Marketing Yourself with Strategic Storytelling

By Shaalee Dworski and Stuart Faulkner Everyone loves a good story - from children to octogenarians. But what is it about a story that made you pay attention or made it so memorable? Did you feel engaged, interested, empathic or amused? Did you understand the underlying meaning or learn an important lesson? The art of good storytelling is an important and effective tool for communicating - never more so than during the application and interview stages for a new job. On November 14th, an ORT Career Development workshop was held on ‘Strategic Storytelling’. As part of the event, science leaders who have recently made the transition to industry and government roles each recounted their own career stories. This event was facilitated by the Science to Business Network (S2BN); a non-profit organization founded by Dr. Bruce Seet focused on helping scientists transition from academia to industry and government, and CGC Educational Communications, a strategic communications firm established by Marcia Cunningham and John Gregory, as well as 38

other participants. Stories are an effective way to demonstrate your skills: It’s all about showing, not telling. Who would you trust in solving a conflict: someone who says they are good at conflict manage-ment, or someone that told you about the time they resolved a difficult situation of their own? In an interview setting, quantifiable

strengths, such as number of publications, are easy to provide; stories take a fact and give it meaning by putting it in context.

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December 2014

Inside this issue….

Career Development Tips

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The ORT Office of Research Trainees

08 Alumnus Profile

07 Conference Reports

05 Spotlight: STTARR

Upcoming Events & Funding Opportunities

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The ORT Times A monthly newsletter featuring UHN Trainees

Seasons

Greetings

MYTH: I don’t have any interesting stories: nothing special ever happens to me. TRUTH: We’ve all done extraordinary things. Step outside of your mind to realize how unique you are.

...con’t from page 1 Stories help you connect: Stories are personal. They convey emotion, which is important even in a formal interview setting. Why? Because people connect on an emotional level, not a logical one. This connection is so innate that the brain regions that are active in the storyteller overlap with the brain regions that are active in the listener.

Source: Stephens G J et al. PNAS 2010;107:14425-14430 . Stories help the interviewer remember you: We not only remember the stories that people tell us, but also the storytellers. Imagine this situation: after the interviewers have met all the applicants and are privately discussing them, would you rather be “What’s-her-name, that girl who seemed shy,” or “Jen, that girl who told us that story about how she dealt with her eccentric supervisor?” Putting together a good story Now that we’ve established that stories are important, how do I tell a good one? Here are the basic parts to keep in mind. 1. Set the scene. Provide the listener with the essential elements required to

understand the story. Don’t get bogged down in details. 2. Introduce conflict. A story isn’t interesting unless something happens. 3. Highlight. What was the turning point? When was a key action or decision made? 4. Positive ending. It doesn’t have to be a fairytale ending, just a conclusion that lets the listener know that the conflict

was resolved and a lesson was learnt. 5. Be enthusiastic. If the storyteller isn’t even interested in telling the story then the listener will definitely not be

interested in listening. The key to good storytelling is practice - my personal experience. During the workshop we told a partner a story about a difficult decision we had to make. We gave each other feedback and practiced our stories several times. In the 15 minutes of repetitively telling my story two amazing things happened: 1) I felt more comfortable telling my personal story; and 2) The story became more interesting. The latter transformation was due to my group’s feedback: they asked me about details that I had accidentally left out and pushed me to emphasize the key turning point, which made the story easier to follow. Becoming a good storyteller takes practice and will be worth it. You will be remembered for the right reasons.

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MYTH: I need to include every detail in my story so that the listener gets the full picture. TRUTH: Too many details confuse the listener. Keep to the essentials and build some momentum.

Office of Research Trainees 03

‘Sit Down’ with Drs. Geoff Fernie and Mark Bayley On November 5, 2014, the trainees at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute (TRI) had the unique and personal experience to enjoy a ‘closed-door’ town hall meeting with TRI’s Research Director Dr. Geoff Fernie and TRI’s Medical Director, Dr. Mark Bayley. The event gave trainees an opportunity to share, in confidence, their ideas, questions and concerns about TRI’s trainee experience. In addition to this, Drs. Fernie and Bayley relayed useful and timely advice on grant-writing strategies. Below are some questions and topics that were discussed. 1. What can postdoctoral fellows (PDFs) do to increase their chances of success when applying for rehab research-related grants?

Research Question. Grant reviewers are busy and tired, so a grant must read like a story with something different that catches the readers’ attention. Within that story, convince reviewers that you have an interesting and important research question. How? The background research should convince the reviewers that no other question is as important in your field. In addition, your first research question should relate to PICO (Population, Intervention/Characteristic, Comparison Group, Outcome). Flow diagrams are useful along with headers. Attention to spelling is also very important. Finally, some grants fund the development of a product and are not hypothesis driven, in this case it is important to ask a good research question.

Evidence-based grant writing. It is very useful to ask your colleagues, and your supervisor to read your grant proposal so they can provide you with constructive criticism. This will help you refine and augment your proposal.

General grant writing. Begin with an outline and plan to translate your research to the clinical environment. The first sentence of every paragraph (and headings) should describe everything about the paragraph.

Abstract. Not all reviewers read the whole proposal, but all reviewers read the abstract. Therefore put a lot of thought and effort into writing this section of the proposal.

2. What should be the outlook of trainees towards the grant application process? View applying for grants as a process. If your grant proposal is rejected, it is useless to blame reviewers. Instead, use the feedback to help you develop the next steps. When you do receive feedback from reviewers, consider addressing their concerns in subsequent applications. 3. What else do trainees need to be mindful about when applying for grants?

Given that grants now require 3 or more collaborators, be mindful of obtaining leadership, communication and teamwork skills.

Help your colleagues by capitalizing on the ‘multiplier effect’ and get on each other’s papers and presentations.

Try to establish your own unique research niche; one that is distinct from your supervisor(s). Remember that what helps in getting an academic position is a history in obtaining grants. Start by applying to

small-scale grants (e.g., grants from charitable organizations are usually small and can be used for pilot studies. Use the pilot data for bigger grant opportunities). Do not worry if the amount funded is small or your grant is not funded by one of the Tri-Council agencies.

Acknowledgements: Jennifer Tomaszczyk, Alexandra Arnold-Oatley, and Gabriella Melo-Ghisi

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Spotlight on: New services and expertise now available at STTARR to support your research

By Stuart Faulkner Located in the MaRS TMDT building, the Spatio-Temporal Targeting and Amplification of Radiation Response (STTARR) facility (part of UHN’s Radiation Medicine Program and the Techna Institute), has been accessible to researchers since late 2007. The facility comprises of 5 cores: a cellular core (supports genomic and proteomic services), a preclinical core (offers non-invasive imaging services to support pre-clinical studies), a clinical core (supports rapid implementation and testing of new imaging and therapeutic strategies in patients), a computational core (provides image analysis support) and a pathology core (provides innovative technologies to enable pathology studies). The Research Manager Dr. Justin Grant and two core leads highlighted some of the exciting new services that STTARR provides: Pathology and Computational Cores (Milan Ganguly) Milan Ganguly leads the Correlative Pathology Core and oversees the operation of the recently acquired Definiens® machine learning image analysis tool. This cutting-edge tool has the potential for quantitative segmentation, classification and measurement of biomedical images from any platform within basic and clinical research. The software ‘imitates’ human vision by detecting nuclei, membranes and pathological morphologies defined by the user. At present the software has been validated for 2D pathological images such as H&E, IHC, FISH and immunofluorescence through a 2yr clinical trial. The software also allows user-based algorithms to be developed for specific biomarkers or imaging modalities that are beyond the capabilities of many software packages. Furthermore, automated 3D image analysis is being developed to allow stacked immunofluorescence images to be quantified. Radiation Medicine Program at the Princess Margaret Hospital (Dr. David Green) Dr. David Green leads the new Cyclotron and Radiochemistry Facility located in TGH. A cyclotron is a particle accelerator that enables the production of short-lived positron-emitting radioisotopes. These are incorporated into various radiopharmaceuticals and are administered for PET/CT or PET/MRI imaging applications, which help to diagnose and treat indications in oncology, cardiology and neurology. This centrally located facility will allow the short half-life radioisotopes to be more readily accessible for researchers and clinicians. STTARR and VisualSonics Workshops On October 24th, fifty participants attended a free workshop run by STTARR on Ultra High Frequency Ultrasound Imag-ing. This workshop gave users a more in-depth theoretical and practical learning experience on how high resolution

ultrasound and photo acoustics could benefit their research. Sessions were also held to provide participants with tips on planning experiments and data analysis. A similar Radiation and Bioluminescence workshop (X-rad) is planned for early 2015. In addition, STARR provides many more theoretical and practical sessions covering multimodality imaging, and analysis tools to support research programs. To find out how this facility could be beneficial to your research needs, please click here: http://www.sttarr.com/node

SPECIAL FEATURESPECIAL FEATURESPECIAL FEATURE

Example of automated segmentation of cell preparations.

Conference ReportsConference ReportsConference Reports

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Trainee: Michael Vesia, Postdoctoral Fellow Supervisor: Dr. Robert Chen, TWRI Conference: Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Annual Meeting, November 14-19, 2014, Washington, DC Abstract: Parietal direct current stimulation during sensory-motor learning with reversed vision prevents performance gains and increases in cortical excitability in the untrained hand. Click here to read his report.

Trainee: Hiroki Shimizu, Postdoctoral Fellow Supervisor: Dr. Mingyao Liu, TGRI Conference: The Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association, October 29-November 2, 2014, Coronado, CA. Abstract: XB130 deficiency results in mouse thyroid hormone synthesis disorder. Click here to read his report.

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Conference ReportsConference ReportsConference Reports

Trainee: Alejandro Gómez-Aristizábal, Postdoctoral Fellow

Supervisor: Dr. Armand Keating, TGRI Conference: Till & McCulloch Meetings, October 27-29, 2014, Ottawa, ON Abstract: Combining mesenchymal stromal cells with hyaluronan affects the anti-inflammatory response: Implications for osteoarthritis therapy. Click here to read his report.

Trainee: Vanessa Tran, Postdoctoral Fellow Supervisor: Dr. Kevin Kain, TGRI Conference: American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Annual General Meeting, November 2-6, 2014, New Orleans, LA Abstract: The impact of dysregulated angiogenesis on birth outcomes in experimental placental malaria. Click here to read her report.

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Alumnus Career ProfileAlumnus Career ProfileAlumnus Career Profile

Paul A. Spagnuolo, PhD Assistant Professor, University of Waterloo

1. Tell us a bit about yourself: Your official title and, you training and education. My name is Paul Spagnuolo and I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy. I was born in Toronto and raised in Milton, Ontario. I then completed my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the University of Guelph before obtaining my PhD from the University of Waterloo. After completing my PhD, I joined Dr. Aaron Schimmer’s lab at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre as a postdoctoral fellow. I’m now a father of 2; my son Jake is 3 and my daughter Siena is 1. I’m also an avid fan/player of soccer and tennis. 2. In a world where cancer research continues to evolve, what makes the research done by your laboratory unique? My lab focuses on improving therapies for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which is a disease characterized by poor patient outcome and limited therapeutic options. We explore the potential anti-leukemia treatment applications of nutraceuticals, which are food-derived bioactive compounds. Nutraceuticals (i.e., dietary and herbal supplements) are incredibly popular and consumed by approximately 75% of healthy Canadians. My lab applies the drug discovery platform to systematically and unbiasedly assess these compounds for anti-leukemia activity. Once identified, we determine how they work and perform pre-clinical assessment with the ultimate goal of applying these compounds as potential clinical therapeutics. We also use the newly identified anti-leukemic nutraceutical as a molecular probe to better understand leukemia cell biology. Finally, we are also interested in combination screening, to define the role of nutraceuticals in chemotherapy by determining which nutraceuticals enhance or hinder the efficacy of current drugs. We have created a unique nutraceutical library conducive for screening technologies and, to my knowledge our lab is the only lab applying the drug discovery platform to the nutraceutical research field. 3. How did your experience as a trainee shape you into the researcher you are today? I trained under Dr. Aaron Schimmer, an expert in drug discovery, AML biology and translational research, from October 2008 to February 2012. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have trained under Aaron’s supervision and attribute much of my early success to his mentorship and guidance. Not only was being directly mentored by Aaron critical to my development as an independent researcher, but watching and learning how he operates his lab (managed by Marcela and Rose – who are amazing) was equally important. It is organized and operated in such a way that fosters collaboration, innovation and exceptional research. Currently, I am attempting to emulate his style in my own lab. 4. What are the most and least rewarding aspects of your job? Least rewarding: Meetings. Lots of meetings. Even meetings about meetings. Very time consuming and usually not productive. Most rewarding – the autonomy in doing the research I find most interesting and important, and training young, eager researchers in this area. 5. On your website, spagnuoloresearch.com, the greeting quote states that one must "think the absurd" to "achieve the impossible". What does "achieving the impossible" mean to you? There are so many meanings to that quote. It is particularly relevant to researchers but it is difficult to pick just one.

Pictured above: Dr. Paul Spagnuolo (far left) and his labmates.

U P C O M I N G E V E N T S & F U N D I N G C A L E N DA R :

01/08 Career Award

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund’s Career Award at the Scientific Interface is intended to foster

the early career development of researchers at the Postdoctoral level. Click here for details.

01/08 NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship

The National Science Foundation awards Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology.

Click here for details.

01/10 MBP Open House The Department of Medical Biophysics at the

University of Toronto has a large graduate and summer undergraduate research program in

biomedical research. Register here.

01/12 Postdoctoral Fellowship The AACR-Ocular Melanoma Foundation

Fellowship, represents a joint effort to encourage and support a postdoctoral or

clinical research fellow to conduct ocular/uveal melanoma research. Click here for details.

02/02 Parkinson Society Canada

The Parkinson Society Canada is offering Graduate Student Awards and Basic Research

Fellowships for Postdoctoral Fellows. Click here for details.

Visit www.uhntrainees.ca for more events and funding information.

Office of Research Trainees 08

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Times!

Congratulations to the winner of the 2014 Walker-Marshall Award, Department of Medical

Biophysics, University of Toronto! Shawn Stapleton, PhD Supervisors: Drs. David Jaffray and Christine Allen Image-Guided Predictions of Liposome Transport in Solid Tumours Nanoparticle drug delivery using liposomes has failed to live up to its potential partly due to heterogeneous accumulation of the particles in solid tumours. I’ve shown that imaging and mathematical modelling can quantitatively assess factors that drive heterogeneous delivery. The overarching goal is to develop a framework whereby quantitative imaging is used for patient-specific treatment planning of nanoparticle drug delivery.