Did you hear about the SOLD OUT 2017 Early Career Development Course?
By Reza Ehsanian, MD, DPhil
Chair, Early Career Development Course Task Force
Reza Ehsanian
What an exciting year for the Early Career Development Course! The word has definitely spread about the great content that is delivered in this course, as this year was the first time that the Early Career Development Course sold out.
We had early and mid-career members join us from around the world before the official start of the annual conference in “The Lone Star State” to participate in this year’s course entitled Pearls, Possibilities, and Pitfalls: Writing Successful Grants and Manuscript Submissions.
The course undoubtedly serves to increase the knowledge as well as professional performance and relationships of participants as reflected by the fact that, once again this year, course participants were able to claim CME/CEU credit for participating in the course. This year’s course focused on tools for writing successful grants and manuscript submissions. The course provided opportunities to learn from researchers, funding agency representatives, and journal editors who provided insights through didactic presentations, panel discussions, one-on-one networking, and small group discussions.
We had the honor of having Dr. Allen Heinemann, Co-Editor-in-Chief, and Mr. Glenn Collins, Publications Director and Managing Editor of the Archives of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, the official journal of ACRM give our keynote address. They shared key strategies in submitting a successful manuscript to the Archives and other rehabilitation journals as part of their keynote address as well as discussing criteria for determining and protecting yourself from predatory open-access publishers. In addition to the exciting Keynote speakers, the course continued the rich tradition of delivering a truly outstanding agenda with renowned speakers and panelists. The course provided opportunities to learn from successful researchers and clinicians in order to refine the skills needed for successful grant and manuscript submissions.
The morning program began with the highly regarded Grant Writing Panel moderated by Dr. Ralph Nitkin from NIH, who also presented how to prepare successful NIH grant applications. Dr. Field-Fote provided insider tips to what study sections and reviewers are looking for in a grant application. The session also included presentations from Dr. A. Cate Miller from NIDILRR and Dr. Patricia Dorn from Veterans Affairs who discussed funding opportunities and gave grantsmanship advice based on each organization’s mission and funding priorities.
The Emerging Scholars Panel Session, moderated by Drs. Amy Herold and Shilpa Krishnan, included early career research professionals who answered questions, including how to identify potentially questionable and predatory practices of open-access and non-open access publishers, as well as shared their experiences on obtaining external funding and being productive writers. Panelists included: Dr. Brad Kurowski (K Awardee); Dr. Sarah Blanton (K Awardee); Ekaterina Dobryakova (Switzer Grantee).
Dr. Stephanie Kolakowsky-Hayner conducted an interactive session, which allowed participants to learn specific techniques to be able to be more effective and productive writers and expanded on strategies for preparing successful manuscript and grant submissions.
In collaboration with the Early Career Mentoring Task Force of the Early Career Networking Group (ECNG), the course included an extended mentoring lunch, which gave mentees the opportunity to discuss various career development topics in a small group setting. The lunch began with a panel discussion with the NIDILRR ARRT Fellows who shared their insights into what makes a successful submission. Following the panel discussion, attendees had the opportunity to meet with mentors and other course attendees.
The afternoon program began with the highlight of the course, a Keynote Address by Mr. Glenn Collins and Dr. Allen Heinemann. The afternoon continued with a question-and-answer Distinguished Scholars Panel Session, moderated by Dr. Monique Pappadis with a panel including Dr. Claire Kalpakjian, Dr. Stephanie Kolowsky-Hayner, and Dr. Jeffrey Basford. Participants gained insights from the panel on how to prepare professional, competitive, compelling, and successful grant proposals and manuscript submissions.
Following the course, we had a reception in collaboration with the ECNG giving the attendees an opportunity to network with other early career professionals, new members, and ACRM leadership.
As always the success of the course was due to the hard work of the awesome ECDC Planning Committee, ACRM support staff, and course mentors!
THANK YOU to the Planning Committee
Monique R. Pappadis, PhD; Ralph Nitkin, PhD; Amy Herrold, PhD; Brooks Wingo, PhD; Shilpa Krishnan, PhD; and Stephanie Kolakowsky-Hayner, PhD for all of the time they volunteered to make sure the ECDC continues to be a perennial favorite at the ACRM Annual Meeting!
THANK YOU to the ACRM Support Staff:
Terri Compos, Samantha Dixon, Amie Devine, and Cindy Robinson for all of the discretionary effort they provided in order to make the course run so smoothly!
The course would not be such a success if it were not for the incredible content provided by our superstar speakers, mentors, and panel members. THANK YOU to our speakers, panelists and course mentors:
Ralph Nitkin, PhD
Deputy Director, National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research
National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development National Institutes of Health
Edelle Field-Fote, PT, PhD, FAPTA
Director, Spinal Cord Injury Research
Shepherd Center
Patricia Dorn, PhD, MA
Director, Rehabilitation Research and Development Service
Department of Veterans Affairs
A. Cate Miller, Ph.D.
Rehabilitation Program Specialist
NIDILRR
Shilpa Krishnan, PT, PhD
Assistant Professor
Emory University
Amy Herrold, PhD
Research Health Scientist,
Edward Hines Jr., VA Hospital
Kristin Graham, PhD, CRC
Postdoctoral Fellow Virginia
Commonwealth University
Irina Cain, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Brandeis University
Chelsea Schoen, PhD
Post-doctoral Fellow
Rusk Rehabilitation – NYU Langone Health
Brad Kurowski, MD, MS
Associate Professor
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Sarah Blanton, PT, DPT, NCS
Associate Professor
Emory University
Ekaterina Dobryakova, PhD
Research Scientist
Kessler Foundation
Stephanie Kolakowsky-Hayner, PhD, CBIST, FACRM
Associate Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Jonathan F. Bean MD, MS, MPH
Director, New England GRECC
Associate Professor
Harvard Medical School
Claire Kalpakjian, PhD, MS
Associate Professor
University of Michigan, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Jeffrey Basford, MD, PhD, FACRM
Professor Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Mayo Clinic
Glenn Collins, BS
Managing Editor, Archives of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
Allen Heinemann, PhD, ABPP, FACRM
Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Emergency Medicine and Medical Social Sciences
Northwestern University
