Kicking Off the MLSC Summer Internship Challenge

Posted on June 16, 2011May 20, 2013 by Valentina Rosa

Ryan Connors, TRA360’s Summer Intern and I attended the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) Internship Challenge Summer 2011 Launch Event. Thanks to the MLSC for inviting us.

The event was hosted at the WPI Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center. The WPI Center is AMAZING! It’s a new, big, and exciting place to be and to work. The WPI Center is aptly located in Gateway Park—it’s a gateway to Boston/Cambridge, Worcester, and Western Massachusetts.

Susan Windham-Bannister and the entire MLSC staff know how to do things right. The venue was beautiful, the speakers were varied and engaging, and the three hours flew past.

Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray with MLSC interns (left to right: Sadie McCarthy, Kelsey Scheidemantel, & Max Notis)

Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray talked about growing up in Worcester and becoming the mayor before moving to the State House. His announcement that the Internship Challenge Program would be expanded to a year-round program was received by huge rounds of applause from both interns and sponsors.

Kevin O’Sullivan, President and CEO of Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives, got everyone jazzed up by his palpable passion and contagious energy. When speaking directly to the interns he said: “You’ve got ‘it’ (you know what I mean!)” and “I have one request: Stay here! Stay here in Massachusetts after you graduate.”

The armchair conversation with Susan, Joshua Boger, former CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and Lydia Villa-Komaroff, Chief Scientific Officer for Ctyonome/ST. There were so many jewels of insights offered by these three giants in our industry. Among the best were Lydia’s comments on the importance of curiosity and persistence (she spoke with 244 (!) prospects to get funding for Ctyonome and Josh’s phrase that people in our industry need to possess a “borderline psychotic confidence.”

Norm Garceau, Chief Scientific Officer of Blue Sky Biotech, spoke about leaving the comfort of Pfizer to join a start-up and Caitlin Pond, a 2010 Intern and Research Associate at Blue Sky Biotech, warmed our hearts with her honesty, commitment, and incredible energy.

Steve Kelly, CEO of Myomo, got the crowd laughing with his slideshow and great sense of humor. He also demonstrated how his company is making robotic products that are fundamentally changing people’s lives.

The Internship Challenge has grown by leaps and bounds since it was started in 2009. Take a look at these exceptional numbers:

Intern/Sponsor Data	Summer 2009	Summer 2010	Summer 2011
Student applications	508	899	1,323
Interns placed	104	170	216
Registered sponsors	77	140	178
Actual sponsors	59	94	123

We met a lot of people and had a great time! We’re thrilled to participate as an MLSC Internship Sponsor again this year. Ryan’s doing a superb job for TRA360. He’s just finishing his fourth week and he’s already a fixture.

Riding with the Next Generation of PMC Riders

Posted on June 12, 2011May 20, 2013 by Valentina Rosa

My son Dan and me at the Newton-Needham-Brookline PMC Kids 2011

This photo of my 21-year-old son Dan and me was taken at the 2011 Newton-Needham-Brookline PMC Kids Ride. Dan did his first 196-mile Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) as a 15-year-old and two more until age 17. We ride with Team Kermit, co-founded with my dear friends Steven, Ellen, and Adam Branfman, and a few others. We ride in memory of my loving friend & artist Jared Branfman who died from brain cancer at 23.

Dan and I haven’t done the PMC together since 2007. But we always make it for the Kids PMC; the ride has special meaning for both of us. In previous years, we’ve led young teens, the next generation of PMCers, on a 17-mile ride. This year the PMC organizers initiated a shorter 8-mile, on-road ride for younger kids, mostly 8- to 10-year-olds. When we were asked which group we wanted to chaperone Dan immediately said, “Hey Dad, let’s take the little kids on the road.” “Works for me,” I said. “Let’s have some fun.”

Newton-Needham-Brookline PMC Kids 2011 team photo

And fun we had. We took off with eight excited kids with their orange rider T-shirts, helmets, bikes, and name tags on their backs, and another adult chaperone. I led the group and was asked constant questions like: “How fast are we going?”, “How far have we gone?”, “Where are we going?”, “When will we get there?”, and the classic “Are we there yet?”

We had a blast with the kids, especially when we stopped the second time and they decided that we needed a team name (Orange Crush) and a cheer (sorry, I don’t remember that). We knew we’d done well when they all asked at the end: “Can we do it again?” “Sure,” we said, “next year.”

2011 will mark my tenth year riding in the PMC. To read my profile and make a 100% tax-deductible donation, go to http://www.pmc.org/profile/TR0029.

Yankee IABC Membership Mixer

Posted on June 12, 2011May 20, 2013 by Valentina Rosa

The Yankee Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) held a membership mixer on June 9, 2011 at the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge MA. It was my first of such networking events, and I was excited to get a first-hand look at some of the players in TRA360’s industries. At the meeting there were presidents, writers, managers, students and more eager to socialize. Having a brief chat with several professionals in business communication proved valuable and offered me insight into the workings of our competitors. Not to mention the food was exceptional.

I’m eagerly awaiting the next networking events planned for this coming Tuesday with the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS). It will be nice to have the backup of TRA360’s own Valentina Rosa for all the hardball questions at the meeting.

Pfizer Launches $100M Center for Therapeutic Innovation

Posted on June 9, 2011June 4, 2015 by Valentina Rosa

Pfizer has launched a 100 million dollar innovation center in Boston today (http://bit.ly/msVCqn). This is the third such center in the US, followed by ones in New York and San Francisco. The five-year plan to establish a new Center for Therapeutic Innovation, teaming three investigators from such institutions as Beth Israel Deaconess, Boston University, Harvard University, Tufts Medical Center, and Partners HealthCare to select the most promising projects.

While it’s great that Pfizer is making such a massive investment in the local R&D community, this comes from a company that has been slashing its R&D budget for years. Unless they are able to identify committed, innovative, and talented teams of people, this investment won’t reap the benefits that Pfizer sorely needs. What chances do you give to this Innovation Center for success?

Read the Pfizer press release.