The Colloquium Planning Committee (Committee) selected this year’s theme for the 2023 NIH Global Doctoral Partnerships Annual Research Colloquium as Science for All: Integrity, Transparency, Accessibility. The NIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholars wanted this theme to reflect on the importance of inclusion across all scientific disciplines and provide a supportive, welcoming environment for all trainees. Led by Chair Rachel Smith and Vice Chair Jude Tunyi, the Committee consisted of exceptional student members Theressa Ewa, Abigail Giles, Poorva Jain, Jasmine Mack, Mathieu Perez, Linh Pham, Mitchell Sun who dedicated their time to organize this year’s Colloquium at Homerton College, University of Cambridge.
Kicking off the Colloquium, the Committee invited Drs. Andreas Danhorn, Andrew Harper, and Coralie Viollet from AstraZeneca, Dr. Richard Siegel from Novartis, and Dr. Stella Hurtley from Science to lead an industry networking event which was moderated by Scholars Abigail Giles and John Hancock.
The Committee invited Dr. Magdalena Skipper, the editor-in-chief of Nature and Chief Editorial Advisor for the Nature portfolio as the Keynote Speaker whose talk was titled, “Science by All & for All: How a Science Publisher Can Support Social Justice & Equitable Development.” Dr. Skipper expressed that science by all is vital to science for all. She encouraged the attendees to champion open and transparent research, be collaborative, especially with the public, and both encourage and support diverse voices. Special Topics speaker, Dr. Elisabeth Bik, Science Integrity Consultant, Harbers Bik LLC, John Maddox Prize Recipient, and Scientific and Editorial Director, uBioMe discussed “Double Trouble: Inappropriate Image Duplications in Biomedical Publications.” Dr. Bik shared the three types of duplications that occur in science publications and called upon the audience to see if they could spot the duplications through an interactive lecture.
The Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion speakers included Drs. Kerry McInerney and Rachel Bervell. Dr. Bervell, Partners in Health, Bias in Medicine challenged thought processes surrounding maternal deaths, especially black women, in her talk “Confronting a Diagnostic Dilemma: Exploring the Basis of Bias in Medicine.” Dr. Bervell further discussed the role of bias in these disparities and the ways we define racism in medicine. Dr. Kerry McInerney, University of Cambridge, Bias in Research posed three key questions during her lecture which included What is bias? How do we think about AI’s harms? And who makes AI and why does that matter?
The 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, Dr. Justin Lathia, was invited to reflect on his experiences as an NIH OxCam Scholar and highlight his career path leading to his current position as Professor and Vice Chair, Cleveland Clinic and Co-Leader, Molecular Oncology Program, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. His goal is to build and lead a cutting-edge brain tumor program that helps improve the lives of patients worldwide based on research produced by the next generation of cancer researchers. Following his talk, he served on the NIH OxCam Alumni Panel alongside Drs. Adam Knight, Founder and Chief Business Officer, Neuron23, Arianne Richard, Tenure Track Investigator at Babraham Institute, Cambridge, UK, and Jessica van Loben Sels, Laboratory Specialist, US Virgin Islands Department of Health.
Throughout the Colloquium the Class of 2020 gave Oral Presentations, the Class of 2021 presented Posters, and the Class of 2022 participated in a 3-minute Thesis Competition. Congratulations to NIH-Marshall Scholar Emily Steffke for the best Oral Presentation, Hannah Duffy for the Best Poster Presentation, and Mitchell Sun for the best 3-minute Thesis. Further Congratulation to the team consisting of Ayden Case, Poorva Jain, Tung Nguyen, Grace Perry, Alaina Shreves, and Alia Welsh led by Dr. Elodie Ghedin (ExComm Lead), Dr. Kathy Zoon (Alliance Lead) and Hallie Gaitsch (Student Lead) for being named the 3-minute Thesis Team winners.
Scholars, mentors, leadership, as well as Alliance Board Directors, were invited to attend the Gala Reception. Professor Clare Bryant, the Cambridge Director of the NIH OxCam Program, opened the elegant dinner reception with a warm welcome to attendees and invited outgoing NIH OxCam Program Scientific Director Dr. Alan Sher to give the Welcome Address and to reflect upon his career path, sharing wisdom and advice with the audience. Following Dr. Sher’s speech, Committee Chair and Vice-Chair Ray Smith and Jude Tunyi moderated the much-anticipated annual Science Recognition Awards Ceremony. Congratulations to Scholars Will Snyder, Ray Smith, and Jude Tunyi for being named the first, second, and third-place winners of the 2023 Photo Contest Winners for their “My Cool Science” submissions.
Details on the winners can be found in separate articles on the Alliance website.