On October 16, 2021, the MSTP held its annual Fall Retreat. Even though the retreat was virtual this year, students rated it highly as one of the program's best retreats to-date!

The theme: “Is Good Science Enough? – A Virtual Retreat on Manuscript Writing, Getting Published, and Promoting Your Work.” The retreat included a variety of engaging sessions ranging from an editor-in-chief providing their perspective and advice on "the evolving landscape of academic publishing," a "Women in Science" moderated discussion panel addressing student questions-of-interest and providing tips on overcoming common barriers to scientific communication and self-promotion, a session on best practices for writing and submitting manuscripts, a session providing guidance on how physician scientists can use social media to promote their science, and a peer-advice session.

We were honored to be joined by the following special guest speakers (pictured above in the top row, from left to right):

• Gurjit (Neeru) Khurana Hershey, MD, PhD:
  • Program Director, MSTP; Director, Division of Asthma Research; Co-Director, Office of Pediatric Clinical Fellowships; Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics
• Leah Kottyan, PhD:
  • Associate Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics; Interim Director of the Center for Autoimmune Genomics and Etiology, CCHMC
• Adora Lin, MD, PhD, FAAAAI: (UC MSTP Alumnus)
  • Principal Investigator, Center for Cancer and Immunology Research, Children’s National Research Institute; Attending Physician, Allergy/Immunology, Children’s National Hospital; Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
• Monica Mitchell, PhD:
  • Pediatric Psychologist, Research, Behavioral Medicine & Clinical Psychology; Senior Director, Community Relations, CCHMC; Co-director, Innovations, CCHMC; Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics
• Jennifer O’Toole, MD, MEd, SFHM:
  • Program Director, Internal Medicine & Pediatrics Residency Program; Director of Education, Division of Hospital Medicine; Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics, UC Department of Internal Medicine
• Richard Puff:
  • Chief Communications Officer for the UC College of Medicine
• Samir Shah, MD, MSCE:
  • Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Hospital Medicine; Director, Division of Hospital Medicine; Attending Physician, Divisions of Hospital Medicine and Infectious Diseases; Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics.
• Katherine Yutzey, PhD:
  • Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics
• Will Zacharias, MD, PhD:
  • Graduate Advisor, MSTP; Assistant Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics, UC Department of Internal Medicine

Many thanks to the MSTP students involved in the peer-advice session and in our planning committee (pictured above, in the second row, from left to right): Ayad Ali, Tammy Gonzalez, Robert Kleven, Amanda McGann, Keisuke (Kei) Sawada, Akaljot (AJ) Singh, Ben Wissel, and Kevin Zhang.