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ABE Featured Member - October 2024
Janet E. Lindsley University of Utah School of Medicine | What are your name and title/rank? Janet E. Lindsley Professor of Biochemistry janet@biochem.utah.edu
How long have you been a member of ABE, and what attracted you to the organization? I've been a member since the very beginning, and helped organize the first biochemistry medical education conference sponsored by the Association of Medical and Graduate Departments of Biochemistry (AMGDB) in 2008. My department chair at that time, Dana Carroll, was active with the AMGDB chair's group and he recruited me to help organize the meeting.Looking at your time with the association, what have you most enjoyed doing? What are you looking forward to? I've most enjoyed the camaraderie of other biochemists who chose to make medical education part of their careers. When I first decided to close down my research lab, the transition to becoming a medical educator was quite lonely. It's been so fun to meet creative and talented colleagues who are facing the same academic challenges I am, and to start collaborations with many. I am most looking forward to introducing my new junior colleague, Dr. Morgan Nelson, to ABE friends and colleagues.Tell us more about your ABE conference contributions. If you aren't presenting, what are you most excited about engaging in? I've enjoyed contributing to several ABE projects and presentations, from developing learning objectives to helping develop the Pathways of Human Metabolism map. I'm currently most excited about serving as a mentor and coach. If people would like to follow you on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc), what are your handles? Nope - sorry. Not into social media. What interesting things are you working on outside of the association right now? Research, presentations, hobbies, etc. Research-wise I've recently completed a project with an international team on analyzing the role of basic science education on the professional identity development of medical learners. The results of this project will be published as a Research in Medical Education (RIME) paper in Academic Medicine and presented at the AAMC meeting in November, 2024. I've recently started phased retirement, and am enjoying doing more gardening, camping, quilting and reading. What are your name and title/rank? Jana Simmons, Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology simmjana@msu.edu How long have you been a member of ABE, and what attracted you to the organization? I have been a member since 2013. I was attracted by the idea of an organization dedicated to the discipline of biochemistry for health colleges. It feels like this organization was made for me! I loved the networking and sharing of ideas and was eager to get involved. Looking at your time with the association, what have you most enjoyed doing? What are you looking forward to? I have made wonderful professional networking relationships and friendships in ABE. I loved serving on the Board for 8 years and plan to stay involved in the organization now that I am rotating off the Board. I thoroughly enjoy our biennial meetings and the wonderful people who seek to learn from each other and improve biochemistry education together. Tell us more about your ABE conference contributions. If you aren't presenting, what are you most excited about engaging in? 2 / 2 I have attended each conference since 2013 and presented either an oral or poster at each one. Other than presenting, I am most excited about the networking and catching up with my ABE friends in person this year! If people would like to follow you on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc), what are your handles? I'm not that exciting... really. My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jana-simmons-585a6a4a/ What interesting things are you working on outside of the association right now? Research, presentations, hobbies, etc. I am a member of the Michigan Medical Nutrition Education Consortium and we are working on a couple projects to increase nutrition education in medical schools and advocate for nutritional biochemistry in medical curricula, especially in Michigan. |
