strategies and Outcome for Embedding Professional Development within the Graduate Curriculum” Graduate Career Consortium National Conference, Copresenting with Cynthia Fuhrmann (UMass Medical) P. Phelps (Johns Hopkins) New Orleans, Louisiana

“Success After Graduate School” University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario

“The Informational Interview The Lung Association RENASCENT / CIHR-ICRH Workshop In partnership with the Canadian Respiratory Research Network and Canadian Thoracic Society, Ottawa

“Creating Your Professional Network” IMS GPD Course Guest Speaker, Toronto                    “Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Canada” Invited Moderator for Science to Business Network Event with Drs. Christine Allen, Zayna Khayat and Cynthia Goh                                                                   “Fireside chat with Dr. Nana Lee – Creating your Career Path” Sunnybrook Hospital, Sunnybrook Peer Network Inaugural Seminar, Toronto

 2018

“Is the Life Sciences PhD on Life Support or Alive and Well?” Association of American Medical Colleges GREAT (Group on Graduate Research, Education and Training) Conference, Atlanta

“Creating Your Career Path with Your Grad Degree” Canadian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences Annual Symposium, Toronto

“Using the Three Minute Thesis for Interviews, Outreach and Networking” American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Annual Meeting, San Diego, California

“The Best Resume and Cover Letter” Lunenfeld Tanenbaum Research Institute, Toronto

“Success After Graduate School” Biomedical Engineering Students Association Career Day, Toronto

“The Academic CV” Cancer Education Scholars Program, Toronto General Hospital

“Best Practices Learned over 5 Years in Biochemistry’s GPD Course” University of Calgary, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Calgary

2017

“Training the Trainers” Graduate Career Consortium, Boston University

Fireside Chat about Careers after Grad School, Infectious Disease Consortium, Harvard University

Parents with PhDs, School of Graduate Studies, U Toronto

“Ask the Expert” Nature Jobs Life in the Phd Lane Podcast

“Success After Graduate School” University of Guelph, OVC                                                                            “Impact in Science” LMP High School Mentorship Program

“Genes, Genomes and You: Impact of NextGen Sequencing” U of Toronto Summer Youth Meds

“Engaging Industry and Academia in GPD”, Graduate Career Consortium, Houston
Trainee GPD Seminar, Canadian Society of Molecular Biology, Ottawa
Trainee GPD Seminar, McGill University
Trainee Breakfast Plenary, Canadian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Montreal
Selected: GPD in Faculty Development, Teaching and Learning Symposium, U of Toronto
Trainee GPD Seminar, Industry Link, McMaster University
Trainee Special Workshop, Canadian Society of Immunology, Banff, Alberta
Keynote for Lead Together Conference, U of Toronto
Graduate Professional Development, Department of Astronomy, U of Toronto

Publications

Success After Graduate School
Nana Lee and Reinhart Reithmeier
Second edition in 2021!  Read

Training the Next Generation of Scientists Right Now: Challenges and Suggestions
Chloe Mitchell, Ashton Trotman-Grant, Nana Lee
Canadian Science Policy Conference Editorial 2020, Nov 11, 2020  Read

Everyday Tips for Equity-Minded Scholars
Nana Lee
Inside Higher Education, Carpe Careers October 19, 2020  Read

Making professional connections in a virtual world
Nana Lee
University Affairs, Career Advice Feature Aug 24, 2020  Read