Gabriel Kelly's Conference Summary
Gabriel Kelly
Ph.D. Student
Physiological Sciences GIDP
Conference Summary
Shock Conference
Loews Coronado Bay Resort
On June 8-11, 2019, I had the pleasure of attending the Shock Conference in Coronado, CA. This conference featured researchers, government funders, and military scientists from the United States and 15 other countries. The first evening consisted of the president elect’s lecture. The remaining days began with poster sessions and were followed by keynote talks, research presentations, and symposiums. Two of the days ended with formal dinners.
My principal reasons for attending the conference were to present my research, learn from other peoples’ research, and meet others for networking opportunities. On the morning of June 9 I presented my poster at the poster session. I was able to meet several interested individuals and both share my research and learn from their suggestions and questions. On all days, I learned a great deal from the research presentations and posters. Perhaps most interesting were the president elect’s lecture on resilience in being a researcher, the session on the gut microbiome, and the final day’s symposium on endothelial barrier research, a topic I study in my own research. Finally, I had several opportunities to network. At the two formal dinners, I had the chance to meet fellow attendees from other institutes such as Vanderbilt University, Iowa State University, and the Feinberg Institute. The professor assigned by the conference to critique my poster even suggested I consider applying to work for an MD professor as their research director for my next professional position, an idea I had not given much thought to previously. I also found a few postings for postdoctoral positions that I will be keeping my eye on.
All in all, this was a very good conference for me. I was able to share my research, get updates on current research going on at other institutions, meet fellow colleagues in my field, and learn. I would like to thank the Carter Travel Award office for helping make this opportunity possible.