MoGen students joined Dr. Bruce Seet for a special career panel and networking session
From the Lab to the World: How the GPD Course Builds Career-Ready Scientists
It’s one thing to master the complexities of molecular biology or craft a flawless experiment. It’s another to be able to explain why your work matters, connect with people who can open doors, and confidently navigate career paths that extend far beyond the lab bench.
That intersection between technical expertise and professional readiness is exactly where the Graduate Professional Development for Scientists (GPD) course in the Department of Molecular Genetics lives. Designed to equip our graduate scientists with the skills to thrive in academia, industry, government, or any sector they choose, the course blends strategy, communication, networking, and self-awareness into a learning experience that is as practical as it is transformative.
On a late August afternoon, the Red Seminar Room at the Terrence Donnelly Centre was buzzing. We had our final class on Thursday, August 28, 2025, as part of the summer offering of the department’s GPD course. Students were taking the stage, one after another, to explain years of research in just three minutes. No jargon, no dense slides, just a single visual and a story meant for anyone to understand.
But that was only the first act. Within the hour, the seats at the front would be filled by five professionals invited by our students for a candid conversation about career journeys, workplace realities, and how to chart a path beyond the bench. This year’s guests were leaders from pharma, public health, and healthcare. The air carried a mix of anticipation and just-enough nerves to make it exciting.
Graduate Professional Development: Where Science Meets Professional Readiness
The GPD course sits at the intersection of technical mastery and professional preparedness. It’s designed to equip graduate scientists not only to manage their journey in science and doing world-class research, but also with the skills to explain why their work matters, connect with people who can open doors, and navigate careers that can stretch beyond the lab.
Over the weeks of the summer session, students work on self-assessment, career strategy, networking, and communication. The final class pulls these threads together into a live, high-energy setting, a mini in-class Three Minute Thesis (3MT) exercise followed by a student-invited career panel and networking session. This year, we extended the panel and networking to all students in the department, creating a bigger and more dynamic audience for both presenters and guests.
The Three-Minute Thesis: Much More Than Just a Short Presentation
The 3MT segment is deceptively simple: convey your research in under 180 seconds to a general audience, using one static slide. In reality, it’s a crash course in clarity, persuasion, and audience connection.
Students presenting on August 28 covered an impressive range of topics, from novel CAR-T therapies and nanoparticle drug delivery systems, to tracking antimicrobial resistance and exploring how gut microbes shape immune tolerance. The diversity of topics underscored the depth and breadth of research underway in our department, but the additional achievements lay in how those ideas were translated into accessible, memorable ideas and stories.
Judges offered pointed, practical feedback: open with a relatable hook, keep slides uncluttered, and end with a single sentence your audience can take away. One noted, “The best talks made me forget we were on a timer. I was just caught up in the story.”
By the end of the hour, it was clear that this wasn’t only about public speaking. Students were learning how to connect science to meaning, and to make that meaning matter to others.
A Panel with Perspective
If the mini 3MT was about delivering a message, the panel was about starting a conversation. In the weeks leading up to the class, each student was tasked with inviting a professional whose career they wanted to learn from. This is a genuine networking challenge requiring research, outreach, and a compelling reason for the guest to say yes to take time out of their busy day to join our class to share their career journeys and insights.
The effort from this year’s summer GPD cohort yielded an exceptional panel: Heather Gibling, PhD (Computational Biologist, Public Health Ontario), Jennifer Kim, MSc (Head of Drug Substance, Sanofi), Kathy Lee, PhD (Regulatory Affairs Clinical Trials Associate, AstraZeneca), Mallory Wiggans, PhD (Forecasting Manager, Oncology, AstraZeneca), and Kevin Li, PharmD (Pharmacist, William Osler Health System & Shoppers Drug Mart).
Over the next hour, the panellists shared stories, reflected on pivotal choices, and offered direct, actionable advice. Mallory Wiggans spoke about the value of connections in securing her first industry role, saying you don’t have to know someone well to benefit from a referral, but they must have a good impression of you. Kathy Lee described her non-linear journey from venture capital to medical writing to regulatory affairs, emphasizing the importance of saying yes to opportunities that build new skills. Jennifer Kim recalled applying to Sanofi multiple times before breaking in, underscoring the role of persistence and follow-through.
The conversation moved fluidly from workplace culture to identifying transferable skills, navigating career pivots, and staying curious over the long term. And because the room included students from across the department, the questions were as varied as the careers represented on stage.
The Art and Science of Networking
Pairing the in-class 3MT with the career panel develops far more than presentation skills. Students learn to reach out to strangers with professionalism, to prepare questions that go beyond the surface, and to carry themselves with confidence in front of both peers and seasoned professionals. They get to practice strategic networking in real time, test their ability to think on their feet, and experience the subtle art of turning an initial introduction into a genuine professional connection.
By the end of the session, the transformation in the room was obvious. Students who had once hesitated to approach industry leaders were now engaged in animated discussions. Presenters who had worried about condensing their work into three minutes were discovering the power of a tight, well-crafted narrative. Panellists left impressed by the calibre of engagement, with one remarking, “The students asked better career questions than I’ve heard from people already working in the field.”
From the Lab to the World
The GPD course is about preparing scientists for the world beyond their research projects. The summer’s final class is a vivid example of how we can bring this objective to fruition: Immersive, interactive, and grounded in the realities of professional life. It’s a reminder that science is not only about discovery, but also about connection: linking ideas to audiences, questions to opportunities, and people to each other.
Those connections open doors, shape careers, and ensure that the work done inside our labs resonates far beyond them. And for the students who took the stage and participated in our mini-3MT and the networking event on that final Thursday evening of the summer, those connections are already beginning to take root.
