By Nancy Bordelon, ECPO Subcommittee Chairperson
The American College of Toxicology Early Career Professional Outreach Subcommittee (ECPO) has had a busy 2016! We are very pleased with the progress of our Mentorship program. Since we announced the program in late 2015, we have had approximately 42 mentors and 28 mentees sign up. This is a great opportunity to connect with experienced professionals in our community, so please spread the work to those who might be interested. If you haven’t signed up yet, it’s easy! The application is on the ACT website.
I would like to point you to a few exciting events specifically developed for our early career professionals and mentors at the ACT Annual Meeting. These events offer a great opportunity to network and learn from experts in our community, so please be sure to attend!
Speed Networking (Sunday, November 6 from 5:00 PM–6:30 PM). Back by popular demand! Please be sure to keep an eye out for the sign up! This is a great opportunity to meet experts in a variety of professional disciplines within toxicology. We will have experienced professionals representing contract research organizations, pharmaceutical companies, government, and education. These professionals will be there to answer all of your questions about career paths and what it’s like to work in their industry. Stay tuned for special announcements before the Annual Meeting about this event.
Monday Night Early Career Professional Poker Night (Monday, November 7 at 7:00 PM). Join us for a fun opportunity to meet with fellow mentors and mentees, and learn about our program! Details will follow, but be assured fun will be had by all!
Please take a moment to look at our Continuing Education courses and symposia, there are a host of wonderful and interesting topics, but below are a few highlights that we thought would be particularly interesting to our Early Career Professionals:
- AM CE Course 2: The Role of the Toxicologist Post-IND Submission: What Comes Next?
- PM CE Course 8: The Use and Misuse of Statistics in Toxicology
- Symposium 9: Early Career Professionals' Forum: Current Topics in Applied Toxicology
Also, keep an eye out on the website (actox.org) for other events and webinars! There are a host of great webinars and past presentations posted in our web-based archives.
I want to everyone who has served on the Early Career Professional Outreach Subcommittee this year; it’s been lots of fun!