11th MoGen Alumni Career Symposium: Exploring Beyond the Lab

The thought of networking always felt intimidating. As someone with no prior networking experience, I arrived at the Department of Molecular Genetics’ 11th Annual Alumni Career Symposium expecting awkward conversations and nervousness. Instead, I left the event with a new perspective on networking, career exploration, and the many paths that a science degree like molecular genetics can lead to.

On June 15 2026, the Department of Molecular Genetics hosted its 11th Annual Alumni Career Symposium at the Schwartz-Reisman Campus. The Symposium brought together 150 undergraduate and graduate students to connect with alumni from the MoGen department.

The Symposium highlighted the many diverse career pathways, outside of research, for MoGen students to explore with their degree. Speakers Dr. Martina Steiner and Dr. Julie Claycomb started the Symposium by sharing that academia is no longer the default path for a MoGen student and encouraging students to reframe networking as having meaningful conversations with peers already in the industry.

Keynote speaker Dr. Pinay Kainth, Executive Director, Medical Affairs and a Molecular Genetics alumni, shared his career journey from academia to industry, offering practical advice on navigating careers beyond the bench.

Upon arrival, students received a booklet with networking prompts, a list of the industry and position of the alumni present at the event, career resources, advice from a Career Educator, and much more.

The main feature of the event is for participants to participate in round tables hosted by a molecular genetics' alumni. The Symposium brought together alumni from the following from a diverse range of industries:

• Policy, Government, Advocacy
• Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical and Health Industry
• Science Communication and Education, Business, Consulting
• Medical Professional Programs
• Academic/Clinical Research

The thoughtful organization that brought the Symposium to life altered the experience for me. All feelings of nervousness and anxiety were dissipated. Initially, when signing up for the event, I had imagined networking would be split into different portions and students would be drifting from table to table based on a vague memory of who the alumni were and where they could find an empty seat. I had not expected to have a curated networking experience. Every step regarding the symposium felt intentional and thought of how to optimize the student's experience.

The networking portion was split into three rounds of 30 minutes with two alumni at the table, giving students the opportunity to talk to six alumni in total. Having two alumni from similar industries provided different informed perspectives for students to learn from. For example, one table featured alumni from different levels of government, who offered different perspectives on careers in public service.

Alumni were very passionate during the networking rounds, being transparent about their career journeys and giving candid lessons they had learned. Alumni also took the time to ask students questions about their own experiences. With the common theme of students and alumni being or having been a part of MoGen, it made it easier to connect and have unique conversations that gave meaningful lessons, instead of general advice. Alumni and students were able to link their common experiences and have conversations about different career trajectories from those experiences. Continuing the conversation after networking rounds, alumni offered to continue the conversations into lunch and connect on LinkedIn.

Overall, the conversations were lively and student focused. Students were prepared with questions about career and industry insights they were interested in hearing about. Alumni kept students at the center of the conversation, routinely asking students what aspects of career experience or industry they were interested in hearing about and connecting virtually to provide continued support.

Conversations from the symposium altered how I look at my career. Learning that it was exploring opportunities outside of a traditional trajectory that led to meaningful experiences was quite profound as a student. Hearing the message from alumni across different industries, that they had not expected their career journey to unfurl as it did, felt reassuring. It validated that I could explore different interests in university that are outside of my academic path, and that the skills and experiences might connect themselves back into my academic program at later stages.

Also, it felt most important to hear that exploration doesn’t stop at university. It can happen during my career, too. That changed how I look at my future career trajectory. I already know that my career path doesn’t have to be linear. But now I know that it can have different branches too.