By: Michael Somes
More than 300 NIDCR trainees from all career stages gathered for a jam-packed two days of presentations, panels, poster sessions, and networking as part of “Celebrating NIDCR Trainees: Past, Present, and Future,” a virtual event held on October 10-11, 2023. The event was part of NIDCR’s 75th anniversary year celebration.
Nobel Laureate Dr. Ardem Patapoutian delivered the keynote address, and both days featured plenary sessions with NIDCR leaders. Trainees additionally had the opportunity to share and discuss their work in poster sessions, learn more about NIDCR’s grants and funding process, and receive career advice from experts during breakout sessions.
The opening plenary session, “The Past, Present, and Future of NIDCR-Supported Research Training and Career Development,” featured NIDCR Director Rena D’Souza, D.D.S., Ph.D., M.S.; NIDCR’s Director of Extramural Activities Lynn King, Ph.D.; and James Lipton, D.D.S., Ph.D., former director of training and career development at NIDCR. They discussed their career paths, what brought them to dental research, some of NIDCR’s training successes, and how current trainees fit into NIDCR’s goals for the future. Dr. Lipton stressed the importance of mentorship—one of his first mentors directed him to apply to a socio-medical/socio-dental sciences program at Columbia University’s school of public health. This push started him down the career path that led to him becoming a dental researcher and eventually leading NIDCR’s research training and career development branch from 1990 to 2002.
Drs. King and D’Souza echoed Dr. Lipton’s sentiments about the role of mentors, and added that guiding early career scientists and trainees also provides benefits to the mentor. “It’s enriching to know you’re contributing to someone’s knowledge of science and perhaps sparking an interest in a research career,” said Dr. King. “It’s really a two-way street, I learned a lot from my mentees too. They’ve taught me through their own experiences,” added Dr. D’Souza. She explained the origin of the term mentor came from The Odyssey, where Mentor looked after and protected Odysseus’ son Telemachus. “That role and relationship of mentor was exactly how it played out in my career with my mentors.” She emphasized that mentors not only help a trainee with success, but also with failure. “A mentor can teach you how to not be afraid of rejection, how to build the character of resilience that you need,” she said.
The afternoon started with NIDCR program staff presentations on research and funding opportunities on the full spectrum of science supported by the Institute. The trainees were also treated to videos that gave a peek inside two of the Institute’s intramural labs in Bldg. 30. Then came poster sessions in which trainees had the opportunity to discuss their science.
A number of breakout sessions were also offered in the afternoon with such varied topics as alternate careers in science, choosing a mentor, navigating DDS/PhD programs, and maintaining work-life balance while pursuing a research career. Following the breakout sessions, trainees chose between panel discussions, each focused on a different career stage. The day wrapped up with a networking opportunity with the career panelists.
Day two began with the plenary session, “NIDCR: Better, together” led by NIDCR Deputy Director Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque, D.D.S., Ph.D. She discussed the importance of building a strong and diverse pipeline of new researchers. She illustrated her point with a quote from the Institute’s first director, Dr. H. Trendley Dean, who said, “money without manpower is useless.” She additionally highlighted NIH statistics showing that teams with more diversity, whether ethnic, geographic, or in disciplines of study, tend to produce more impactful publications and receive a greater number of citations.
Looking beyond the health research workforce, Dr. Webster-Cyriaque also spoke on the importance of tackling disparities in oral health across the United States. More research is needed to address the role of multi-level factors in oral health outcomes, and solutions are needed for populations who don’t have access to dental care. “The cost of not having oral healthcare is high, in terms of economics, pain, nutrition, losses to social productivity, and systemic disease” said Dr. Webster-Cyriaque.
Dr. Ardem Patapoutian, winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (with Dr. David Julius), delivered the keynote address. He discussed his research into the receptors that enable us to sense pressure and temperature, playing a vital role in our sense of touch and also in proprioception—the body’s sense of its position in space. He also shared with trainees some of his early experiences in education and in research. What he described as “the most important slide in my whole talk” had the title, “You don’t have to be special to win a Nobel Prize.” He described his qualifying exam for his Ph.D. at Caltech as a “disaster.” “I learned so much from these negative experiences, and I feel like you learn more from negative than positive,” he said.
He concluded the talk with two anecdotes, one about a former colleague who emailed him after winning the Nobel Prize who told him, “I always thought of Nobel Laureates as a different breed of scientist, but you’re one of us.”
His father shared similar sentiments with one of Dr. Patapoutian’s nephews who aspires to be an opera singer. “Ardem wasn’t that special growing up, if he can do it, you can do it.”
“That’s the message I want you to leave with,” Dr. Patapoutian told the trainees.
Following the keynote address were presentations from participants in the NIDCR’s Sustained Outstanding Achievement in Research (SOAR) program and Mentoring an Inclusive Network for a Diverse Workforce of the Future (MIND the Future), a program sponsored by the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research. The afternoon also included a poster session and provided an opportunity for trainees to network with NIDCR program officers.
The meeting concluded with a roundtable with NIDCR leadership, in which trainees met in smaller breakout sessions and were encouraged to ask questions and learn more about opportunities with NIDCR. Following the roundtable, Dr. D’Souza offered closing remarks, in which she emphasized the importance of shared ownership in the research and training process. Said Dr. D’Souza, “When you’re an awardee, you are at the wheel. We [NIDCR] can give you the fuel and a map, but you’re going to drive where you want to go. That self-discovery is an important part of this whole growth process.”
For information about NIDCR training opportunities, visit the Careers & Training webpage.