New members are welcome and encouraged to join us no matter what career stage you are! Find a task force you are interested in and contact the task force chair to learn about opportunities to participate.
Also, please see the following article about executive positions we are seeking to fill. The mission of the Early Career Networking Group (ECNG) is to foster the development and advancement of early career professionals in the field of rehabilitation. Our supportive network of peers provides the necessary resources and networking opportunities to promote successful career growth for rehabilitation researchers and clinicians.
Early Career Development Course Task Force
This task force plans the full-day Early Career Development Course held each fall at the ACRM Annual Conference. If you want to get involved with the task force for next year, contact Dr. Monique Pappadis.
Early Career Communications Task Force
This task force gathers and disseminates important information relevant to career development in the rehabilitation field, including resources on grants and scientific writing; jobs, promotion and tenure; mentorship; leadership; work-life balance; professional service membership; and news for clinicians (see This Quarter’s Career Development Resources). Resources are mostly identified through the Internet; however, members from our group also volunteer to write original articles offering tips and advice on various early career topics from their own experiences. We disseminate this information in our Quarterly ECNG e-Newsletter and ACRM’s Rehabilitation Outlook.
One of our new additions to the ECNG e-newsletter is a Research Spotlight column featuring our members. We’d love to feature you! This is a great opportunity to get your name out there by introducing yourself and your work to your peers and other members of the organization. Please contact Dawn Neumann if you are interested.
And finally, this task force welcomes new members! We hold conference calls every other month, but many of our members contribute through email exchanges. Please email the task force chair, Dawn Neumann, if you are interested in joining.
Mentoring Task Force
The mission of this task force is to facilitate the development of mentoring relationships among rehabilitation professionals at varying stages in their career development through research, educational, and clinical collaborative opportunities. One of our current projects is to get questions and answers for the Ask the Mentor column, which is published in the ECNG Quarterly E-newsletter. Check out this month’s column! We will be focusing on a variety of common early career issues and concerns. So, if you need some advice, please submit your questions to the task force chair, Dr. Brooks Wingo, and we will get those questions answered! Also, if you are interested in joining our task force or becoming a mentor for the column, please contact Dr. Brooks Wingo.
Early Career Physicians Task Force
This task force is currently expanding into a larger ACRM networking group, the Physicians and Clinicians Group. However, this larger networking group will continue to have an Early Career Physicians Task Force. The focus of the new group as a whole will be to:
- Promote interdisciplinary and interprofessional research and programmatic development
- Provide a platform for networking and mentoring for clinicians and physicians
- Provide information on what is happening across ACRM
- Identify resources important to clinicians and physicians at ACRM
Participation in the group is a great opportunity to network across ACRM. We are looking for new members and individuals to be part of the executive committee to guide the direction of the group. Please send us an email if you would like to be involved. If you are interested in an executive committee role please let us know too. We are looking to fill roles for co-chairs elect (2 or 3 people), communication officer (1 or 2 people), and early career networking group liaison (1 or 2 people). The task force chair, Dr. Brad Kurowski, will be happy to discuss roles in more detail with those who are interested. Please contact him for more information.
