APEX Access Program
The APEX Access program is an EDI mentorship and training program that promotes underrepresented groups in the health diagnostics ecosystem via a province-wide network and mentors from across all of the axes of diversity.
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Why?
Our Mission
Our mission is to create a concrete platform to include people from the full EDI spectrum in research and leadership roles in state-of-the art healthcare diagnostics technology development.
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The APEX Access program has enabled over 50 people from underrepresented groups to find positions in academia and industry.
APEX Access Programs
APEX Access Mentorship Program
The APEX Access Mentorship Program connects students and early career researchers with experienced researchers from diverse backgrounds. This program enables experienced researchers to share their research interests with the community and allows students and trainees to experience the benefits of involving EDI practices in research.
Our Fall/Winter 2023-2024 cohort is currently underway. Register below to get more information about our cohort starting next Fall 2024 or contact our program director for more information!
We promote all axes of diversity, which include but are not limited to: women, LGBTQ2S+ individuals, visible minorities and Indigenous persons.
Expectations:
This is a hybrid 8-month program, where each month one mentor will be featured in a career discussion. Group professional development workshops will be held every semester and participants are encouraged to contribute to monthly discussion topics on our online community.
Mentors
Please fill out the following form to apply to our mentor recruitment portal:
Mentees
Please fill out the following form to apply to our mentee recruitment portal:
APEX Access EDI Training and Professional Development
The APEX Access program hosts 3 equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) training workshops per year as an opportunity for professionals to discuss issues and generate new strategies to incorporate tangible EDI practices in all aspects of the APEX foundation. Previous workshops have focused on collaborative research strategies, incorporating EDI values into grant writing, and navigating diverse career paths in the life sciences. APEX Access also partners with community organizations to provide professional development and networking opportunities.
Check back in Fall 2023 for upcoming workshops
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Professional Development Courses
Level Up Course by Diversity Scientific
APEX Access is excited to announce our partnership with Diversity Scientific Founder, Dr. Tarah Lynch. We provided bursaries that enabled researchers to attend this course.
Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars receive lifetime access to all future course materials, including a network of professionals from diverse careers.
WHY: A lot of the essential life and leadership skills for the next level in your career but are not taught in grad and postdoctoral programs. Although many skills are learned ‘on the job’, the formal training in leadership skills or exposure to different career paths in science is insufficient. Academia is an excellent career choice, but do you feel prepared to effectively manage a lab?
As we all know, the trainee years in scientific research can test our patience and sanity, but you should not be a trainee forever! No more perma-docs!
There are so many career paths out there to explore, so let’s take 8 weeks and create a career strategy, learn important skills and build a professional network of diverse, experienced people to help you along the journey.
FULL COURSE OUTLINE HERE. THE NEXT SESSION BEGINS IN FALL 2023.
APEX Access Program Workshops.
Catch up on these important discussions from past events:
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Panelists:
Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada
Dr. Sean Asselin – Plant Breeding
Dr. Hector Carcamo – Pest Management
Dr. Jess Vickruck – Beneficial Insects
Alisha Greene – Student Research
Public Health Agency of Canada
Dr. Brent Dixon – Bureau of Microbial Hazards
Dr. Rebecca Guy – Genomics
Dr. Jennifer Tanner - Special Bacteriology
Alberta Public Health
Dr. Tarah Lynch – Genomics & Bioinformatics
Panelists discussed:
What does your day-to-day work look like? Who are your main collaborators?
What are the main steps in the hiring process? What is the application process like?
What are the pros + cons of government versus academic/private sector work?
What do some potential government career paths in your field look like?
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Panelists:
Dr. Jennifer Geddes-McAlister, Assistant Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph
Dr. Tarah Lynch, Program Lead for Genomics & Bioinformatics at the Provincial Public Health Laboratory, Founder of Diversity Scientific
Dr. Mehdi Mohammadi, Co-Founder and CEO of Fluidome, Postdoctoral Associate, University of Calgary
Dr. Keir Pittman, Scientific Writer, Lewis Research Group, University of Calgary
Panel moderator: Anika Westlund, PhD student, University of Calgary
About the workshop: A health-sciences related degree can give you many career options, but often deciding what skills to focus on and where to go next can be a daunting task. Join this panel discussion from the Alberta Precision Exchange (APEX) Access Program featuring four experts in the health sciences who have diverse career paths and learn how they navigated career decisions in this broad field. Our panelists Dr. Jennifer Geddes-McAlister, Dr. Tarah Lynch, Dr. Mehdi Mohammadi, and Dr. Keir Pittman have experience in academic, clinical, and industry careers and each followed a unique path to success filled with challenges along the way. Participants will have time to ask questions directly to the panelists and network after the event.
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with APEX Director Dr. Ian Lewis
Dr. Lewis currently oversees over 30 researchers and $20M in funding across several large-scale research projects that are directly integrated with Alberta’s clinical testing laboratories. In this workshop, Dr. Lewis presented strategies that have helped him successfully obtain large-scale collaborative grants that involve industry partners and internationally recognized research institutions, including Harvard University and the Broad Institute. In this workshop, we also discussed strategies for incorporating meaningful and authentic EDI statements into research proposals.
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Special thanks to Carly Chan, Marija Drikic, Rajni Pushpker, and Stephanie Bishop for facilitating!
Different perspectives lead to better science and will help us solve complex problems that directly affect the community as a whole. However, the current research system often awards individual efforts above collaborative efforts, thus encouraging a competitive research environment. In this interactive workshop filled with team building activities, we discussed issues related to competitive research environments and strategies for developing an effective collaborative research environment.
MSc student Spencer Wildman and Dr. Marija Drikic conducting research on SARS-CoV-2 in the CL-3 facility at the University of Calgary
APEX Access Workshop - Building a Collaborative Research Environment
Dr. Mehdi Mohammadi performing biomedical research
Rajni Pushpker, PhD student, engaging with the public at a community outreach event
Dr. Stephanie Bishop performing an ethnobotany field study of Indigenous peoples of South America
APEX Access Mentorship Program Winter 2023
APEX Access Program Director.
The APEX Access Program Director coordinates all aspects of the program, including the placement opportunities portal, Mentorship Program, and EDI training.
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Dr. Stephanie Bishop is a Postdoctoral Associate in Dr. Ian Lewis’ research group at the University of Calgary. She received a BSc. in Chemistry and Spanish from the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) and a PhD in Analytical Chemistry from the University of British Columbia Okanagan (Kelowna, Canada). She also has international intercultural exchange experience through her work as a Language and Cultural Assistant for the Government of Spain in Madrid for two years.
Stephanie is a strong supporter of equity, diversity, and inclusion in research and has been on several EDI-promoting committees throughout her career.
During her graduate studies, she was a committee member in the Women in Science and Engineering Mentoring Program for four years, where she organized and presented many professional development and networking events for students and professionals in the program.
She is currently a committee member and leads the mentorship program for Womxn in Metabolomics (WomiX), an organization that organizes events to promote the professional development and engagement of women in metabolomics and other STEM disciplines. Stephanie has also volunteered at community outreach programs including Let’s Talk Science, a virtual pen-pal mentoring program, and as a volunteer science fair judge at local elementary schools.
She is honored to act as Director for the APEX Access Program and to promote EDI values within the APEX ecosystem and beyond.
News and updates.
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