Young Scientist Committee Update

This year, the Young Scientist Committee (YSC) breathed fresh                    
air into their variety of workshops, Get Up! Get Educated! sessions, roundtable discussion, the popular Mentor-Protégé Program, and a sell-out networking event. As expected, all the events were a great success, but two deserve special mention. The Saturday workshop is now interactive! The Young Scientist programme kicked off on Saturday with a workshop titled “The Rise, and Rise, of Precision Medicine.” Our three guest speakers were Devendra Pade (Simcyp Limited), Carlos Garcia- Echeverria (Sanofi), and Heinrich Haas (BioNTech RNA Pharmaceuticals GmbH). All three had a range of industry experience and provided interesting insights into their view of how drug delivery platforms could be leveraged to take advantage of precision medicine strategies. The biggest hits seemed to be the interactive sessions between talks. The ice breaker at the beginning involved pairing people up and allowing one minute for both of them to introduce themselves, their research topic, and how their research could help the other person. This gave people the chance to start a conversation and engage with everyone in the room. It was great fun, and many attendees said they were able to recognise faces and say hi to people throughout the rest of the conference. Later, attendees were divided into groups, and they were asked to brainstorm and present a pitch on their vision of a precision medicine product

that could make a difference. Our guest speakers had a wonderful time judging these refreshing concepts from the next generation of scientists, and members of the winning team took home tickets to the Lunch with the Luminaries. Afterward, the attendees also had the opportunity to discuss the prospects of precision medicine directly with the speakers in small groups. The tables for your career development are turning (pun intended)! This year, the ever-popular Mentor-Protégé Program was reborn as the fast-paced and energetic Speed Mentoring Event. Up to 70 protégés were divided among ten tables, and mentors rotated through each table to provide protégés with guidance and career advice. The ticking clock meant that it didn’t take long for the room to be filled with the roar of voices as protégés enthusiastically asked questions to capitalise on the experience of mentors. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the dynamic interaction, and the hour passed by in an instant.