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BioME Career Exploration 2024

March 5 @ 12:00 pm - 4:30 pm EST

Career expo and workshops for Maine life science students and recent graduates

Join us on March 5, 2024 from 12-4:30PM at the second annual BioME Career Exploration event – a career expo for Maine life science students. This event is for students at the high school junior and senior level, college undergraduates, college graduates, recent graduates and anyone looking to change careers. Learn how to best position yourself for a career within Maine’s life sciences industry and explore the many opportunities within the state.

Maine’s life science sector is thriving, offering diverse fields of study, a myriad of career opportunities, and limitless potential for growth. A career in the life sciences can take many forms, and students are able to receive education, training and a great job right here in Maine. This event will provide a great opportunity for attendees to speak with Maine life science companies directly and hone their early career skills through professional workshops tailored to life science students.

The expo will feature tables staffed by Maine life science companies who will speak with students about positions within the company, credentials needed, and other tips about what they might look for in a team member. Workshops and breakout sessions will be geared toward students and new professionals looking to build on their life science specific workforce skills.

Lunch will be provided. Company tables will be available all day. 

See agenda, workshop speakers, and participating expo table organizations below.

Agenda

12:00PM
Registration
12:15-12:50PM
Lunch, Welcome Remarks & Company Introductions
1:00-1:45PM
Workshop 1: Networking Strategies & Practice

Speaker: Elena Brondolo, MPH, MBA, EdD (The Roux Institute)

Led by an experienced professional, participants will learn to break the ice, conquer nervousness, and articulate their interests effectively in social settings. Through interactive exercises, attendees will practice networking with peers, preparing them for engaging interactions with company representatives at expos and beyond.

1:50-2:20PM
IDEXX Tour & Expo Tables
2:30-3:00PM
Workshop 2: Optimizing your LinkedIn

Speaker: Kate Howell (Educate Maine)

Linkedin has become an incredibly important tool for building and maintaining a professional network but is still a mystery for many. Join this hands-on, highly interactive session where you will be guided through the process of creating or enhancing your profile and dive into when, why, and how to approach making connections. Take full advantage of Linkedin, grow your network, and open up new opportunities for job and internship leads. It is recommended that you create a basic profile before attending this session and bring your device to take action on LinkedIn during the workshop.

3:05-3:35PM
IDEXX Tour & Expo Tables
3:40 -4:15PM
Workshop 3: Career Pathways Panel

Speakers: Bryan Bozsik (Covetrus), Basant Paradis (IDEXX), Jess Davis-Knowlton, PhD (BBI Solutions), Tom Snyder (Medtech Startup)

Explore various entry pathways into the life sciences industry. Our diverse panel features four professionals from different sectors of Maine’s life sciences industry. Discover the twists and turns of their career journeys as they share personal experiences and insights. Gain valuable perspectives on navigating and thriving in the dynamic field of life sciences. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from industry experts and chart your own path to success.

4:15-4:30PM
Expo Tables & Networking

Please note that expo tables will be available throughout the day.

Workshop Speakers

Elena Brondolo, MPH, MBA, EdD, Director, Future of Healthcare Residency, The Roux Institute

Elena Brondolo, MPH, MBA, EdD, is the Director of the Future of Healthcare Residency at The Roux Institute, Northeastern University. Her mission is to fast-track healthcare’s future by empowering early-stage health tech innovators. With over a decade of healthcare experience, Elena fuses her passions for healthcare innovation, entrepreneurship, and leadership. Her expertise spans experiential learning, change management, and program development.

Before joining The Roux Institute, Elena dedicated over four years to MaineHealth, initially in clinical implementation and later as a leader in innovation education and funding programs. She revamped program curricula, guided clinicians and researchers in commercializing their ideas, and fortified the innovation foundation of the health system. Preceding her time at MaineHealth, Elena spent four years at Columbia University Medical Center/New York Presbyterian, focusing on patient flow, behavioral medicine research, and organizational development. During her tenure, she co-founded a consulting company offering evidence-based leadership and organizational development support for academic medical research groups.

Elena’s people-first approach to program development and partnerships is rooted in her background in Organizational Psychology. She holds an MBA and MPH concentrating in entrepreneurship, change management, and health policy, and recently earned her EdD in Learning, Leadership, and Innovation from Northeastern University. Her doctoral research explored strategies for catalyzing healthcare innovation during the pandemic, translating these strategies into action through experiential learning for large systems.

Kate Howell, Director of Workforce Partnerships, Educate Maine

Kate Howell has worked in Human Resources and leadership roles throughout her career. Prior to joining Educate Maine, Kate was HR Generalist at a biotech company in Portland focusing on recruitment, career development, and university relations. She led the national university relations program and brings a wealth of knowledge in the area of internship programming and university partnerships. Before moving to Maine, Kate worked in New York City and Washington, DC across a variety of industries and non-profit organizations. Kate holds a Bachelor of Science in Business from Syracuse University and a SCP certification from the Society for Human Resources Management.

Basant Paradis, Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist, R&D, IDEXX

Originally from southern Georgia, Basant obtained her BS in Chemistry from Georgia Southern University in 1998. She then joined International Paper’s Chemical Products Division, Arizona Chemical (now Kraton Polymers) in Savannah, Georgia where she worked in new product development. She left to attend the University of Maine where she obtained her MS in Chemical Engineering in 2001. Upon graduation, she joined Georgia Pacific Corporation in Old Town, Maine where she worked as a Process Engineer and supported process development initiatives. She left corporate America to be an entrepreneur owning several different types of businesses. She also taught Chemistry at the collegiate level for 4 years. In 2016, she joined F-O-R-T-U-N-E Personnel Consultants of Bangor as the Director of Recruiting, Specialty Chemicals. Her recruiting focus was working with chemical, biotech, and paper companies finding research and development scientists and engineers. In August of 2021, she joined IDEXX as a Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist where she finds scientists and engineers for the Innovation Team. She truly enjoys working with candidate to help them find the best fit within the organization, and she equally enjoys working with hiring managers to find the best fit candidates for their teams. She currently lives in Old Town, Maine with her husband, Mark, their two children, Andre and Olivia, their two 2 dogs, May and Abby, their cat, Piper, and their two juvenile red-foot tortoises, Scarlett and Bowser.

Bryan Bozsik, Senior Director of Quality, Covetrus

Bryan Bozsik is an experienced quality aDurante and regulatory affairs leader with over 15 years of expertise in the in vitro diagnostic, medical device, analytical testing laboratory, and pharmacy compounding industries. He has successfully led organizational quality systems through growth and merger, and guided companies through complex regulatory changes. Bryan has held leadership roles in large multinational companies including Abbott Laboratories, Alere, and Covetrus, where he currently is Sr. Director of Quality.

Jess Davis-Knowlton, PhD, Senior Research Scientist, BBI Solutions

Currently working as a Senior Research Scientist at BBI, Portland, Jess Davis-Knowlton has had a circuitous route to biotech industry. Her path has skirted med school, danced with Drosophila courtship, traversed a cross-state graduate program, moonlighted with Microbiology instruction, and touched down as part of a team building new antibody products.

Tom Snyder, CEO and Co-Founder, Medtech Startup

Tom is a medical device leader, startup founder and mentor. He has led product development and commercialization teams at large and small companies (3M, ACIST Medical and Lighthouse Imaging). As the CEO of Lighthouse Imaging, Tom built a high performing team, improved financial performance and positioned the company for acquisition. He is currently active in the medical device startup space and enjoys the challenge of turning concepts into successful products.

Participating Expo Table Organizations

MaineHealth, IDEXX, Yokogawa Fluid Imaging Technologies, MDI Biological Laboratory, Roux Institute, The Jackson Laboratory, University of New England School of Pharmacy, GenoTyping Center of America, LGC Clinical Diagnostics, Maine Molecular Quality Controls, Inc., University of Maine (SPIRE), Corning Life Sciences, and EnviroLogix.

Event Sponsors

Details

Date:
March 5
Time:
12:00 pm - 4:30 pm EST

Venue

IDEXX Laboratories, Inc.
One IDEXX Drive
Westbrook, 04092 United States

Organizer

BioME
Phone
2078088889
Email
info@mainebioscience.org
View Organizer Website