Unknown Speaker 0:01 All right. Good morning and welcome to today's webinar technology transfer fellowships, harnessing today's talent developing tomorrow's leaders presented by autumns professional at Prevent presented by Autumn. My name is Sammy Spiegel, autumns professional development manager and I will be your staff host for today. All lines have been muted to ensure high quality audio and today's session is being recorded. If you have a question for the panelists, we encourage you to use the q&a feature rather than the chat feature. If you have a technical question or just want to share a comment, please feel free to use the chat. Before we begin, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge and thank autumns 2021, professional online professional development sponsor, we appreciate your ongoing support. I now have the pleasure of introducing you to today's distinguished panelists. Our session will begin with an introduction to the autumn foundation from our shop. When Tech's LLC is president and owner who serves as board chair of the autumn foundation. After Laura's remarks, Angie Miller life arc Senior Business Manager will moderate a discussion with our panelists comprised of current and past fellows. Today's panels includes McAleese Shroff of life arc autumn fellowship graduate currently working at the University of New Hampshire innovation, Judith Sarah from Bart's Cancer Institute, and Lucia coral from IRCCs. Sentra to repair mento oncology Oh, both both of whom are currently our Autumn Fellows, Deventer mogul from University of Windsor and Katie coons from LSU health New Orleans are also with us today. Defenders occurrent Autumn Susan key Riley's fellow and Katie is a recent graduate of the audit Susan Riley keys fellowship program. As a reminder, the needs being expressed by each of our panelists today are their own and not their institutions. Because we have a large group with us today, I'm not going to be sharing Full bios, but each of them have distinguished backgrounds. And I'm happy to share more information for anyone who is curious. Thank you all for joining us today. And with that, I will Laura pass the baton over to you. Unknown Speaker 1:58 Thank you Unknown Speaker 2:03 share my screen as well. All right, welcome, everyone. And we are very excited to have you here and learning more about the program that the autumn Foundation, first established back in 2016, and has been very privileged to be working collaboratively with several partners, particularly Leichardt, who has been with us almost from the beginning. So what is the autumn Foundation, we are a sister organization to automate Association and our mission and purpose is to support not oops, that didn't know it was on timer is to support them, and the Technology Transfer profession. And we do that through education and empowerment. And the primary program that we have in order to do that education and professional development is the Foundation Fellowship Program. And it keeps switching on and we do that we encourage the participation of or the Fellows is an encouragement of new people into the tech transfer profession. I am sorry, I don't know what I used a previous thing and did not check that it was it was messing things up here. Sorry. The profession. God, give me a second please. Angie, real quick while I fix this. Do you mind? Just saying a few words about yourself? Unknown Speaker 3:36 Yeah, I'm Auntie Mila. As Sammy has mentioned, I'm a Senior Business Manager at LifeLock, where a healthcare charity and our aim is to actually get technologies to the patient. I also lead the LifeLock autumn fellowship program with Joanne Kaminski who's in the background. And we have a panel here of both our Autumn Fellows and our life Appleton fellows. And these are past and present a mix of past and present. The life faculty and fellowship program has been running for approximately five years. We're in our fifth year. And as Laura will mentioned that we have trained 29 fellows on this program, but in total the two programs have trained 48 fellows from 10 different countries. Today what we will do is after Laura has given her introduction to the two programs and talks about the actual fellowship and what the foundation aim to actually establish in setting these up. The fellows will enlighten you on their experiences and also how it's helped launch their technology transfer careers. Unknown Speaker 4:48 Angie, thank you for filling my slides. The the danger of reusing previously existing slides. Okay, so the Autumn Fellows broke ramp is intended to encourage new participants to enter the technology profession. And the reason that this is so important is that tech transfer is actually an expanding field, more and more universities around the world are realizing that they want to create tech transfer offices and governments are changing their policies to enable and allow for intellectual property. And as a result, there's expanding demand not just in the United States, but around the world. And it's also important to gain new perspectives and new expertise into the profession. It helps all of us no matter what our experience level is to hear from new people that have new backgrounds, that give us new ideas as to how to evolve what we do in technology transfer, whether it's different techniques and marketing or different ideas and how to license technologies. And the program itself is meant to jumpstart the skill set for those that are entering this new field to great and exciting field. But there are certain skill sets. And by doing that, we are hoping to create better professionals for tech transfer offices to hire in and be able to jump start using their skills and their expertise without having to invest Additionally, in more training and helping them to spin up. We also are looking to improve the diversity. So we want to add those different perspectives from different countries, but also different backgrounds. And that all enhances what helps all of us. And so to date, we have had five cohorts. And that has been 44 fellows, which we are very excited and proud of from many different countries. 70% of those have been women and about 34% have been of different minority backgrounds. The majority of the fellows that have gone through the program have stayed in tech transfer in a variety of whether their universities or corporate settings, and most of them have stayed at as autumn members. So they are continuing to contribute to all of us. So the basic structure of the program is that we leverage some of the educational elements that Autumn has. And so they get the the tech transfer essentials, they take the different courses, they have the choice of either taking a focus on marketing and negotiation, they get access to the auto webinars, all of this builds their basic skill set, they also attend the autumn meeting, and depending on where they are, whether that's the annual meeting, or they may also be going to one of the regional meetings during COVID, we have to switch to that being virtual. But typically it is in person as you can see from these great pictures. And that enhances their networking in their activities, and their ability to meet different people from the tech transfer profession. Now life arc is one of our core partners. And they augment the offerings for their fellows, the ones that they sponsor. And so they help with resume building and interview skills, as well as put on this career Speaker Series, which you'll be hearing a little bit more about in a minute. And they help them get internships, even the other fellows that we have also get help in getting their internships, but life arc is very proactive in securing those. And all of the fellows regardless of who the sponsor is, benefit tremendously from the networking. And that is one of the core aspects. So it's not just the training, but they learned so much from the networking, and that's working with their mentors. And they they're provided two different types of mentors. One is experts in fields. So those are autumn veterans. And they also get alumni from the fellowship program that helped them guide through how to best leverage all of the resources that are available to them. They get the fellowship of each other, we set up different LinkedIn groups, they have regular get togethers, both virtually and digitally, to make sure that they are again getting the most that they can out of the program and learning from each other. And they get the opportunity to meet with many autom members as well as the boards of both the foundation and the association. So again, these are all things that add to their experience base. And so the benefits coming out of this program, which means we in the tech transfer profession benefit from them is that their skill set in tech transfer is built up so that they are able to start working right away and already have a strong basis of understanding what tech transfer is and what the activities are that they need to do their networking and they have a much greater expanse of what their network is to call upon different peers as well as some of their alumni and their mentors, and Autumn members when they have questions and when they are explored. During what they should be doing in certain activities, and as a tech transfer office, having somebody in your, in your corral, that has a strong network is always a benefit to you. The internships, again help in building up their skill sets and increasing their network. And they get credits towards rttp, as well as their CLPs certifications. So all of this bottom line for any tech transfer office is it's faster onboarding, and it's a higher experience base. And for those of you that are considering the coming a fellow awesome experience, and if you're a tech transfer office, besides hiring them, if you've got a new hire, you may be interested in putting them through this program to really jumpstart their training program. Now, the way that that this is funded, is that we have different sponsors for the program. So Lifemark is one of our main ones, Angie, as she just introduced herself is the head of the life art program, and will be running the rest of this panel. And they sponsor many of the fellows that we have. We also have the Susan Riley keys fellows, which are funded by Tom keys on behalf of his wife, who I had the great pleasure of serving on the autumn board with her. She was a wonderful advocate for technology transfer, and particularly in helping make sure that new and young people were attracted into the profession and, and enjoyed the work that they were doing. The foundation itself also sponsors fellows through a variety of mechanisms, institutions may sponsor one of their own staff. So war, for example, University of Alabama, several universities have sponsored their own new staff into this program to help again, in getting them more the onboarding more quickly. We also accept donations, and we are able to support several other fellows through that process. So the URL at the bottom is to encourage you to either apply or to look into supporting one of our fellows either directly for your institution or in providing donations. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Angie. Thank you. Unknown Speaker 12:17 Thanks, Laura. Right, as I mentioned before, we have a panel of past and present fellows, I won't run through introducing them. As they talk you'll you'll get to know a bit more. But what we thought we'd do here is really have a conversation and enlighten you and for them to share their experiences of being fellows and what it's meant to them, and also how it's helped launch their careers in technology transfer. I have a series of questions. I'll start with Devinder. If you could. Can you just tell us why you decided to transition to technology transfer from your previous role after your degree? Unknown Speaker 12:59 Thank you, Andy, for this question. First, I would like to thank all them for this opportunity for me to be on the panel today. I'm really excited to be with you all today. So to answer your question, regarding my transition to tech transfer, I'm a scientist by training, I have a PhD and then call it G. So during my grad school as much as I enjoyed doing experiments, or the thrill of discovering something new in the lab that no one has ever seen before. I was also feeling that my research project has a very narrow focus. And I was always focused on the bigger picture. So during that time, I started exploring alternative career options. And my PhD supervisor during that time was very supportive of my decision. So what fascinated me in tech transfer was this whole idea of bench to bedside, and being able to transition the lab inventions to to the real world and to be able to see its impact on society. And that fascination is what led me to my internship position at University of Windsor in the tech transfer office. So during the past one year, what I have learned is tech transfer is a very unique and perfect blend of science, business and law. So on day to day basis, I really enjoy building relation to relationships with faculty members, and assessing their technologies reading their manuscripts or or writing the manuscript or writing, marketing reports and just doing deep dive into literature for commercialization of their technologies. And I feel like this whole some experience also, what I forgot to mention is the legal aspect that's involved in a contract or agreement negotiations. So this whole experience is very rewarding for me. And I feel very happy to be able to have made this transition to tech transfer. And I am very excited for the future. Unknown Speaker 15:15 Thank you. Thank you, Linda. It is it is rewarding. And I think a lot of the concern is that after training for so many years and using your your technical expertise out of the lab that you're giving up, when it's not actually that it's just applying it with these additional skills. Yeah, absolutely. Unknown Speaker 15:32 You did. Can you can you tell us how you found out about the TT profession as a potential career path? Unknown Speaker 15:42 Thank you so much for the question, Angie, and I'm so happy to be here with all of you. Thanks for attending. Yeah, so as a PhD student, I didn't hear at all about technology transfer, through my research institution, not even in career events. And I still need to explain what technology transfer is to most of my colleagues when they are asking about what are you going to do after your PhD. So I started systematically researching my career options, once I would finish my PhD, when I realized that, just like the binder that careers allows scientists is probably not the best fit. But I love science. And I wanted to know, all the available path for me. And I wanted really wanted a job, which is close to science has a high societal impact, one, which is intellectually challenging, but it has a very strong collaborative culture, it was really important for me that that aspect, and that I can use my social skills a bit more, which is not very much required if you're just doing bench side work day to day, right. So I came across this UK organization, cell and gene therapy catapult, and I got in touch with them, I found them interesting. And they were so friendly. And they, I organized an open day for me and another 15 PhD students at their headquarters. And we learned about their organization. But also, we learned much more about general tech transfer. And I was just so inspired by this combination of science and business and law and technology. And I didn't really think previously about what was happening to a very successful scientific academic project, and how they actually get to patients. And I kind of wanted to be part of it. Once I saw that this is, this is a career option. And my only problem was, I didn't know how to get into try it. Because you have to know so many things, a bit of science, a bit of law and a bit of business. But I'm so happy when I was selected as a life arc also fellow and I got the opportunity to, to train into it and use my scientific background, but also built on the other two sides, the business and the low aspects. So yeah, I was I was just very happy about that. No, Unknown Speaker 18:26 and we're we were pleased to have you anyway, as a current fellow, you've done really well. I won't even go into that and embarrass you. But the thing is, like you have done really well. Katie, as a past fellow, and you've been in the field for quite a while now, because you were one of the earlier cohorts is an awesome fellow. What made it interesting for you? And did you have a similar experience to you did? Unknown Speaker 18:54 First of all, thank you, Angie for the question. And it's an honor to be here today with all of our panelists and all of our attendees. Similar to what the vendor indicated, ITU is looking for a career path that was at the intersection of science, technology, law and business. And for that reason, and so many more, I'm still in the field today, and I'm absolutely loving what I'm doing. It's what brings me back to my desk every day, I have so much variety, I can review technologies that are focused on medical devices, diagnostic and prognostic assays, therapeutics and research materials all within one day. And where else would you get that ability to have so much variety to review these technologies and help them get on their path to commercialization? And it really keeps you on top of your game because you're constantly learning the new state of the art and the field. And it's just absolutely fantastic to be a part of that. And you know, Judit made a remark about having concern In reservations about entering the field not having previously had any experience, when I entered tech transfer, I had zero experience I hadn't had any internship opportunities, I didn't really have a sense of really what tech transfer was, and a combination of on the job training, and then having been a recipient of the Susan Riley keys fellowship, the combination of it all just absolutely catapulted my career jumpstart me so I can hit the ground running. And, you know, now I'm like, Oh, I can just zoom through everything, I feel so comfortable, it doesn't feel daunting when I'm said, hey, you need to do this analysis, you need to connect with all these people. It's like, I got all of this all the resources right here in my back pocket. Unknown Speaker 20:41 Thank you, I realize all of you have had different journeys into technology transfer. And also to get to the stage that you're at at the moment. With each of you might just like a couple of sentences to enlighten the audience, how you how you found out about the fellowship program, and why you applied if I start with the vendor. Unknown Speaker 21:08 Sure, auntie, thank you. So I first came across them, when one of my friends started an internship position at the tech transfer office in the university. So I was familiar with the name, but I didn't know about the fellowship programs. So I started learning more than during my onboarding process in the tech transfer office, I got to use our resources, some of free resources, webinars, which really helped me to onboard for my current position at University of Windsor. And those, having those resources was really helpful. And at the same time, a colleague and my office, Tina Santos, who was the past autumn fellow mentioned about the fellowship program. And she also mentioned how this program has fast tracked her professional development. And I was instantaneously interested in this fellowship program. So I spoke to my supervisor who really supported me for my application. And then I decided to apply for the Susan Riley keys fellowship program. And I was awarded this fellowship, it also motivates me to learn about the passion of Susan Riley keys for the cat transport profession, and their generous support. So I feel very lucky to be here today. Unknown Speaker 22:39 Thank you, Linda, if we go to lutea. Unknown Speaker 22:43 Yes, thank you, Angie. I'm very happy to be here today with our view. So I started in tech transfer in May 2019, without really knowing what it was when I found the job position. So the job the job offer. And then, right after, let's say, four months later, I was at the National Meeting of the tech transfer transfer professional in Italy, in Rome. I'm from Italy, and I'm currently working at the research center at the National Cancer Institute. So when I got there, it was my first meeting. And I met former fellow she's she, her name is Rosie Barber. And she was the one who told me about the program. So she was very enthusiastic. And she provided a couple of insights. And tell me about the webinars and the, the beautiful community that you join. And another thing that really motivated me in joining this program and applying is that I found that she was very knowledgeable. So I was impressed by her and in particular app right after a talk during the conference. She grabbed the microphone and introduced herself to the whole audience. And she also introduced the company for which she was working at the time. So I thought, okay, she she knows how to do it. And so these two things combined together, her being professional, and her enthusiasm about the fellowship really made me wanted to know more about the program. So this was, let's say, September 2019. And I apply one year later when the new fellowship program came out. So I had the time to go online and learn more about life arc and I don't and when I knew I finally knew that I got selected. I was very happy. And it has been a very stimulating and rewarding journey. Unknown Speaker 25:09 Yeah, no, it's great. It's great hearing that the existing fellows were not past fellows and we will still participate in the program are really, you know, spreading the word about this opportunity to actually transition from the lab to technology transfer as a profession. Thank you. Thank you. Rutuja, if we go to maximally. Unknown Speaker 25:39 Thanks, Angie, I'm really, really glad to be here and sharing our stories with the rest of you. To answer your question, I found out about the fellowship through our technology transfer office at the University of Dundee. And if you know a little bit about the program, you'll see that Dundee has quite the legacy with life Arca autumn tech transfer fellowships. I looked at the fellowship. And I realized very quickly that this was an opportunity that wasn't to be missed. It seemed like a fantastic combination. And I felt like it was really needed. There was no other program that was out there. That was covering what you need as a tech transfer professional. And I felt like this was the way to really catapult my career into tech transfer and hit the ground running in the office. So I absolutely got the opportunity with two arms. And I'm very happy that I got selected to get onto the program. Unknown Speaker 26:48 Thank you manually. You did. Unknown Speaker 26:54 Thanks for the question. I came across the fellowship through this Graduate Careers websites called prospects.ac.uk. By the time I was aware of technology transfer profession, and I wanted to enter it, I just didn't know how to. And I was just browsing for opportunities or internships. And I, when I found the fellowship, I felt it was a perfect opportunity for me that I can take during my PhD to prepare for my next steps in my career. But without compromising on my research progression, which was really important for me. And I got in touch with UMG, you must remember, and I asked to chat with somebody who has done this before. And I got the opportunity to talk to Eleftheria leather key who is is an amazing professional in the field. And we chatted for over an hour on the phone about her experience. And it was such an honest and positive chat. I really, really loved it. And she shared her experience and it totally. Yeah, it just made me want to do as well. So I applied straight away. Unknown Speaker 28:14 Yeah. Now I remember that vividly. And it is something that we do often where there's a lot of dialogue before anyone applied. Because the thing is, it's important that they realize what the step out of the lab involves. And thank goodness that you did that. Okay. And Katie, you can tell us? Sure. Unknown Speaker 28:37 So I actually found out about the fellowship app through my boss, Patrick Reed, he'd received the email announcing that there was the new round for 2019 2020 season, Riley keys, fellowship opportunities, and he said, Katie, I really think you should apply for this, this would be a fantastic opportunity. I read through it. And you know, I asked him, I said, Hey, do you think do you think I'll be good enough? I know, it's really competitive. And he just gave the utmost support for me when I started this journey with application, through the fellowship and beyond even today, and that's how I learned about the fellowship program. Unknown Speaker 29:14 Thank you. One of the things that, you know, a lot of I think one of the considerations when you're actually leaving the lab, and you're thinking, you know, I've trained in all this time, it's thinking, what will I need to learn? And what will I you know, how good will I be out of the lab? Because the thing is, you're excellent. You've studied your PhD or masters or however many degrees. Devinder, can you tell us how your academic background prepared you for the transition into technology transfer? Unknown Speaker 29:45 Sure, Auntie That's a fantastic question. And I agree with you when we're in lab, we have these options when we want to go for not for a postdoc but for a non traditional career path. But it's we there is no clear path or transition. And I felt the same, there was no clear path for transition to tech transfer at that time. Also, I want to add here that anyone who's interested in making this transition to tech transfer, that any experience with the business side of things of science is going to be an asset for this transition. So for me, what I feel is that the ability to understand science, do deep literature dives to be able to critically analyze literature or look at technologies and assess their potential, and also an understanding of what kind of timelines and what kind of priorities inventors have, or grad students have, which is, which could be quite different from tech transfer office. So that understanding is what motivates me to assist them when I'm in a tech transfer office. So all those I feel like all those skills when I was in a lab, and the knowledge how it works is what has helped me, or what motivates me to help our faculty members and students with their innovations. And all the grad students like you learn a lot of soft skills, which will be helpful for this profession. It's just a matter of learning and moving on. And I feel like this fellowship is actually a path towards making that transition. So if you're interested, this is definitely a great path. Unknown Speaker 31:41 Thanks to Vinda. Okay, um, the next question, I think I'm going to field it to a couple of you. And basically, it's just to know, what were your expectations of the fellowship program? And have any of these expectations be met? If we move to lutea? And you talking about the life of Horton fellowship? First? If we start with you? lutea? Yes, sure. Unknown Speaker 32:07 So expectations. When I applied for the fellowship, I had been in the profession for about one year. So I knew that it was what I wanted to do. And I was looking for the way to doing the best in the best way possible. So I work in a small office, it is me and my supervisor, he was very supportive with me. And he supported me during the application process. And so basically, when I applied, I had the feeling that me and my office could have benefited by some technical guidance. And also as we are a small office to by expanding our network. So these were the main two things that I was looking for. And I was also interested in the RTP process. And so this was also something that is provided by the fellowship. So what I can say is that I definitely received the technical guidance that I needed, I would say that the webinars were very interesting and useful, to get to know best practices that are followed and performed in other offices. And the fellowship program was also very useful to expand the network, because it is not only the fellows that are extremely important, and we are friends and colleagues. But it is also that during the fellowship, you will we we met we have been meeting a lot of people in the international community that is very welcoming. And also what was very informative. Where was the Speaker Series? So we got to know senior professionals that were sharing their path, their journey in tech transfer, so we could answer we could ask questions and also their compare my personal experience and the experience that I have in the in the, in the office with their experience. So yeah, so the this is mainly well, well what I can say about resources, is that online you can find a lot of different things and it is difficult to navigate. Also because tech transfer, this is something that I've learned is personal. So everyone that that In tech transfer profession had his own path and exploits his own his own skills. So having guidance in looking for the right resources was very helpful. Unknown Speaker 35:20 And you did. Unknown Speaker 35:24 I knew it was going to mean a lot of extra studying on the top of the PhD work, which I knew it wasn't a surprise, I was fully aware, it was still, it was still an undertaking for me. But I don't regret it for a second. I very much enjoyed all the learning and all the participation that the fellowship came with. What I didn't expect is the genuine support and kindness and just active participation, how my personal mentors, my buddy mentor, and my professional mentor, and you and John, the leaders of the fellowship, and the other fellows have have given to me and to each other. And I find it game changing for me as somebody who is new to this profession, and it really made me just want to give back anyway, I can the future. Another thing I didn't anticipate fully is how prestigious this fellowship is within the Technology Transfer community. So it looks really good. On on our seaweeds, we apply. Yeah. Unknown Speaker 36:46 Yeah. Thanks. Thanks. Defender as Susan money keeps falling, did you have a similar experience in North America? Unknown Speaker 36:57 Yeah, thanks, Angie. For this question, I would say yeah, my expectations were more or less similar, what lutea. And you had mentioned, I knew what was the part of the package I knew I had, I will be assigned season item member as my mentor. But what I didn't, didn't expect or I didn't know was how a significant role a mentor will be playing during this one year course of the fellowship. So my mentor has become more of a friend to whom I can reach out with any tech transfer related questions or any challenges that I have experienced during this past one year. And I cannot be more thankful to my mentor. And also, as you did mentioned, what I was really surprised was the professional network that was a part of this package. I am totally surprised, and it's the other members are so helpful, supportive and welcoming. towards new Kiki professional, for example, for myself. It's beyond imagination. And this support means a lot and you know that you're going somewhere where you will always have this support no matter what year you are in the TV profession. So this whole fellowship experience has been great for me and has definitely surpassed any expectations that I had. Unknown Speaker 38:35 Thanks to Linda, as we know, you know, the sizes regardless of where you are in the globe, the size of technology transfer offices vary widely. And I know a couple of you lutea and Katie, your farm smaller technology transfer offices. Could you just let us know how well the training did it align well with your responsibilities within the office? We start with you Katie? Unknown Speaker 39:03 Absolutely. So I mean, as you indicated, I'm in a small office, I'm at LSU, health New Orleans Office of Innovation and partnerships, where to person shops. We truly have a huge breadth of responsibilities and embody that cradle to grave model in terms of being that first point of contact when our investigators enter our office to that last point of contact after we've gotten their innovation commercialized. And the fellowship provides so many resources. I mean, we've already heard about the fantastic mentoring. There's this library of webinars that you have access to throughout your entire time as a fellow and all the professional development opportunities. Those opportunities truly prepare you to be equipped with all the knowledge that you need to successfully complete all The responsibilities that you have as you navigate your day to day life in a small tech transfer office. But I think, you know, we've really underscored all of these resources, and what the fellowship provides. But I'd also like, just to kind of underscore to that, aside from those resources, the fellowship has a far greater reach than the fellow itself. The fellowship elevates the trainee, which elevates the performance of that office by providing that toolkit so they can automatically utilize best practices, when you have an office that's working at high performance. They're inherently improving their ability to serve their investigators and their institutions. So the fellowship does so much more than just training a new fellow and getting them ready for the career and tech transfer. They're getting their whole institution and community lifted up in that process. Unknown Speaker 40:57 No, no, thanks for sharing that. And lutea. Unknown Speaker 41:02 Yeah, so I totally relate with what Katie said, I just can add that, for me, it was very interesting, comparing my experience and my perspective with the one of other offices and other professional. So this, and this was able through, as I said, the Speaker Series, the webinar, the mentors, and I, so this really helped me to figure out which were the strengths and the weaknesses of what I was doing. And to build on top of that, so it's office is its has its own procedure and balance. So you need you are in your one you're in your office, and comparing with others really help you to, as Katie said, to elevate the performance, your performance, and if you're only to it's inevitable, you will be elevate the performance of the office. So yeah, what I what I like to invite here is the opportunity to compare your activities with those of other offices. And also what I would like to say, and it is already mentioned by some someone else also here in the panel, that being Lifemark. Autumn fellow is is very prestigious, so when so it's like having a facilitated route to the International Network. And I think that even you feel come from a small office, you will look well connected, proactive. And so it will be easier to well, the community is always very welcoming. Maybe Maybe it's not fundamental, but definitely it helps. And I think that it can also help locally. So saying to your researchers, that you are in an international program training program, might help them to understand that tech transfer is not only happening at your institution, but it is something that is happening at a global scale. So this can help. Unknown Speaker 43:47 And we've talked quite a lot about, you know, how you found the program, and also how you found out about the program. I think what we do now is is really just probe A couple of you who are past fellows, Matterley and Katie, because the thing is, you've had extraordinary journeys from the start of the program to where you are now. Matt Lee is a former life Hawk, Autumn furlough, you successfully secured a placement in a technology transfer office in the UK in Dundee, whilst you were a fellow. And then from there, you progressed on to a role in US TTL. Could you tell us a bit more about your journey and how instrumental the fellowship was to your your your progression? Unknown Speaker 44:33 Thanks, Angie, as you know, you've seen it all. It's been quite the journey. And I'll keep it in theme with the topic for today. The fellowship really opened the door for securing a placement at my university's DTO which really was a first at the time, and it was a benefit for the office two because Unknown Speaker 45:07 oh we have freeze. Angie. Oh, Unknown Speaker 45:15 sorry. There Unknown Speaker 45:16 we go. Can Unknown Speaker 45:18 you can you hear me? Yes. Okay. So, um, as I was saying, it was really beneficial for me to get into the office and start contributing from day one, which enable the office also to have somebody really producing work from the get go. I think the fellowship really gets you into a community of enablers. And they really help in getting you to where you want to go. Whilst on the fellowship, I met my current boss, Mark Sadam, at the autumn annual meeting. And you know, talking about harnessing today's talent and developing tomorrow's leaders, you know, here you have somebody who's gotten his office into, you know, the top category in terms of licensing abilities, and you have somebody like that invested in the fellows and their development and growth and really providing a platform to launch their careers. I mean, it was instrumental in launching mine, and enabled my transition from the UK to a tech transfer office in the US, I think the ability to have very, very generous mentors during the fellowship, were really guiding you, and providing support, not only in your professional development, but so much more beyond that. You know, as the other fellows have mentioned, there's so many resources that are available to you. All of these are so important in bridging the gap between the bench and the tech transfer office, which you know, can be really daunting at times. I know that Katie will talk about the autumn fellowships, so I'm going to concentrate on the life work on fellowship, and it wouldn't be the same without you and all your efforts and GE, in really spearheading the process and making sure the fellows have the best available options to fast track their careers and technology transfer, you know. And I'm also grateful for organizations like autumn and LifeCard, who have the foresight and vision to invest in the development of the new crop of professionals like ourselves. Unknown Speaker 48:02 Thanks, thanks, Max Lee. No, it's I mean, the thing is, it's for you definitely, with all the followers, it's been an extraordinary journey. But for you, it was really where you did embrace a lot of everything that was offered. And I think it this is why, you know, you are where you are at the moment. Unknown Speaker 48:20 But the success of the program is is evidenced in itself. I mean, you know, you look at the current cohort of fellows, and they're all secure positions before the fellowship is even ended. And if we talk about the alumni, not only are they very secure in their positions, but they're all leveling up, I know I am. And I'm aware of Katie's too. So you know, that's, that's success right there. Unknown Speaker 48:50 Absolutely. And Katie, as a former Washington Fellow, can you just let us know about your journey? Because the thing is, again, you've you've done extraordinarily well, like, Unknown Speaker 49:04 thank you. I mean, I think my journey resonates with so many of the panelists and those who are on the webinar today. And I had nearly a decade of experience at the bench between undergrad graduate and postgraduate research. And I was about a year and a half into my postdoc when I was saying, it's time for me to make that jump. It's time for me to make that transition. But where do I go from here? And tech transfer wasn't in a familiar field to me. And lo and behold, around that time, when I was looking to make that jump, there was an opportunity for a licensing associate in our institutions Office of Technology Management, and I read the job description and the light bulb just went off and it was like, Aha, this is what I've been looking for my entire scientific journey and I wasn't aware it was out there at It just felt like I had come home. And I was so excited that I'd found that more so excited that I was offered the position, not having had an ounce of experience in tech transfer, aside from the fact that I have those transferable tools that we've all mentioned being able to do deep dive in literature, analytics, understanding timelines of experiments and personnel at the bench, other external grant deadlines, all of that. But moving forward, what how did I move forward successfully in that career, because I like to intentionally and deliberately give my best and succeed and accelerate. And the Susan Riley keys fellowship for me was just a tremendous part of being my Launchpad and accelerating me. And to this field as it is today, I was a part of the 2019 2020 cohort. So Angie, you kind of helped adopted some of us within the autumn cohort providing us guidance Jo Ann, you're in the background, you provide us lots of guidance, Barbara to I know, Barb, you're not. I don't know if you're on the in the background right now. But you've all of you were just instrumental and just being our guidance along the way. Our mentors are fantastic. Sean Hawkins was my mentor, and I'm still in touch with Sean today. She always checks in on me and I check it on her throughout this pandemic going Hey, how's it going? Are you doing okay? And it's it's been fantastic. I think the tool sets that you're provided the coursework, the didactics. Fantastic. The network is you can't touch the network, the network is its own level. Not only what you're establishing, but what you can be connected to through your mentor and through your peers, and even your own cohort, your cohorts its own network in and of itself. And just as Mazzoli was saying, you know, if you are curious if you're an employer, thinking about supporting a fellow and you're curious about how does this fellowship work? I mean, first of all, we've all said it has jumped started our career in the immediate term. But if you're looking at it kind of in the grander scale, you know, I've been in the field now almost three years, and I'm excited. I'm getting to level up and I'm joining a new office next month at Tech launch Arizona, joining the licensing team as licensing manager. So I really do think we've said it time and time again. It catapults your career. It really does. Unknown Speaker 52:29 Thanks, Katie. One thing that you and Natalie Well, all of you now anyway have experienced is attending the autumn annual meeting, which is an integral part of the program, regardless of which fellowship program you are on. Would you like to tell us a little bit of how you experienced that and how you found it? Unknown Speaker 52:56 Yeah, so annual meeting. Yes. So um, I haven't gotten to attend an in person annual meeting yet. I'm very excited about 2022 Fingers crossed Nola, that will be coming home essentially, again, for me. But so my first annual meeting was attending this virtual meeting, most recently, and it was a fantastic opportunity and platform. I mean, I was a part of a cohort that got to attend essentials in person. So not only could you connect with your cohort, you could connect with your colleagues that you met at the essentials course. But you also through the autumn Connect platform can really leverage making new connections to build new bridges for your office and simultaneously expand your own personal network. And, you know, I think that the virtual platform was fantastic because it allowed people from across the world to participate in up, connect with them through this platform, and just meet so many people and figure out ideas how to cross pollinate and facilitate new connections for your investigators and yourself. Unknown Speaker 54:11 Thanks, Katie. And Natalie, how did you find it because I know you attended in person? Unknown Speaker 54:16 I did I have the opportunity to attend the annual meeting and oh my god, that was an absolutely unforgettable experience. I'm sure a lot of you watching this webinar will agree that there's just a different energy about the annual meeting which is unparalleled, and nothing anyone can ever say to you will prepare for that experience. Being that's just something that you got to experience in person and I really hope that the other fellows get to do that in Nola in 2022. I thought you know, the community was just so warm and welcoming and really made us feel At Ease specially as an outsider who's completely overwhelmed with where to go, what to do, who to speak with, at no point that I feel like oh my god, I'm speaking with all the board members or the senior leadership, folks at autumn, it just felt so normal and natural to have a conversation, which I absolutely did not expect as somebody who was at that point and outsider to the Technology Transfer profession. I think the networking was so fantastic. You met so many people from at different stages of their careers, you know, different breads of what they did. And these connections last, they've continued on since that time, I know that I can, you know, send a quick email or pick up the phone and call somebody that I met three years ago and said, Hey, I'm having this issue, you know, what did you do about it? How did you solve it, and everybody's so generous with their advice, and guidance that they provide? I think, most importantly, for me, I met Mark at the annual meeting, and that completely changed the trajectory of my career. So, you know, if you haven't been to the annual meeting before, do that now. Unknown Speaker 56:23 Thanks, Natalie. One of the things that we can't not touch on some of the additional activities involved as a fellow but also being associated with autumn, we were involved in a lot of different aspects. In the Technology Transfer field, like can you enlighten us on some of the other activities like Matterley, for example, I know, you, you are involved in a lot of additional activities, if you let us know a little bit more about that. Unknown Speaker 56:52 Sure. So as an alumni, I've had lots of different opportunities and, and Gu and Autumn are really instrumental in showcasing the fellows and all all the things that we have to say and contribute to. I've been involved as a buddy mentor to the current cohort of life forgotten fellows, and really giving, advice, guidance and just support to the fellows any questions that they have about the fellowship, how to make the most of it, where to go from here. You know, we're just really giving back to the community that has given me and all of us so much. I've also given a presentation at the ASEP annual conference with my fellow cohort members. And we've co authored an article as well, which was published in the Ottoman sites news newsletter in the December of 2020. I want to highlight that there are just so many different opportunities that are available to you to engage with the community. There are six and planning committees that you can get involved with to really shape how the organization is and add your voice to it. And I applaud the leadership for considering the newer members to the profession, such as ourselves, and valuing what we have to say. And, you know, like the other fellows, I look forward to engaging in other activities that organizations like autumn half and really giving back to the community. Unknown Speaker 58:44 Thanks, Natalie, I can see that we've got quite a lot of questions coming up and even just to in the light to make the most of the opportunity. What I'll do is, I think what we'll do is we'll we'll come to a close because we could carry on talking for quite some time. But if we take some of the questions that have come through from the attendees, I think that the much, much better and better use of the time that's left on the actual webinar. Sammy, I'll hand it over to you. Unknown Speaker 59:13 Yeah, absolutely. Thank you all so much for sharing so many wonderful insights with our audience. today. I'm just going to run down the list of questions that have come through attendees if you have others you want to add please add them to the q&a section of your toolbar. So our first question is many professionals in tech transfer seem to have experience in industry and are even seasoned inventors themselves before entering the field of tech transfer? are employers open to hiring PhDs without such experience? industry experience? Unknown Speaker 59:51 I'll I'll jump in. Yes, I mean, I I can speak at least from having joined an academic team to I have a PhD, I wasn't, I've never been designated as an inventor on a patent, I do not have industry experience. And that was not a deterrent for my employer to say, Hey, I'd like for you to join my office, employers are very open to the fact that you've already undergone very rigorous training. And you already have that toolkit available, that you probably don't realize that you already possess that you're taking with you. And that you can already apply those skills to a lot of the day to day activities. I mean, as we've all mentioned, a lot of the data analysis looking kind of understanding timelines, experiments, understanding how to do deep dives and literature and translating that to prior art searches. There's, the list goes on. So I, at least from my perspective, no, you do not need to have industry experience to then make that jump to tech transfer. Unknown Speaker 1:00:59 I'd like to also add that fellows, what they've done is majority have gone into technology transfer offices in academia. But the thing is, in their second or third role, what they've done is they've some of them have actually crossed into industry in so it really, it's just the path and you don't need to have that experience to actually be a technology transfer professional. Unknown Speaker 1:01:25 Great, thank you all. The next one that I have here is to be a part of the fellowship programs to applicants need to be already affiliated with a TTL office. Unknown Speaker 1:01:39 I can answer that one. So when I applied for the fellowship, I was just doing finishing up my PhD, I was not affiliated with any tech transfer office at that point, I rarely set foot in one. So I had no association with tech transfer whatsoever. And it was not a requirement for the fellowship, I think the idea was really to see individuals that showed promise and potential and passion really for the field and to identify those individuals who could really benefit from what the fellowship had to offer and catapult into the profession. Unknown Speaker 1:02:20 That was a great summary. And I'll just add on to that, that we're looking for both. So we're looking for the people that will be new to the profession, because that's one of the goals. But we're also very open to institutions that already have brand new people. So within that one year, I think Katie fell into that category. They're in their first year. And so they've got an opportunity of really just augmenting the training that the office is giving them. But we're not looking for us old seasoned veterans. So we're really looking for the young folks. And it's not age, just more young in terms of new to the profession didn't want to be an agency. Unknown Speaker 1:03:04 Perfect. And that actually was covered in two of our questions. And it looks like we have another one. Could you give a little bit more specifics of programming within the fellowships? What kind of tasks are you doing as a fellow day to day so kind of a day in the life which I'm sure looks different from each of you, but a general day in the life? I guess? Unknown Speaker 1:03:28 I can answer that. So for me, it's more like you control your learning during this fellowship. Also, you can so for me it has by another fellow in my cohort, we have we decided to have the same mentor because it just adds on more for professional development. And we watch webinars together, we have a weekly meeting, which we have a time set up for watching webinars, or any professional development resources that we want to cover. And we have a monthly meeting with our mentor. And we also discuss what our career options are on a weekly basis, or monthly. And when we meet our mentor, we ask questions, we picked a topic. So for the first six months, we picked a topic for each meeting with our mentor. And we try to cover case studies or any information that's out there. And our mentor has been super helpful, covering as comprehensive as she could. So this is more your you make your own timetable, you decide. You have a list of webinars, you have a lot to learn. It's about how you control your time and you make a plan for yourself. Unknown Speaker 1:04:49 If you do also mention that what was really good in this year's cohort then it's been done in the past as well where there are groups of fellows and that's that's true. Both programs because they do, they do work together a lot. And it was just working out plan off which webinars to go through first because there are over 90 webinars. So and Ed was with their notes, they were sharing their learning, sharing their experiences, but also how beneficial it was in the sequence. And then what we also do is help the fellows prepare for whatever meeting they're going to attend, for example, the Autumn Fellows attend regional meetings. And the life faculty, fellows attend regional meetings in Europe, which would be a STP, which is the European TEA TEA association. So there is a lot of support with managing your time. But then again, as as for more scientists in the lab, time management is not really an issue, it's learning how to apply the soft skills out of the lab. Yeah, and Unknown Speaker 1:05:54 that's great. And I think I forgot to mention the speaker series, the fantastic speaker series that was arranged by Andy and she was very generous enough to include me and another fellow from my cohort. So we have been attending speaker series where we have learned a lot from seasoned seasoned autumn members, people who have been in tech transport for a really long time, their journey, what helped them during this journey. So those kinds of experiences are no match to any educational training. This is where you learn from people who have been in the field for a really long time. So that has been very helpful. And Thank you auntie, for doing that. Unknown Speaker 1:06:40 Okay, so the next question we have is how can tech transfer offices that wants to have a fellow in their office reach out? Do offices have a budget to support fellow or are there ways to work with fellows, even for small low resource offices? What does it mean to have a fellow in the office? And how are their roles different from an intern? So I think Laura and Angie, two are probably our best bets on the side. Unknown Speaker 1:07:02 Yeah, I'll take a first hit at that if you are interested in being a mentor, getting an intern, or submitting to have one of your new staff or interns that are PhDs that you want to put into the Fellows Program, any and all of that, contact Joanne for and I'll put her email in the in the chat down here. And she will help coordinate all of that we welcome and look for all of those resources. And I'll also put the URL for the training program the the Fellows program, so that you can either submit, if you're interested in being a fellow or you can also look at donating or applying to fund one of yours, Angie, I'll let you augment because it's a little bit different for for the life arc, folks. Yeah, Unknown Speaker 1:07:53 for the for the life recruiting fellows, we've had fellows where right from the outset, they have been placed within the Technology Transfer Office as an employee. We've also had, I arranged a lot and we work a lot with the TAs. And if a TCO can accommodate a fellow they can do. And we've had even with lockdown, we've had virtual placements. So again, it's any way that you would like to work with a fellow who take advantage of the program. And it would then be beneficial both to the fellow and your office, then do come and talk to us. And we can work something out. We're quite flexible in how we work with this. Because the thing is, as well as gaining the theory, theoretical knowledge, the practical application of this is key. And any way that we can get that experience for the Fellows is beneficial. Unknown Speaker 1:08:52 Okay, and more, I believe on the link that you just sent that also has all the like eligible conditions for fellows applying on that website. So in that chat, and we'll send that as a follow up as well to everyone. But I saw one of the questions was around eligibility, please look at the autumn Foundation website for that. Unknown Speaker 1:09:10 More, we're going to be updating that when the new applications are being accepted. So right now, we're not accepting applications, but that will be opening up soon. Unknown Speaker 1:09:20 I should note that the life cycles and fellows it's open. It's we're accepting applications and we will accept applications. The closing date is going to be the fourth of July. So it's open now but by all means, have a conversation before you apply. It's very competitive. You want your application to be in the best format, and that you are prepared for this year of learning and transition. So any questions do come and talk to us. Unknown Speaker 1:09:50 Perfect and it looks like we have two last questions that I'm seeing one is a quick clarifier for the Susan Wiley keys. Is it also for folks who are within first year of the profession, yes, yes, that's what I thought before I correct information, right. It's Unknown Speaker 1:10:06 the eligibility. So again, the the way that the sponsorship works is that we look for sponsors to support specific fellows. But there's also donations that we receive. And for those that don't have support, then the autumn foundation covers those. So it's it's a variety of funding mechanisms to help. Unknown Speaker 1:10:30 And then finally, it looks like our last one, our fellowships open to our fellowships a full time position for a year and isn't open to postdocs. Unknown Speaker 1:10:40 I think that depends on the internship, but the fellowship is full time in the sense that it is constantly going on, but you can have other jobs and other activities that you're doing. Well, while you're participating in Angie, you might want to elaborate on that. Yes, Unknown Speaker 1:10:55 I mean, the actual program is, it's a part time program that you you can study and take, because the thing is, it is roughly around about four hours per week minimum that you put towards the program, if you're going to go through and learn everything, but it doesn't pay living costs. So it's not in that respect. It's not a full time program. But it is where, you know, we have fellows who have just one degree Master's postdocs, as Katie mentioned that she has, like 10 years experience in the lab. So it is where it's open to postdocs. But with regards to your TT experience, we're looking for someone who is at the beginning of their career in TT, and Unknown Speaker 1:11:40 fellows are not. Whereas Angie said, fellows are not being paid a salary if they have an internship that may cover their salary, we're paying for their education, and we're organizing the networking and the participation in events and covering expenses, depending on how it's structured. Yeah, Unknown Speaker 1:12:00 I just want to jump in here that I was doing my PhD when I joined the fellowship. So that's that was more than a full time job, basically, because I was also in the lab during the evenings and in weekends. But if you have a determination and good time management, you can fit the fellowship in on top of a full time job or on top of like the PhD. And I think this is an amazing opportunity, because because it doesn't require you to be full time. So you can prepare. And once you are ready, anytime during the year of the fellowship or afterwards, you can go and start a career a full time career in technology transfer. But it's your call when you're ready when you when you finished your previous role, or when you find a perfect position for you to move. Unknown Speaker 1:12:59 If I can add just that there are certain courses that are offered during this fellowship, for example, the autumn essentials course, marketing course and valuation course those times are set. So those are the times that you really, or you will have to set aside to attend those courses. But other than that you can manage your time yourself. Unknown Speaker 1:13:18 Right. And when we can, we're doing these things in person. So that they have that extra opportunity for networking, both with each other as well as with autumn numbers. But some of them are also virtual. And so we we do a combination. Unknown Speaker 1:13:37 I may add a small thing goes on this is that even if we have the annual meeting online, and we're not there in person, it was fantastic to have the opportunity to participate together. So I felt that I was participating with all the fellows. And it was very interesting and stimulating to meet with them right before the meeting was starting and share comments and receiving feedback from them. And so it's not only the participation to this courses and meetings, but it also it is also the opportunity to participate all together. That makes the difference. Unknown Speaker 1:14:25 Is very well said. Thank you for that. I have one last question. And then we'll for the sake of time, close it out after this one. But it just came through and I think Lucia and Angie might be the starting place to answer this one. Can you speak to how the fellowships prepare folks for pursuing their rttp? Unknown Speaker 1:14:49 Well, yeah, so I'm about the rttp so I knew about it before joining the program. But this fellowship provided more information and guidance. So what I did was basically you have ng please correct me, if I'm saying something that is not correct. You, you have to fill paper with information about yourself. And also, you will explain how you plan to reach your rttp certificate. And then so it's, it's like you committing to reach this accreditation. And before that, you will get the certificate as candidate rttp. That is what I got. And thanks to the fellowship, you will have the opportunity to have all the support that you need in preparing for preparing all the information that you will have to share with the panel that that is that is giving you the certificate. Unknown Speaker 1:16:08 If I if I may jump in Lucia really quickly, a lot of the courses like the essentials, negotiations, technology, valuation marketing, all of those courses have been designated with a set amount of CPE credits. And when you're applying for the candidate rttp And then looking to convert, there's a couple of pathways, but the one that sticks out to me is that traditional pathway, and I believe it's 60 CE credits. So with those courses with it's a mix of online in person annual meetings, annual meetings also count as credits, regional meetings count. So going through the fellowship curriculum, you're pretty much set to check off all those boxes inherently, just through meetings, annual meetings, the courses and then the webinars, you can pretty quickly check off everything. Unknown Speaker 1:17:01 there as well. So in addition to all the things that Katie mentioned, there was also a session that our cohort had where we were coached and or made. Unknown Speaker 1:17:23 No, I should mention what Natalie is going to mention is that we arranged a session where there was a talk on rttp, so that all the fellows were prepared. As Katie mentioned, the key elements of the program carry the CE accreditation, the See More see points that go towards accreditation for the Canada rttp, which is the very earliest form it is 60 C marks and six months experience. And by the end of the program, particularly if you take a placement or internship, it is where you will have enough to actually go for that most of the the fellows will have the candidate rttp By the end of the program, or just soon after. Sorry, Matterley. You froze? Unknown Speaker 1:18:12 Thanks for taking ng Unknown Speaker 1:18:16 Perfect. All right. Well, I see that we are at time. So I just want to thank on behalf of autumn, Laura, Angie, Defender Alicia Katie to eat it. And Natalie, thank you so much for sharing with us your experiences today being available to all of our attendees to answer questions and attendees. Thank you for joining us and helping engage in such a great conversation. As a reminder, a recording of the webinar will be available within a few days, few days on the autumn Learning Center. And that's included in your registration. So if you want to come back and look for any resources, we will also post links on that Learning Center page for the event that were shared in the chat. So you'll have all of that resource information. And please remember to complete the webinar evaluation which will pop up when you close out of this webinar to help us serve your needs in the future. So with that, thank you again for joining and I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your day. Thanks all Transcribed by https://otter.ai