Group photo-2

The KWiSE-NIH Chapter Symposium was held in the NIH/NIAAA conference room at Rockville, MD on November 22nd, 2014. Despite the unusually cold weather, 63 scientists and 9 family members participated in the event, which ran for a full day from 9:45am to 5pm. The program was filled with many interesting sessions including a keynote address, scientific presentations, panel discussion, and extramural career advice. Participants had networking opportunities during lunch and coffee breaks.

After the welcoming and congratulatory remarks by Dr. Hee-Yong Kim (KWiSE-NIH president and the chief of Laboratory of Molecular Signaling, NIAAA) and Dr. Eun-Suk Seo (KWiSE president and the professor at the University of Maryland),

Dr. Hye-Kyoung Lee (Associate Professor of Johns Hopkins University) gave her keynote address, titled “My journey through memory lane: How experience shapes our brain”, in which she provided an inspiring presentation on her life and career journey as well as her research.

There were two scientific sessions, which were chaired by Dr. Sohyoung Kim (NCI/NIH, morning session) and Dr. Heekyong Bae (NCI/NIH, afternoon session). Eleven women scientists from different NIH institutes (NICHD, NIDDK, NHGRI, NCI, NHLBI, NIAID, and clinical center) gave brief scientific presentations on their research projects and exchanged scientific ideas.

In the Panel Discussion session moderated by Dr. Myong Hee Sung (NCI/NIH), participants had a lively discussion with 5 invited panelists – Dr. Hee-Yong Kim, Dr. Myung-Hee Park (Senior Investigator, Oral and Pharyngeal Cancer Branch, NIDCR/NIH), Dr. Hye-Kyung Lee, Dr. Gail Seabold, Scientific Skills Coach, Office of Intramural Training and Education, OD/NIH) and Dr. Belinda Seto, (Deputy Director, NEI/NIH). The discussion was centered around two topics of interest to many NIH women scientists – (1) Career opportunities in the age of shrinking NIH budget (2) Family issues arising during job search/interviews and relocation. The panelists shared their personal experiences and offered useful advice to achieve success in both career and life.

The last session of the program was devoted to the extramural career advice, and two extramural program directors – Dr. Eun-Jung Park (NIAID/NIH) and Dr. Minkyung Song (NCI/NIH) – led the session. The session was especially informative to the scientists who are interested in pursuing the career related to the extramural program as well as applying for the extramural research grants.

Overall, the 2014 KWiSE-NIH symposium was well received and turned out to be a great success, providing valuable career advice and networking opportunities among NIH women scientists.

Reported by Yoo-Ah Kim (NCBI/NLM/NIH)