The GW Student Organization of Biomedical Scientists (GW-SOBS) hosted its inaugural Linda Werling – Anne Chiaramello Mentorship Lecture on May 27, 2021. The talk was given virtually by Dr. Carolyn Hutter, Director of the Division of Genome Science at NHGRI.

GW-SOBS named this lecture as a tribute to two standout professors in the School of Medicine and Health Science, Dr. Linda Werling and Dr. Anne Chiaramello. In addition to their careers as principal investigators and tenured faculty, Drs. Werling and Chiaramello directed the GW biomedical science training program for over fourteen years. Their stewardship of this training program and recruitment of future scientists has transcended their time at the helm and led to an entire generation of doctoral graduates who found successful and fulfilling careers due in part to their tireless mentorship. As the torch is passed, we hope that this gesture can help commemorate their legacy at GW. 

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The inaugural lecturer, Dr. Carolyn Hutter, was selected by a committee within GW-SOBS because of her strong commitment to mentorship and advocacy for early career scientists and trainees, and her distinguished career, which has spanned both coasts. She received her Bachelors from Brown University in Applied Mathematics, a Masters in Genetics from Cornell University, and both a Masters in Biostatistics and PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Washington. After time as a fellow and staff scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, she came back east, first to the National Cancer Institute and then to the National Human Genome Research Institute, where she is now a senior leader. 

During her talk titled “More than one answer, or: How I learned to stop worrying and love my career path”, Dr. Hutter told IBS students a bit about her life’s path and imparted wisdom from her lessons learned. The brown bag style allowed trainees to regularly ask questions and gain insights from Dr. Hutter on topics such as situating oneself in a new lab and standing out in the job application process. We thank Dr. Hutter for providing a strong inaugural talk for this annual mentorship lecture.

Dr. Carolyn Hutter’s “Lessons Learned”

1. Invest in your network.

2. Define your narrative.

3. Lean into your weakness.

4. Focus on what you bring to a job.

Thank you to IBS students and SOBS councilmembers Jonathan LoTempio and Kristen Kocher for their time and energy in planning this event. We encourage all trainees to reach out to GW-SOBS leadership to get involved in the planning and speaker selection process of this event next year!