WIMS 2023

11:30am

Registration Opens

12:30pm

Introduction and Welcome

Ann E. Thompson, MD, MHCPM
Vice Dean, School of Medicine
Professor of Critical Care Medicine

12:35–1:40pm
 

Work/Life Balance for Women in Academia

Presenter: Steffi Oesterreich, PhD
Professor of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology
Co-Leader of the Cancer Biology Program, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center (HCC)
Co-Director, Women's Cancer Research Center at Magee Women's Research Institute and HCC

Description and Presenter Bio:

Description: The pandemic has shifted how and where people work, even in academia. We are now spending more time working from home, and women are having to learn innovative ways to integrate work into our lives so that we maintain harmony. Dr Oesterreich will discuss life-work integration, and how she has tried to make it work for her.  She will present examples of success and failures, too. The goal is to generate conversation, insight, and ideas to promote your own plan for work/life integration that charts a path towards personal and professional wellness.

Presenter Bio: Dr. Oesterreich’s research focuses on progression of estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. Specific areas of interest include endocrine resistance, metastases, and invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC).  She has published more than 200 articles, her work has been continuously supported by the National Cancer Institute, CDMRP, BCRF, Susan G Komen, and a number of other foundations. Dr Oesterreich is a Komen Scholar, and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for BCRF. She enjoys working in multi-disciplinary teams, is interested in involvement of advocates in research, and is committed to mentoring the next generation of breast cancer researchers.

1:40–2:45pm
 

Leading at Every Level

PowerPoint slides

Presenter: Anna Wang-Erickson, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics
Associate Director, Institute for Infection, Inflammation, and Immunity in Children

Panelists: Sarah Gaffen, PhD, Alison Kohan, PhD, and Chantele Mitchell-Miland, PhD, MPH

Description:

Description: Have you been asked to take on a leadership role but wondered if you were breaking the glass ceiling or being pushed off a glass cliff? Have you hesitated to take the lead because you weren’t sure if it would be rewarded or worth the time or effort?  Do you want to lead but feel relatively “invisible” and want to know how to gain enough influence to be successful?

We will discuss these questions with panelists who will share personal examples of how they navigated leadership opportunities and how they overcame obstacles, especially when earlier in their careers or without formal leadership titles. We will discuss topics such as:

• Identifying where your personal values intersect with the University's values
• Gaining trust, credibility, and allies
• Wisdom for knowing when to persevere and when to give up (for now)

Presenter Bio: 

Anna Wang-Erickson, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and the Associate Director of the Institute for Infection, Inflammation, and Immunity in Children (i4Kids) at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. In addition to her research in infectious diseases epidemiology, she is dedicated to increasing research participation and productivity through improving policies at the University level to better leverage federal and non-federal funding available for dependent care.

Anna received her AB in Chemistry, magna cum laude, from Princeton University and her PhD in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology with a certificate in Human Biology and Translational Medicine from Harvard University as a NSF Graduate Research Fellow. In 2015, she won the commencement oration competition to deliver her commencement address, "A disruptive, innovative, scalable valuation." 

Before joining the faculty at Pitt, she was based at University College London, managing the £6.8 million research portfolio of the new National Institute for Health Research Global Health Research Unit on Mucosal Pathogens (MPRU) and working with research partners in Africa to improve the prevention of pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis.

Panelist Bios:

Sarah Gaffen, PhD, is the Gerald P. Rodnan Endowed Professor in the Division of Rheumatology & Clinical Immunology, at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Gaffen did her undergraduate training at Carnegie Mellon University and received her PhD from The University of California, Berkeley under the guidance of National Academy of Science member Dr. Marian Koshland. Dr. Gaffen did postdoctoral work at UC San Francisco and was on the faculty at SUNY Buffalo from 1999-2008, where she initiated her work on defining mechanisms of signaling by the then-enigmatic IL-17 receptor cytokine family. Since 2008 she has been at the University of Pittsburgh, and was honored with the Gerald P. Rodnan Chair in 2015. Dr. Gaffen is one of the pioneers of studies of the signaling functions and structural features of the IL-17 receptor. The Gaffen Lab also works on understanding the basis for immunity to infections and autoimmunity, with a major interest in the mechanisms that underlie oral mucosal immunity and antifungal host defense. Her group was the first to demonstrate a role for IL-17 pathways in immunity to mucosal Candida albicans infections. Additionally, her recent work has uncovered important post-transcriptional pathways that determine IL-17 signaling cascades. Dr. Gaffen has published over 140 papers and Chaired the standing NIH study section “Immunity and Host Defense.” She was awarded the 2020 BioLegend/William E. Paul Award from the International Cytokine & Interferon Society and was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the AAAS. Dr. Gaffen has been continually funded by NIH since 2001, and has mentored 13 students to completion of a PhD. Her trainees work all over the world in both academia and industry.

Alison Kohan, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Kohan’s expertise is in the areas of dietary fat absorption, lipoprotein metabolism, and CD4+Tregs. Dr. Kohan has made major contributions to identifying chylomicron triglyceride metabolism as key instigators of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Cystic Fibrosis, and Atherosclerosis. Her lab has shown that apolipoprotein (apo) C-III, a significant cardiovascular risk factor, also regulates intracellular metabolism in enterocytes. Through this physiological mechanism, apoC-III also inhibits chylomicron secretion into the mesenteric lymphatics. Most recently, Dr. Kohan’s lab has discovered that chylomicrons containing apoC-III, or the inhibition of apoC-III’s major receptor Ldlr, shifts CD4+ Treg metabolism, accumulation in the gut, and Treg suppression in IBD. To make these discoveries, her lab has pioneered unique model systems. The Kohan Lab was the first lab to engineer primary intestinal organoid cultures for studies of dietary lipid absorption, and they have subsequently established a unique surgical mouse lymph cannulation model that enables the collection of flowing mesenteric lymph from live mice for 6-h after a duodenal nutrient infusion. This makes the Kohan Lab one of the only in the world to collect post-prandial lymph in >50ul quantities in a single day.

Dr. Kohan is also a local and nation advocate for traditionally minoritized students, women, and those who differ by life experiences and social identities in science. Her service work specifically focuses on highlighting and dismantling the structural inequities that hinder the participation of these groups in science. Dr. Kohan is particularly proud of her mentorship work with the McNair Scholars program (at the University of Connecticut from 2014 – 2019, where she received the Outstanding Mentorship Award in 2017), and she has been a continuous member of the ATVB Diversity Committee and ATVB Early Career Committee since 2016. 

Chantele Mitchell-Miland, PhD, MPH, is a 2nd year NIGMS funded postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. Her work focuses on exploring how diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and practices contribute to diversifying the biomedical work force with a focus on understanding inclusion. She is also the Director of DEI programs at CHERP at VA Pittsburgh Health System.  The majority of her research has focused on vulnerable populations, health disparities, and health equity. She has learned how the deficit of diversity and inclusion in the workforce has a significant impact on research efforts which further exacerbates inequities in healthcare.

Dr. Mitchell-Miland has over 20 years of experience with data management, database development, and data analysis - skills that are vitally important to being an Epidemiologist and independent researcher. Her doctoral dissertation, titled “The Effect of Weight Reduction Interventions on Health-Related Quality of Life Among Overweight/Obese Individuals with a focus on Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Reduction” introduced her to a systems level approach to evaluating patient outcomes in healthcare. Dr. Mitchell-Miland earned a certificate in health equity December 2020 which provided hands on training to work with vulnerable populations. She has worked 11 years at VAPHS where she gained a full experience from completing patient interviews, to project management and development as well as writing and presenting research findings. Through her experiences as an underrepresented minority biomedical scientist and from learning from other underrepresented colleagues and mentors, Dr. Mitchell-Miland is aware of the challenges faced at many levels within institutions and the need to find viable solutions to improve our efforts towards workforce diversity.

2:45–3:00pm

Break

3:00–5:00pm
 

From Surviving to Thriving: Building and Sustaining High-Performance Teams

Presenter: Jennifer Woodward, PhD
Vice Chancellor, Sponsored Programs and Research Operations
Professor of Surgery and Immunology

Description and Presenter Bio:

Description: Building and sustaining high-performance teams are critical in academia. With the everchanging higher education landscape and the challenging times of remote and hybrid work, strategically building and developing teams through goals, communication, and resources, are key for the success and professional satisfaction of each team member and overall team performance. Whether a busy leader or an individual team member, we often fail to think strategically about how to build and empower our teams and our individual contributions to these goals within the team. This interactive session will focus on forming, leading, and contributing to highly productive and satisfied teams.

Presenter Bio: Jennifer Woodward, PhD, is currently Vice Chancellor for Sponsored Programs and Research Operations and Professor of Surgery and Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh. As Vice Chancellor, Dr. Woodward provides leadership and strategic direction for the University’s research operations and oversees the Office of Sponsored Programs. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Woodward was Associate Vice Provost for Research Operations at the University of Pittsburgh, Assistant Dean for Faculty Affairs in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Executive Director for Research and Academic Affairs at the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute.

Dr. Woodward’s academic career began in physiology-based orthopaedic research and evolved to the field of transplantation immunology where she explored the models and mechanisms of transplantation tolerance. Her teaching and mentoring have been multifaceted.  From her breadth of experiences, Dr. Woodward has a strong understanding of the academic landscape and a long history and commitment to the professional development of faculty, staff, and students. She frequently is invited to present lectures and workshops for faculty and trainees on academic success, networking, and negotiation.

Dr. Woodward earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Presbyterian College, a Master of Science degree in biology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and a PhD in microbiology and immunology from the Medical University of South Carolina.

5:00–6:00pm

 Opening Day Reception with Wine and Hors d'Oeuvres

8am

Sunrise Continental Breakfast and Registration Opens

8–9:15am
 

Sunrise Session: Individual Career Consultations (Registration Closed)
Ask a Guide for Direction

Description

Description: This session provides participants with 15-minute career consultation appointments with faculty members from across campus. Participants will have their CV reviewed, ask for referrals, or have the opportunity talk to someone knowledgeable about their career aspirations. This session was open to current Pitt faculty members and trainees and had limited slots available. The deadline to register for this session was March 6, 2023. 

9:15–9:30am

Break

9:30–11:30am
 

Recognize Your Personal Power and Influence to Drive Professional Growth & Well-Being

PowerPoint slides

Presenter: Deborah Good
Clinical Professor of Business Administration, Katz Graduate School of Business

Description and Presenter Bio:

Description: Power and influence are two important interpersonal skills that contribute to career growth and success. “Personal power” is a positive attribute that refers to the ability to get things done, and derives from expertise, personal attraction, effort, and legitimacy. Power can be converted to personal influence, which is the ability to secure consent of others to work with you to accomplish an objective.

In this interactive session, you will take personal inventories that help you identify your own personal power and influence. Katz Graduate School of Business faculty member, Deborah Good, will help you understand how to use the results to harness your personal power and influence to make a difference from wherever you are in your career journey.

Presenter Bio: Deborah Cain Good, PhD, is a faculty member at the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business , University of Pittsburgh teaching Staffing, Training, Compensation, Employee and Labor Relations, Interpersonal Skills, Ethics, Sports Management, Business Communication and Organizational Behavior courses in the undergraduate, MBA and Executive MBA and Micro-credential programs.  She has worked with Westinghouse, ALCOA, Arconic, Aon, and RTI Metals among other clients in a training and consulting capacity. She was a former research associate at the National Education Center for Women in Business.  Her current research interests include microaggressions and their impacts, generational differences in the workplace, integrating analytics into the curriculum, and experiential learning activities and assessments.  Good has a PhD in Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations from the University of Pittsburgh.  She was an eight-year member of the Franklin Regional School Board where she served as president, vice president and negotiation committee member. She has won numerous teaching awards and has numerous publications in various academic journals and as well has presented papers at multiple national, regional, and local conferences.

11:30-11:45am

Break

11:45am-1:45pm

Presentation and Panel Discussion: The No Club: Putting a Stop to Women's Dead-End Work

PowerPoint slides 

Presenter: Laurie R. Weingart, PhD
Richard M. and Margaret S. Cyert Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory
Carnegie Mellon University

Panelists: Kay M. Brummond, PhD, David DeJong, PhD, Carla Spagnoletti, MD, MS, and Natasha Tokowicz, PhD

Description and Bios:

Description: CMU professor, Laurie R. Weingart, PhD, is an author of the “long overdue manifesto on gender equality in the workplace”, The No Club: Putting a Stop to Women’s Dead-End Work. In this lively session, Dr. Weingart will overview the challenge women face in our professional lives and then discuss strategies that can be used to mitigate this gender imbalance at Pitt. Join us to hear Dr. Weingart talk about her research findings, and then hear a panel talk about steps that have been implemented and the outcomes of these changes.

Presenter Bio:

Laurie R. Weingart, is the Richard M. and Margaret S. Cyert Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory at the Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University. She served as CMU’s Interim Provost and Chief Academic Officer, and as Senior Associate Dean – Education and Director of the Accelerate Leadership Center within the Tepper School. Coauthor of The No Club: Putting a Stop to Women’s Dead-End Work, her research examines collaboration, conflict, and negotiation, with a focus on how differences across people both help and hinder effective problem solving and innovation. Prof. Weingart has published over 70 articles and book chapters in the fields of management, social psychology, industrial psychology, cognitive psychology, and economics. An elected Fellow of the Academy of Management and recipient of the Joseph E. McGrath Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Study of Groups, Dr. Weingart served as President of the International Association for Conflict Management, founding President of the Interdisciplinary Network for Group Research, and as co-editor of the Academy of Management Annals. Dr. Weingart earned her Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Panelist Bios: 

Kay Brummond, PhD, received her BS from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). She carried out her graduate studies at UNL and the Pennsylvania State University, earning her PhD in organic chemistry from Penn State. After two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Rochester, she accepted a faculty position in the Department of Chemistry at West Virginia University. Brummond joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh as an Associate Professor and was promoted to Professor in 2006. Brummond served as chair-elect and chair in the Department of Chemistry from 2014 to 2017. Since that time, she has been serving as Associate Dean of Faculty for the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences at Pitt.

Brummond’s research team modulates chemical reactivity through a deep understanding of chemical reaction mechanisms. They apply this insight to the synthesis of molecularly complex compounds important to society. Specifically, their interests are focused on transition-metal catalyzed and thermal cycloaddition reactions affording natural products and other small organic molecules that function as targeted covalent inhibitors or organic photovoltaics. She and her coworkers have published 90 journal articles, reviews, and book chapters. Brummond has delivered over 200 invited lectures and symposia and her students and postdocs have presented over 60 conference posters at national meetings. Twenty-five graduate students have obtained PhD and MS degrees under her direction, and she has mentored over 40 undergraduates and 15 postdoctoral researchers.

Brummond was recently honored by the American Chemical Society for “serving as a pathfinder, an agent of change, and mentor to women at all stages of their careers in the Chemical Sciences” with the 2021 ACS National Award for Encouraging Women into Careers in the Chemical Sciences. She completed an eight-year term on the Board of Editors for Organic Syntheses, Inc.–a journal that provides the chemical community with reliable procedures for the synthesis of organic compounds. She is currently serving as a member of the Organic Syntheses Board of Directors.

David N. DeJong, PhD, is Senior Vice Chancellor for Business and Operations and in this role oversees the University of Pittsburgh’s central operational functions, including facilities management; public safety and emergency management; planning, design, and construction; real estate; human resources; business, hospitality and auxiliary services; and sustainability. Through his leadership, the University continues to reach new levels of operational excellence. 

Carla Spagnoletti MD, MS, is Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine (GIM) at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Spagnoletti currently serves as Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Director of the Medical Education Degree Granting Programs at the Institute for Clinical Research Education, and Chair of the Academy of Master Educators in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (UPSOM). She also serves as Associate Division Chief for Education and Director of the Academic Clinician-Educator Scholars Fellowship in GIM. She provides patient care in the outpatient and inpatient settings at UPMC Montefiore, and works closely with internal medicine fellows, residents and medical students as a clinical preceptor and advisor. She is immediate past Chair of the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) Education Committee, and has received numerous awards for her scholarship, teaching, mentorship, and leadership, including the Scholarship in Medical Education and Mid-Career Education Mentorship Awards from SGIM, the Leadership Award from the Association of Chiefs and Leaders in GIM, the Sheldon Adler Innovation Award and William I. Cohen Award for Excellence in Clinical Skills Instruction Award from UPSOM, and the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award from the University of Pittsburgh. Passionate about medical education scholarship, she has mentored numerous faculty and trainees on research projects in several areas including professional development, patient-doctor communication, patient satisfaction, and anti-racism in medical education, and has published 43 peer-reviewed manuscripts and 11 invited papers, book chapters and proceedings in the field of medical education.  

Natasha Tokowicz, PhD, is Professor of Psychology and Linguistics and Senior Scientist at the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh, with an appointment in the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition. Natasha currently serves as Director of Graduate Studies in Psychology, Co-Chair of the University Senate Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Discrimination Advocacy Committee, and Co-Director of the Learning Research and Development Center Summer Internship Program. She is a member of the Advisory Boards of Women in Cognitive Science and Women in Cognitive Science-Canada. She was selected to attend the American Psychological Association Leadership Institute for Women in Psychology and the Leadership Development Certificate Program. She has been awarded both intramural and extramural funding to support equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts.

1:45-2:00pm

Break and Doors Open for the afternoon Featured Session

2:00-4:00pm

Featured Session: All Genders Working Better Together

PowerPoint slides

Presenter: Selina J. Shultz, Esq, LL.M.
Executive Director of Conflict Lab

Co-Sponsored by The Office of the Provost's Year of Emotional Well-Being Initiative

Description and Presenter Bio:

Description: All genders, from leadership to trainees-this is for you! Learn how to show up respecting people no matter where they are. This workshop recognizes the stressors on all genders in the current workplace and how the common ways of addressing them can cause paralysis for everyone. Through the use of a new approach developed by Phyllis Jackson, PhD, participants will develop both empathy and a new way to address challenges that reframe  ineffective approaches to problem solving.  This shift opens up a new safe space to begin changing how we think about each other and ourselves so that we can work together in a culture-changing, positive way to solve problems.

Presenter Bio: A highly experienced conflict and organizational consultant, Selina has spent twenty-five years serving as a Mediator, Consultant, and Coach.

She provides trainings, conflict culture interventions, and leadership development to corporations and nonprofits that are either struggling with conflict or want to learn to leverage it to reach their full potential. She has mediated hundreds and worked with organizations such as Greenpeace International, FedEx, Home Depot, Nevada OSHA, AMG Research, Allies for Children, and The10/27 Healing Partnership.

Selina is active both locally and nationally in supporting efforts to promote thoughtful approaches to conflict. She has been active in both the Pennsylvania Council of Mediators and the Mediation Council of Western Pennsylvania. She helped to form Just Mediation Pittsburgh, a local community mediation center and currently serves as Board President. She is the recipient of the 2021 Sir Francis Bacon Award presented by the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the 2021 Pennsylvania Council of Mediators Most Valuable Peacemaker Award.

Passionate about teaching, Selina provides both basic and advance mediation and conflict competency trainings, having provided trainings both locally and internationally for organizations and corporations, as well as at the law school level at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law, Duquesne University School of Law, and The Saltman Center at The UNLV School of Law. In 2020, she won the Outstanding Adjunct Award from Pepperdine School of Law.

Although from the outside, her work may appear quite varied, to her it all fits neatly within her simple mission of helping people and organizations "do conflict better" so they can reach their full potential.

4:00-5:30pm
 

Working Better Together Networking Reception with Wine and Hors d'Oeuvres

Description: Stay for stimulating discussion and networking at this reception designed to promote cross-campus connections and implement the desired paradigm shift in how all genders interact at the university.

8:30am

Continental Breakfast and Registration Opens

Space for this morning session is limited. If you register and find you cannot attend, please let us know.

9:00–11:00am
 

Special Session: Change Your Story, Change Your Life: Developing Your Warm Inner Compass through Career Writing (Registration Closed)

Article

Presenter: Reinekke Lengelle, PhD
Associate Professor, The Hague University, The Netherlands
Creator of the Career Writing Method

Co-sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Center for Bioethics & Health Law

Description and Presenter Bio:

Description: Career decisions are not forever destinations, cannot be seen as separate from other life decisions, and impact our wellbeing for better or worse. In this workshop, participants will get a chance to reflect on their current or hoped-for careers using the “career writing” method. Being facilitated in evocative writing exercises and learning about the model of identity change, this session will help professionals explore questions like: where do I want my career to go? What might be keeping me from taking a new step? How does my story about myself affect the decisions I make? The need for narrative career learning methods has become increasingly evident in the context of insecure, complex, and rapidly changing work contexts in which individuals may struggle to adapt and thrive without sacrificing their career identities and core values. This session is at capacity and registration has been closed.

Presenter Bio: Reinekke Lengelle, PhD, is Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies with the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Athabasca University in Canada, and is a research scholar at The Hague University, The Netherlands. Dr. Lengelle’s particular area of expertise is writing for personal and professional development. She pioneered a new form of narrative career guidance called ‘career writing’. It involves using creative, expressive, and reflective forms of writing to foster the formation of a career identity, and provides tools to nurture that identity in the face of change and challenges. Over the past three decades, narrative approaches have helped people at all career stages address career complexity, insecurity, and the pressures of a hyper-individualized society and often unsupportive, competitive workplaces. The career writing approach provides participants the opportunity to explore, define, and refine their internal experiences and to gain insight into why they, for example, sabotage success, avoid conflict, undermine self-advocacy, or experience anxiety about career challenges or opportunities.