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Danielle Cory, MEng, Clinical Research Coordinator II, has been a member of the committee for just one year yet has fully immersed herself in the activities the committee offers. She has already coordinated a Patient-Family Panel and two monthly Research Professionals Town Hall meetings, presented at the Research Professionals Journal Club, and collaborated with other research coordinators to facilitate the Journal Club meetings. This month, she joined the committee’s leadership team as secretary. Danielle credits her committee participation with exposing her to the diverse work of research coordinators and the opportunities they have in the field of biomedical research, something especially important to this early-career researcher. Danielle found her work on the Patient-Family Panel particularly fulfilling because, as a former patient and participant in research, she related to both the patients and their family members. Most meaningful to Danielle was how the panel helped to humanize the volunteer research participants and gave her the chance to hear first-hand how our research has positively affected patients and families.
Casey Rand, MS, Clinical Research and Project Manager for the Center for Autonomic Medicine in Pediatrics, has leveraged his five years of participation on the Education and Mentoring Committee to enhance his role as a manager. As co-chair of the mentoring program, which is part of the Education and Mentoring Committee, Casey is passionate about bringing mentors and mentees together. He has spearheaded several Research Professionals Education Days, an annual event that builds capacity, interactions, and innovation throughout Lurie Children’s research workforce. Interacting with both early-career research professionals and research leaders from outside his network gives Casey access to broad perspectives and valuable insights that he applies to his own team’s work.
As the Education and Mentoring Committee continues to attract research professionals like Danielle and Casey, it is also transforming from a group with a clinical research focus to one that expands and connects across all research groups, a change that the committee’s co-chairs champion and collaborate with the Research Professionals Steering Committee to achieve. Now in their second year serving as co-chairs, Anna De Sonia, Clinical Research Coordinator Lead for the Office of Clinical and Community Trials, and Carolyn Prokop, Clinical Research Coordinator Lead for Genetics, are positioning the committee into a space where those working in any of our research pillars are encouraged to share their experiences and challenges. For committee members like Danielle and Casey, strengthening cross-department relationships that bring new ideas and perspectives to the table is key to conducting ground-breaking pediatric research.
I look forward to building upon the Education and Mentoring Committee’s success with new communities of practice across the organization to build bridges, solve problems, and give each one of us a voice in creating a workplace where we thrive.
With kindness and respect,
Pat
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