Nowadays there are so many meaningful career paths within the health and medical research ecosystem that sit outside of traditional academic or healthcare roles. Despite this, it can still be tricky to navigate transitions from study to the workforce or into new roles and organisations.

So, we are excited to be hosting a Career Transitions event to support both students stepping into their first roles and professionals considering new opportunities.

You will hear from guest speaker Jo Porter, a career coach who has supported many women in STEMM with their careers, as well as a panel who will share practical tips and tricks on how to successfully navigate a career move across the health and medical research ecosystem. They will share advice on how to identify and articulate your transferable skills as well as how to find a good fit among the roles out there and the right support systems to help you on your way, from networks to coaches and recruiters.

Over breakfast, you will also get a chance to chat with our Table Mentors (click here for their bios) who have already made a career move into various roles from Industry and Government to Start-ups and Consulting. They will candidly share how they grappled with the decision to move roles, how they went about it, and their professional and personal experiences since.

As always, there will be plenty of time to connect with fellow amazing women from across our sector while enjoying some great food.

14th Nov 2024

From  7:15am  -  9:00am

National Museum

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Tickets

Registration for this event closes at 23:59 on Wednesday 6th November 2024.

In Person

Your ticket includes breakfast!

Ticket pricing

  • Members: $55.00
  • Non-member: $85.00

Buy member tickets or buy tickets as guest

Our Guest Speakers

Head shot of Jo Porter

SPEAKER: Jo Porter

Founder & Director, Leading Lighter

MAPP, BA(hons) Psych & HRM

Jo is the Founder and Director of Leading Lighter, a coaching and consulting business working with leaders in STEMM, applied research, and academia. Jo has over 20 years’ experience in learning and leadership development, including 13 years working for Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO. She has a master’s degree in wellbeing science from the University of Melbourne and is passionate about enabling leaders to flourish.

“High performance does not have to come at the cost of leaders’ wellbeing.”

Headshot of Ines Atmosukarto

PANELIST: Dr Ines Atmosukarto

Ines I Atmosukarto (Ph.D) returned to Indonesia after completing her undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Australia. Over the following decade she established a research group at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (then knowns as LIPI) and forged a natural product drug discovery program at the Research Institute for Biotechnology which led to the birth of a joint-venture between the institute and Australia-based philanthropic investors. Ines relocated to Australia and led the technical program of Lipotek Pty Ltd, a specialised biotech firm rooted in vaccine development and drug delivery, originating from the Australian National University. Ines believes in opportunities for innovation in Low- and Middle-Income Countries and established an ongoing collaboration between Lipotek and PT Bio Farma an Indonesia-based vaccine manufacturer. Since the beginning of 2022, Ines has worked closely with the Indonesian Ministry of Health (MOH) to support their health biotechnology transformation agenda as the architect behind the recently launched MOH national genomic initiative known as BGSi. Ines is a member of the ANU Indonesia Institute Advisory Board, a Health Resilience Adviser for the Australia Indonesia Health Security Partnership and currently acts as a Technical Advisor to the Indonesian Minister for Health.

Headshot of Megan Downie

PANELIST: Dr Megan Downie

Megan has recently made her second career transition, moving from health policy roles within the Australian Public Service to join the biotech company Gilead Sciences in their Government Affairs team. Megan has previously held a variety of policy and leadership roles implementing significant changes across the health spectrum, including immunisation, cancer screening, and medical research policy. Most recently Megan worked at Australia’s national work health and safety policy agency, Safe Work Australia, where she led work to ban the use of engineered stone in Australia. Before her time in government Megan was an academic research scientist focussing on biochemistry of the malaria parasite.

Headshot of Roisin McMahon

PANELIST: Dr Roisin McMahon

Roisin moved from a biomedical research to a career in government via an Australian Science Policy Fellowship, an initiative of the Office of the Chief Scientist to place PhD trained scientists in Commonwealth government policy roles. She works in pharmacovigilance at the Therapeutic Goods Administration at the Department of Health. Elsewhere in the Department she has worked in Medicare policy, and with the Medical Research Future Fund. Before this she was a researcher at Griffith University and the University of Queensland. Her research interests were investigating new antimicrobial drug targets and identifying chemicals to block their activity. Roisin was a Superstar of STEM and Deputy Chair of the Australian Academy of Science’s Early to Mid-Career Researcher Forum.

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Sign up to receive our newsletter and updates

Our monthly e-newsletter keeps you up to date on the news from our sector, shares stories by women on their career journey, and provides updates on our events and initiatives. You will also find bits and pieces on our favourite things – good food, health and wellbeing, and maybe a few cute animals.

Thanks for subscribing to the Franklin Women Newsletter