by
Madison Paton, PhD (Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Institute, The University of Sydney)
Jessica Sue, BSc, MHSM (Sydney Cord Blood Bank, Sydney Children’s Hospital)
Ashleigh Henderson, BSc, MSc (Royal Brisbane & Woman's Hospital)
Leon Brownrigg, PhD (Cell and Tissue Therapies WA (CTTWA), Royal Perth Hospital)
Paulo Martins, MSc, PhD (Tumour Immunology Laboratory at QIMRB)
Gaurav Sutrave, MBBS, FRACP, FRCPA (The Westmead Institute for Medical Research)
Alicia Didsbury, PhD (The University of Auckland)
The Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Early Stage Professional (ESP) Subcommittee has been working to generate significant contributions within ISCT throughout 2023. Here, we provide a brief overview of the year in review and thank our Subcommittee, the ANZ Regional Executive and ISCT members for their ongoing support.
The Subcommittee has grown to seven members, with representation across Australia (both eastern and western states) and New Zealand. Subcommittee members are from a variety of disciplines, including research and clinical science, medical, and quality. This diversity has enabled the coordination of several ESP-led and focused events and activities throughout the year. This was achieved through collaborative monthly ESP Subcommittee meetings and subsequent reporting to the ANZ Regional Executive Committee. The ESP Subcommittee further strives to build on international networks, ensuring representation on the ISCT Global ESP Committee, and collaboration with other regional ESP Subcommittees around the world. Here are some of the Subcommittee highlights from 2023:
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Our Career Pathways Webinar
On May 5th, we were honoured to present our inaugural webinar, titled ‘Career Pathways in Cell & Gene Therapies’. Our Subcommittee reached out to other ESPs in the region in both formal and informal capacities to discover what was important to ESPs. They expressed a desire to hear advice on career development, to know what skills they might need to be successful in the field, and what the workforce might be looking for. As such, the key objectives of the session were to provide ANZ ESPs with an overview of the cell and gene industry in the region, and to hear about potential career pathways from esteemed professionals in the field.
Chaired by Subcommittee co-chair Jessica Sue and Subcommittee member Dr Alicia Didsbury, PhD (with outgoing Subcommittee member Dr Guy Klamer, PhD supporting with monitoring of Q&A), four speakers were featured: Professor Rajiv Khanna from QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Associate Professor Rebecca Lim from Prescient Therapeutics, Jeanette Ripper from Novartis Pharmaceuticals, and Associate Professor Emily Blyth from Westmead Hospital and the Westmead Institute of Medical Research.
There were 64 registrants, with 23 able to join the live broadcast, and many ISCT members have already viewed the recording of the webinar, which is linked here: https://www.isctglobal.org/viewdocument/career-pathways-in-cell-gene-ther.
With career pathways a major focus, Rajiv, Rebecca, Jeanette and Emily gave an overview of their individual career pathways in the cell and gene therapy industry, sharing their extensive and varied experience and progression across the different disciplines. A highly interactive panel discussion followed, giving the ANZ ESP Subcommittee and the audience a unique chance to grill the four speakers on any questions they had about career pathways and opportunities in the industry. It was especially helpful to hear the speakers describe their honest opinions of what professional development and skills ESPs can target to futureproof their careers. They recommended: reaching out to hiring managers to see what they are looking for, researching and understanding where industry developments may be headed, and being cognizant of regulatory requirements and guidelines in advance of process development. Speakers were also asked to recommend what specific qualifications ESPs might want to seek, and on a related note, to share their thoughts around what different pathways might best benefit ESPs, for example, seeking industry experience versus academia, or taking positions in their local region versus overseas. The conversation progressed to discussions around soft skills that ESPs can use to promote themselves, with the importance of interpersonal communication and teamwork (including how these can be learned) as well as the ability to be adaptable, flexible, collaborative and happy to receive feedback from others. After discussions around the benefits (and drawbacks) of social media for your career, the question came back to ‘unexpected’ career pathways, with the answers from the speakers once again highlighting that hearing about the challenges and joys their careers have brought each speaker was a fabulous opportunity for ESPs.
We thank both the ISCT Head Office and the ANZ Regional Executive for their support and of course our speakers again for their time and personal insights.
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ANZ Regional ISCT Meeting and ESP Session
By August, it was again time to meet in person at the ISCT ANZ Regional Meeting in Perth, where the Subcommittee was proud to again be given responsibility for developing an ESP-focused session on the Thursday. But first, all ESPs attending the meeting were given the chance to mingle and network at the very first ESP social event held at a secret warehouse location on the Wednesday night. The event was an absolute hit, even with non-ESPs in attendance. But back to official business, the meeting’s ESP session was officially opened by ISCT President Professor Jacques Galipeau, who championed the role ESPs play in ISCT. This led into part one of the session, which featured the top three ESP abstract presentations.
In preparation for the remaining portion of the session, we had again gone out to our ESP community and colleagues via survey in the months leading up, to find out what they most wanted addressed in the session. With mentoring being a clear frontrunner, the Subcommittee were grateful to have Associate Professor Dominic Wall, Associate Professor Ngaire Elwood, Dr Janet Macpherson, PhD and Associate Professor Rebecca Lim agree to join the session. Dr Madison Paton, PhD and Jessica Sue as co-chairs were joined on stage by the panel to discuss all things mentoring. The audience were given a unique opportunity to find out about the panel members’ personal experience with mentoring, and how to both establish and nurture mentee/mentor relationships. With valuable opportunities available for ISCT ESP members to access mentoring, the Subcommittee hoped to give those who might be looking either to be mentored, or be a mentor themselves, the push to do so. Feedback from attendees about this session was extremely favourable with many members praising the openness and positivity in the room, the use of real-time audience survey app Slido, and expressing a new desire to get more involved with the ISCT and the mentoring program. Sessions such as these provide some of the best demonstrations of what membership with the ISCT has to offer.
The region’s support and dedication to ESPs was further highlighted with 19 travel stipends given to ANZ ESPs residing outside of Western Australia (WA) and eight free registrations given to those within WA. More can be read about the session here: https://www.isctglobal.org/telegrafthub/blogs/lauren-reville/2023/09/11/2023-isct-anz-regional-meeting-reflection-from-the
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Formalizing Our Mission, Roles And Format As A Subcommittee
We have recently embarked on formalizing our ESP Subcommittee with a Terms of Reference (TOR) which we look forward to implementing by the end of 2023. Here, we determined the best ways to function as a Subcommittee, involve ESPs in our sector, and continue to be mission-focused. Our TOR also aims to provide a framework for Co-Chairs and member roles, schedules and responsibilities. This TOR has stood as a testament to our Subcommittee growth and development over the last 12 months.
After a busy and productive 2023, the ISCT ANZ ESP Subcommittee is excited to see what we can achieve with 2024, with another webinar, an ESP session at the ISCT ANZ 2024 Regional Meeting, more Telegraft articles, and more engagement with our ESP colleagues both in ANZ and worldwide on the horizon – watch this space! If you’re interested in knowing more, please visit https://www.isctglobal.org/about/isct-committees/esp/anz-regional-esp-subcommittee.
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