Useful information for Graduate Students in Pathology and their Supervisors.

Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Graduate Program Newsletter

For the Week of  March 28, 2022

PALM Student Representatives:

Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies Committee (GPSC) - Madeline Lauener

PALM Curriculum Committee - Zeshuo Li         Graduate Student Society - Saumadritaa Kar 

PALM Awards & Recognition Committee - Amirhossein Bahreyni

PALM Wellbeing Ambassador - Madeline Lauener (mlauener@alumni.ubc.ca)

Students

Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies :

GradUpdate -  In this issue: Doctoral Examination and Defence Procedures, Navigating an Effective Relationship with Your Supervisor, Interviews & Negotiations, Lay Summaries: Going Public With Your Research, Graduate Student Wellness, Activate your Entrepreneurial Mindset, and more.

Focus Group Participants Wanted

Recently, many of you lent your voice to the G+PS project by exploring your experiences of mentorship as a racialized graduate student at UBC. G+PS thanks you for your time.

To elaborate on the G+PS survey findings, we would like to invite you to attend one of the G+PS focus groups:

April 8 12-1:30pm (Online)

April 12 5-6:30pm (On campus)

April 13 12-1:30pm (On campus)

RSVP here

Focus groups will be a one-time commitment of approximately 1.5 hours in duration. Refreshments and food will be served at in-person gatherings as a small token of appreciation for your time.

G+PS hopes you will consider lending your voice once more to the research as G+PS works towards further understanding the mentorship needs and realities of racialized graduate students. It is G+PS' hope to use these findings to support more effective mentorship of our students and to amplify the value of ethnic/racial diversity at the core of graduate education.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact: Negar Khodarahmi at negark@student.ubc.ca.

Deadline Reminder for Spring 2022 Graduation

Friday, 22 April – Acceptance of final, approved master's theses and doctoral dissertations by Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies AND last day to apply to graduate for May 2022.

Faculty of Medicine:

Student Health & Wellbeing

GPE Wellness Newsletter, 'The Breathing Room', has been released and can be accessed here.

Listen and Share: UBC Students Affected by War in Ukraine

UBC students of any background who have been affected by the war in Ukraine are welcome to come listen and share their experiences. Learn more here.

Date: Drop-In on Mondays through March 28, 2022, 2pm PT

Location: Buchanan Tower Room 997

Refreshments will be served. Hosted by Dariya Prykhodko, Veta Chitnev, and David Gramling.

UBC Cancer Association

UBC Cancer Association is currently developing and initiating a new support group at UBC for undergraduate and graduate students who are currently or have experienced cancer in the past (either themselves or someone they know). This group was developed in collaboration with peer support at UBC and the Canadian Cancer Society. People interested in this initiative can register (please see poster with instructions and more info here).

Professional Development & Workshops :

VCHRI Education

Please join us for an informative workshop on “How to Effectively Communicate Your Science to the General Public” on Wednesday April 27th, 2022 from 12:00 – 1:00 pm. This session covers an overview of why science communication is important and how we can effectively communicate science to a lay audience. Our speakers will also focus on using Twitter as a platform to share and make an impact with your research.

SPEAKERS:

· Kristina McBurney, Scientific Communications Manager, STEMCELL Technologies

· Leanna Bedell, Social Media Manager, STEMCELL Technologies

DATE: Wednesday, April 27th, 2022

TIME: 12:00 – 1:00 pm

LOCATION: Virtual via Zoom (Zoom link provided 2 days prior to the event)

For more information and to register for the event, please visit: https://www.vchri.ca/our-research/events

Biochemistry Career Night

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology EDI committee is holding its first EDI-focused career night on Wednesday, March 30, from 6:00 - 7:30 pm PST. Please see more information here.

The CBR is excited to present its 11th Annual Norman Bethune Symposium on Wednesday April 6, 2022! This full-day symposium will be held at the UBC Robson Square Theater, 800 Robson Street.

We anticipate that the event will be held in a hybrid format, with opportunities for attendees to join us in-person at UBC Robson Square or virtually. The Symposium will be followed by a reception for all attendees. Don’t miss out, as this event always reaches capacity.

Click here to register now. The registration is FREE!

If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Dana Devine (ddevine@pathology.ubc.ca) or Mira Milutinovic (mira.milutinovic@ubc.ca).

The Academy of Translational Medicine is conducting a series of micro-courses for PhDs, Postdocs and PIs. The next workshop is taking place on March 28th (preparation materials are available as of March 15th ). 

Link to the event details: Entrepreneurship Micro-Courses | Academy of Translational Medicine (ubc.ca)

Announcements

Maintaining Masks in UBC public indoor spaces

UBC will continue to require masks to be worn in public indoor spaces on both campuses, until the end of the 2021/22 Winter Session on April 30, 2022. Learn more about the UBC COVID-19 Campus Rules at https://srs.ubc.ca/covid-19/ubc-campus-rules-guidance-documents/.

Students who are attending academic activities in settings outside of the university campuses are still required to wear a mask if mandated in such settings (for example, health care settings).

Pathology Day 2022

The Pathology Day Committee is planning to hold Pathology Day on Friday May 27, 2022. The event will be held in person at the Holiday Inn Vancouver on Broadway and Heather Street.

The link below will take you to the webpage to submit your Abstract for Pathology Day 2022:

https://file.pathology.ubc.ca/2022/PathologyDay2022.html#

The deadline for Award Nomination & Abstract Submission is Friday April 1st , 2022 at 5pm.

Presenting at PATH Day is a requirement for first year graduate students to qualify for the GSI Award.

The PALM Award and Recognition Committee has added several new internal departmental awards to be announced at Pathology Day. These include 'Trainee Awards' for MSc and PhD students, as well as a 'Mentoring Award'.  The link below will take you to the webpage to submit your Award Nominations for recognition at Pathology Day 2022:

https://pathology.ubc.ca/annual-awards-nomination-form-2022/

Free Statistical Software

As a member of the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine you are invited to use the statistical software JMPPro v16 from SAS institute. This software is made available for academic purposes only and is licensed annually. For more information on the capabilities of JMP, please see the website www.jmp.com . Interested parties must contact Steve Kalloger at kalloger@mail.ubc.ca to acquire the software.

Awards :

PALM Trainee Virtual Conference Attendance Awards 2022 - Call for cycle 1 Applications

Due to COVID, these awards have been temporarily revised to reimburse students for virtual conferences where a registration fee was paid. The applications for cycle 1 (January - June, 2022) are due by e-mail to heather.cheadle@pathology.ubc.ca by Friday, April 1, 2022 at 4:00PM.

Eligibility:

The competition is open to Pathology graduate students irrespective of citizenship or residency status in Canada who are registered in the PhD Program, and are in the 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th year of their program.

The conference must be identified as an international conference, but it may take place in Canada.

If you have any questions about your eligibility, please contact Heather Cheadle for clarification.

A complete application includes:

1) Completed PALM Trainee Virtual Conference Awards Application found here

2) Submitted Conference Abstract.

3) Latest Annual Report.

4) Evidence of Abstract acceptance at Conference for Poster/Podium Presentation.

Reimbursement of this award will occur by funds transfer from G+PS Graduate Awards.

Applications will be adjudicated by a Departmental Awards Committee, and the results of this competition will be announced in July 2022.

Coordinator's Corner :

Mandatory Graduation Requirement - RCR Course

The Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Course is mandatory for all biomedical research graduate students within the Faculty of Medicine who began their studies on or after January 2013. It is offered three times each academic year and as of 2013 is comprised of two face-to-face sessions and an online component that is to be completed between these two sessions. The RCR Course has been offered by the Faculty of Medicine since 2007 (face-to-face only for 2007-2013).

The online RCR course can be accessed at: www.citiprogram.org (registering under the University of British Columbia). Note: the online component is intended to be completed midway between the two face-to-face sessions. 

Registration for 2021-2022 is now closed. If you wish to enquire about course registration for the current academic year, please write med.research@ubc.ca.

Registration Open for PATH 521

PATH 521 (3 Credits) will be running at St. Paul's Hospital from June 7th to July 21st, 2022.  The course syllabus can be viewed here. Email Heather at heather.cheadle@pathology.ubc.ca if you would like to register.

New PhD Dissertation Examination Timeline

We have created a new PhD Dissertation Examination Timeline with an explanation of each step and links to the required forms here.

We are accepting feature photo submissions for upcoming newsletters! Email Heather with your photo at heather.cheadle@pathology.ubc.ca .

If you have changed your email address since the start of your Program, please email it to me to ensure you continue to receive Program Communications . Please also be sure to update your email in SIS to continue to receive important communications including awards notifications.

 Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Student Association (PaSA )

 President: Raelyn Gallant

 Vice President: Nancy Yang

 Event Coordinator: Theodore Lam

 External Affairs Coordinator: Madeline Lauener

Upcoming Meetings & Events:

PaSA invites everyone to join us at the meetings.

The next PaSA Meeting will be held on Monday, April 4th, 2022 @ 5:30pm via Zoom:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://ubc.zoom.us/j/63631399673?pwd=OUwrMEY3L0s0NEJjMjVqVnZhRndIZz09 

Meeting ID: 636 3139 9673
Passcode: 628541

Supervisors

PALM Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies Program Awards Sub-Committee

The PALM Graduate Program Awards Sub-Committee is looking for regular members. All faculty members of the department are encouraged to apply. The committee is responsible for allocating stipends and various awards to qualified students, as well as nomination of students for provincial and national awards. It serves the important function of attracting, retaining, and financially supporting students in our department during their MSc and PhD programs.

Responsibilities for the members of the Awards Committee include reviewing of applications and ranking of the applicants. No written report is required for the reviews, the adjudicators just need to rank the applications. This significantly reduces the amount of time demanded from the adjudicators. We have about 3-4 rounds of applications per year. On average, an adjudicator spends about 2-3 hours reviewing applications per round of competition. The term of appointment is 2 years, and the appointment is renewable. We look forward to seeing enthusiastic responses to this announcement.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please contact Dr. Chun Seow, Chair of the PALM Graduate Program Awards Sub-Committee by email at chun.seow@hli.ubc.ca by Friday, April 1st, 2022.

Supervisory Committee Composition

We want to remind you that when a PhD student is putting together their Committee, or a MSc student is transferring to PhD and must add an additional member, at least 50% of the student's committee (including the Supervisor) must be composed of G+PS members. This may influence the number of members on any given PhD Committee, especially if the Supervisor is not a G+PS member.

For non-members we need to review a CV for the approval process by the Program which is followed by an application to G+PS in order to have them serve on a PhD Committee. One application must be made for each student committee.

When identifying potential members please also try to consider diversity within the committee.

Free Statistical Software

As a member of the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine you are invited to use the statistical software JMPPro v16 from SAS institute. This software is made available for academic purposes only and is licensed annually. For more information on the capabilities of JMP, please see the website www.jmp.com . Interested parties must contact Steve Kalloger at kalloger@mail.ubc.ca to acquire the software.

Student Recruitment for May 2022 & September 2022

Please email the Graduate Program Coordinator at heather.cheadle@pathology.ubc.ca if you would like to be added to our Supervisors Seeking Students page on our website. Many potential students contact us for help with finding a supervisor, and this is their main resource.

Student Position Advertising

In September 2020 Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (G+PS) launched a new service for the advertisement of faculty, graduate student, and postdoc positions through their websites (for graduate students and postdocs), and, if relevant, external career portals.

All faculty and staff are able to post any open positions at https://faculty-staff.grad.ubc.ca/recruitment/job-ads . Student positions will be advertised on grad.ubc.ca in the project directory and embedded into the G+PS researcher profiles . Postdoc positions will be advertised in the Postdoc Career Opportunities website.

If opted for in the posting, all faculty, student and postdoc posts will also be shared with external portals via system-to-system integration, requiring no additional work. These portals are included:

Nature Careers ; EurAxess  ; Mendeley Careers ; LinkedIn  ; jobRxiv ; handshake ; Twitter

CTLT Teaching Workshops

Workshops on Teaching through CTLT can be found here , including; Individual Consultation with a Learning Designer About your Course, Teaching with Zoom, Getting Started with Canvas and more!