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From the Recruiter: Interview with Isabelle Linden, Director of Research Services at BC Children's Hospital Research Institute

Get involved as a student (from high school to postdoc) at the BC Children's Hospital Research Institute!

Author

Sachi Chan
February 16, 2024

Welcome to the Invite Health newsletter. This is a newsletter for those figuring out what to do with a life sciences / health sciences degree. We share stories of students pursuing careers in healthcare, and the experiential learning opportunities they've had. From stem cell research to medical education to pharmacy, my goal with this newsletter is to introduce you to the various pathways that students can pursue in healthcare (and beyond)!

Whether you’re reading this on a commute, during your study break, or from the comfort of your own home, I hope you enjoy reading today’s newsletter.

- Sachi

This week, I am introducing a new series with Invite Health: interviewing recruiters! For this first edition, I invited Isabelle Linden, Director of the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute (BCCHR) for an interview. Isabelle commented on a LinkedIn post I made, to promote the about the BCCHR Summer Student Research Program. After seeing her comment, I decided to reach out to her about doing an interview for Invite Health. We had an informative call, and her interview is here! Today’s newsletter highlights include:

  • Insight into the wide range of paid & volunteer opportunities for high school, undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students at the BCCHR

  • Traits that make applications exceptional, and traits that make applications red flags

  • An in-depth, behind the scenes look at the admissions process for the BCCHR’s Summer Student Research Program (SSRP)

From the Recruiter: Interview with Isabelle Linden, Director of Research Services at BC Children's Hospital Research Institute

Headshot of Isabelle

Please introduce yourself & your role at BCCHR. What are some of your highlights from working there?

My name is Isabelle Linden (she/her), and I'm the Director of Research Services at the BC Children's Hospital Research Institute (BCCHR). My role oversees 3 key departments at BCCHR: Research services as a whole, Research Education and Core Facilities. But in particular, today, I'm going to focus on the work that we do in the Research Education Department, where we support trainees including funding opportunities - this department is one of the highlights of my role. There's a number of highlights and I'll be honest, one of the things I like the most about my job is the people. I work with a great team, and it's really motivating. But we also do really encouraging work. The Research Education Department focuses on supporting the training community at the Research Institute, and we also do a lot of public outreach events.

One event in particular for public outreach and which is a highlight of mine is the Mini Med School program. This program is to provide high school students the opportunity to learn about and get excited about careers in the biomedical sciences. We offer a local program in Vancouver for students in the Vancouver and lower mainland in the fall – a 4-week series, and in the spring, we travel outside of the lower mainland to rural communities in British Columbia for a one-day event. At our Fall event we have up to 150 students attend in person, and with the advent of virtual technologies we can also offer live virtual attendance, and on-demand attendance. Last year we had over 500 students across the province register. Our researchers and clinician scientists at BCCHR present on the work they do with a different focus/topic every year. We just had our twentieth anniversary of Mini Med School in 2023, focusing on infectious disease. It's really wonderful to see and meet these high school students who are just so excited. Every year I am amazed at the insight and depth to their questions they'll know more about cellular development than I've ever understood, and also ask honest questions about what's the work balance as a physician? Which is a fantastic question, I love that they're asking those.

What type of opportunities do you offer for students to get involved with BCCHR?

We have a number of different ones. It starts with high school students in the Mini Med School program.

Anyone in grades 10, 11, or 12 of high school can be part of Mini Med School Vancouver. The students who attend are eligible to apply for our scholarship program, the winners of also offered a one-week job placement in a research lab. The students they get to discover and see what might be like to pursue a graduate degree and career in this direction. Maybe grad school is what they want, or this might be a way for them to learn it is not for them. This opportunity is key to understanding this important and often difficult decision to make.

We also have a Summer Student Research Program (SSRP) for undergraduate and medical students.

Students engage in an 8, 10, or 12 week placement in a lab (length is their choice) where they complete a research project, plus engage in the program curriculum designed to teach students the various skills to be successful in their research projects and research careers – the program curriculum is delivered from June to July. The program includes topics such as project management, biostatistics, and how to prepare a poster, to work on your presentation skills. Students also can attend lectures from our researchers on active research projects, and career panels with our own investigators. At the very end of the summer program, we have a poster session where students can demonstrate all they have learned in their posters, including the change to win prizes in the poster competition. It's a wonderful program and great opportunity for students to get involved in research, and I think the program itself provides specific skill that can be applied in research or other careers. But I think the key for anyone attending the program is the experience in the lab. It's working with other graduate students, seeing if that's what they want to do, understanding: what does it entail? Is it something that they feel they can do? Meeting and getting to knows someone who comes also from a background just like them. The change to connect and learn the day to day, the fun parts and the hard parts. For example, that actually looks really hard, or I have no desire to pipette for the rest of my life. all great reflections to have as a student considering their career.

For the students who are working with and being supervised by the researchers at the Institute (we our Master’s, Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellows), we have funding opportunities for them as well. Things like our studentships, travel awards, and a Research Methodology Training grant. All to help a trainee to build and grow their academic career.

I love how many people we get to reach through the BCCHR. And actually, to be honest, that's not even all of it. We do multiple ‘lunch and learn’ sessions, various career panels, some that we collaborate with the other provincial health authorities on. have a mentorship program that the trainees can get involved in so they can explore mentors outside of their lab or even a specialty area.

There are a lot of interesting programs at BCCHR, including one outside of my department - the INSPIRE Program. This program is fantastic for undergraduate students who want to get involved in clinical research. You submit an application, and you get matched with the lab to volunteer in clinical research setting and learn what that is like.

What does the general application process look like for students who are interested in the Summer Student Research Program (SSRP)?

I'll start by saying all applications to the SSRP are reviewed by peer reviewers. We usually ask our Postdoctoral Fellows (PDF) at the Institute to review all the applications and score them (an opportunity for peer review, but also to provide our PDF’s the opportunity to build skills on reviewing applications). It's scored on a standard scoring matrix. While each reviewer brings their unique experience and subjectivity to it, we try to maintain a standard review process and check for outliers where we can. And so the PDFs will review, and it's the top scoring candidates that make it.

Then applicants will have to provide a scientific summary in their application. The thing with the SSRP is that you have to both be matched with a research lab and apply to the SSRP. You'll contact a research lab saying, “I'm really interested in working with you, and I'd love to apply for the SSRP”. You can apply for the studentship funding, and then if successful, you have a stipend for the 8, 10, or 12 week program, and then you'll work with that lab to come up with a research plan for the program. You'll write a summary of a research proposal. Students who are unsuccessful with the studentship funding are still eligible to participate, they can choose to volunteer in the lab, or some labs may have funding to support the student in a paid position. A conversation to have with the supervisor as you are writing your application.

One of the things that we've often found is students will write the scientific summary, but don't take up the full space provided for this section in the application. And this is a criticism I've seen regularly from our reviewers. We'll say, you've got a 6,000-character limit- use it all. To use half of the space (ex: writing 3,000 characters) shows that you haven't really fully thought out the research process. Yes, it doesn't have to go all the way to the very end. But that is a constant criticism I've seen.

The next one that we look at is the training expectations. We want to know what the student’s goals are for the program and the project. Are they coming into this saying, “well, I want to run a full project”. Is it too big to complete in the time period, the questions of feasibility come up; This is a 12 week project (at most) that they're going to get involved in so it has to be realistic? Does it meet their own training experience/background? Let’s say if they propose a project where they interview participants. If they have never done this before, is there a training plan for the student to learn interview skills? Does that match what they're proposing versus the background experience that they have to bring to the program? We are asking, what is the student’s goal? Is the goal attainable? Is it achievable?

The training expectations are one piece, and the next is the project relevance. Our mandate at BCCHR is that the research project is going to improve the lives of children and families with children. Has the student properly articulated how the work benefits children’s lives, and what is the potential outcome of the work?

For all students, we ask them to provide academic transcripts. When it comes to transcripts and scoring, yes, obviously, good grades are well regarded. However, I've seen a number of our reviewers positively reflect on students who didn't have the best grades in the first few years, and at the end they turned things around and are strong in their subject field. So just because you had a first few years of negative grades or sort of poor grades, that doesn't necessarily reflect badly. The reviewers will see the trajectory change and say, “oh, this persons decided that they really want to do this”. You can see that in the grades they got or the courses that they’re in, that this is really what they want to pursue. “Oh, they want to do biology. Yeah, they have good grades in biology, and fair enough that the history class didn't do so well”.

I will add that the SSRP, while having limited space, is open to many more students than we have funded studentships. The closing date to simply apply to the attend program is January 26, 2024.

What makes exceptional candidates stand out and conversely, what are some red flags?

With exceptional candidates, there are usually two pieces.

I probably say it's the students who come with a really clear research project that they're going to do within the timeline. I think that is a really important piece: this is an exciting project, and you can tell that they understand it. If someone's writing something that they don't understand, you can read it in their proposal. Also has the student explained why they are choosing the methods for the study, for example, they are only going to review a sample size of 10 – has it been justified why this sample is so small, and what kind of methods will they use to analyze the small sample and what are the limitations to this. i It is both the desired benefit of the research, but how it will be accomplished.

I think the other one is; are the students themselves are well placed to do the work – do they have the background knowledge and experience to complete it. Things like having completed a research methods course, and having worked in a lab as a volunteer before will also be regarded well

Red flags. I mean honestly, for the SSRP, there aren't any massive red flags that I can think of. Students are often very good. It just comes to the top ones being funded. We get 70 applications, and we have funding for on average 20 (it varies from year to year). And it just comes down to the top 20 getting funded. I acknowledge it is a tricky situation to be in. That being said, being funded does not preclude one from participating in the program and still gaining valuable research experience.

Something that I have often seen feedback to the unfunded students is regarding their reference letters. Seeking a good reference and working with whoever your referee is to write a good reference letter is really important. This is a challenge as an undergraduate student, and I fully recognize this. Some individuals who are only taking courses go to their professor at the end of the course and say “Hi, can I get a reference?” from professors who have never really worked with you. They don't know your work, they can't provide a detailed reference. You're going to get a very, very generically written reference letter from these professors, and the reviewers see this and it will reflect poorly in your final score. However, if you're volunteering in a lab, or you are working somewhere, ask this person who can directly speak to the work you do, your strengths, and what you are involved in. The reviewers like to see examples of the work you do, your experience working with them, and that you will be successful at the proposed project. That baseline experience and that reference letter makes a huge difference.

This comes down to finding the right reference. Before you're applying, think about, where am I going to get that reference work from? Who's going to provide it that can speak directly to my insight and my skills. Someone who can say “oh, this person's obviously really excited about biology. They show up all the time and they're really involved. They're constantly asking great questions.”. You need to have that really direct relevant reference letter. That is a piece I see all the time.

I had an additional question: Would you say that the SSRP is targeted for students who have research experience already? Or is this supposed to target people who don't have research experience yet?

That's a good question. And I think this is one of those catch 22 pieces that I fully recognize. The program is there to support students to build their research experience. We know how competitive grad school is, and so having that experience in research and growing it and building it is vital. Similarly, past success with research funding/ studentships I in strengthening your grad school applications That being said, the students that are most likely to get funded at BCCHR are the ones that have that experienced background in research and the lab environment.

Getting that experience in research is important and the best way is to simply reach out to a lab and say “I’d love to volunteer in your lab”. Most labs are keen to take on volunteers as it is a mutual relationship, the student volunteer helps work in the lab, while gaining valuable experience. After even a few months volunteering in a lab this student has an advantage for any funding application in both getting a direct reference speaking to their work and skill, but also in their experience in a lab and conducting research outside of the classroom. One way to do this is to apply to the SSRP as a volunteer in a lab, do a mini research project get to know the lab, and research institute, and then next year apply for the studentship funding. 1 year as a volunteer in a lab, and the following year having successfully received competitive funding will strengthen any application to graduate school.

Something that you can also look to include in an application is being honest with your limitations, but only where there are mitigating strategies. For example, is there an analysis or lab technique you are unfamiliar with but will be taught while in your research placement?

What additional advice can you offer to students hoping to work at BCCHR?

I think that the biggest piece is being comfortable with cold emailing Principal Investigators (PIs). One of the things you're going to have to do is reach out to them, saying “I'd like to work in your lab”. The other one is being comfortable at sending the emails over and over again. PIs get hundreds of emails a day, and if they don't know your name it will get lost. you have to find an “in”, or go through some kind of program. For example, with the INSPIRE program, you submit a direct application. You get your name in and you start to build those connections.

And then, showing up for events and talks. This is where people will talk about networking skills. I myself find it very difficult going up to people I don't know, and going, “Hi! I'd love to work with you”. But it does make a difference.

Where can students go, or who can students contact, if they want to learn more about job openings at your organization?

Everything is on our website bcchr.ca: all of our outreach programs for high school students, the SSRP as well. Funding applications for the SSRP this year just closed. It closes in January. For anyone interested in the SSRP, now is the time to contact labs, get involved, and get that reference letter ready for next year.

One thing I'll share is that even as an institute, we are constantly looking to adapt. We know a number of students go into graduate school still unsure whether academia is the right track for them. we're working on finding better ways that also promote careers outside of academia, whether it's careers in tech or pharmaceuticals and others areas. Even internally, we're trying to build other connections and find ways of doing career programs that support the growing field. That's an important career trajectory, and the academic world is a difficult world to get into. That doesn't mean grad school is the wrong program for you. We're trying to find ways to progress and support that next stream of careers.

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How can you get the most out of Invite Health? 🫶

Invite Health is an invitation to build a network, learn a new skill, or find your next opportunity. Here’s how you can get the most out of Invite Health:

  1. Connect with the interviewees: At the end of every newsletter, the interviewees leave their contact information for you to contact them. In your message, mention that you learned about their journey through Invite Health, and that you’re curious to learn more!

  2. Share the word: Share Invite Health with your friends and networks. Start a conversation about something you learned- an opportunity, a piece of advice, or a recommendation that an interviewee made. Also, take a screenshot from the newsletter, post it on your socials, and tag us!

  3. Bet on yourself: Apply to the opportunities that are shared in the newsletters. You have nothing to lose, and so much to gain. And circling back to point #1 - always reach out to the interviewees if you want advice!

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