Train-the-Trainers Workshop on Professional Development, Responsible Conduct, and Inclusion


Being successful in a professional career in the sciences requires much more than knowing how to do research. It also requires learning the skills needed to find a job, manage a team and oversee projects, obtain funding, make presentations, publish papers, teach and mentor diverse trainees, and maintain a high level of ethical behavior. Many institutions do not provide formal training in each of these essential skills. Thus, for the past two decades we have offered “train-the-trainer” programs that explicitly teach these skills.

This train-the-trainer workshop is designed for faculty, administrators, senior postdocs, and others who want to establish or enrich a course or program in professional skills at their institution and/or professional societies: Throughout the workshop, special emphasis is placed on integrating instruction in ethics into the curriculum, providing information on expanding job opportunities, and on improving institutional climate, especially with respect to matters of inclusion. Our train-the-trainer workshops, which have been and continue to be supported by the US National Institutes of Health, have been attended by more than 500 individuals from throughout the US and abroad. Some of the many comments we have received from past attendees are provided below.

Conference participants receive extensive resources: We will provide participants with a set of course outlines as well as visual aids, ethics cases, discussion notes, handouts, reference materials, a comprehensive bibliography, and videos to be used in their courses. 

This year's workshop will be held in Atlanta, Georgia on February 9 - 10, 2024. 

Click on the conference link below for the schedule and a description of the faculty. Applicants are encouraged to apply together with a colleague from their institution or professional society as we have found that this often facilitates establishing a professional development program.


Comments from past workshop participants:

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Workshop Participant

The ethics part of this workshop profoundly affected us and we feel now much more prepared to go and implement the course.

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Workshop Participant

[The workshop] was outstanding! It was great to gain a broader perspective from other course participants and faculty. Organization was superb! And there are no other sources/courses that provide/offer this information. Please continue this program!

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Workshop Participant

The two seminars I developed here would not have existed without your national workshop. I found the workshop extremely helpful.

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Workshop Participant

The workshop laid the foundation for the course that we offer…The reference materials that "The workshop laid the foundation for the course that we offer…The reference materials that were formulated by the [workshop directors] were indispensable.

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Workshop Participant

Gave me some additional topics for my [existing] course and excellent resources. The workshop was excellent and I continually refer to the materials as I plan my course every year.

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Workshop Participant

This [workshop] really opened my eyes to a number of possibilities and approaches; it helped coalesce my thoughts into concrete action plans.

Workshop Agenda

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Past Workshop Presenters

About the Program

Our proposed training program to create a highly skilled and diverse biomedical workforce is a response to the NIGMS initiative, “Innovative Program to Enhance Research Training” (IPERT). We believe that central to such a program is training mentors and leaders in the best practices of professional development and scientific integrity so that they in turn can transmit that practices to their trainees, and this is our focus. Most post-baccalaureate research training programs provide trainees with a strong background in a discipline and the laboratory skills to carrying out a line of research.

Although this a critical component of the training needed to succeed as a researcher, we believe that there is much more needed to maximize the chance that these trainees will be successful. Specifically, we believe that trainees require explicit instruction in a wide variety of professional skills, including the ability to help in the creation of an inclusive and diverse environment, to communicate effectively, to become outstanding educators and mentors, to obtain diverse research funding, and to be active contributors to the scientific ecosystem with the highest standards of scientific integrity.

This project is funded by NIGMS #1R25GM135022-01

Leadership Team

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Almesha L. Campbell, PhD


Assistant Vice President for Research and Economic Development
Jackson State University



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Jeannette (Jenny) Hoit, PhD, CCC-SLP


Director, Postdoctoral Affairs
Professor, Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
University of Arizona



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Rick McGee, PhD


Associate Dean for Professional Development
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine



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Joseph A. Whittaker, PhD


Vice President for Research and Economic Development /
Associate Provost
Jackson State University



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Gonzalo Torres, PhD


Department Chair
Molecular Pharmacology & Neuroscience
Loyola University


External Advisory Committee

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Elizabeth Heitman, PhD

Professor:
Department of Psychiatry’s

Program:
Ethics in Science and Medicine

University of
Texas Southwestern Medical Center


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Jean King, PhD

Peterson Family Dean of:
Arts and Sciences

School:
Worchester Polytechnic Institute

Professor:
Department of Biology and Biotechnology


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George Langford, PhD

Distinguished Professor of:
Biological Sciences

University:
Syracuse University


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Lydia Villa-Komaroff, PhD

Founder & Principal:
Intersections SBD Consulting


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This project is funded by NIGMS #1R25GM135022-01