2021 Postdoc Appreciation Week Workshop : Postdoc Paths to Innovation

Entrepreneurial thinking is being creative in finding innovative solutions. It involves taking initiative, exchanging knowledge across disciplines, being resourceful and learning from experience. No matter your discipline, entrepreneurial thinking can help you advance your career and make an impact. Hosted by the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking, this session will introduce postdocs to how entrepreneurial thinking can apply to a postdoc career as well as give an overview about the rapidly growing innovation community and supports at UCalgary. We’ll discuss why entrepreneurial thinking is key to improving lives and economies, debunk some common myths around innovation, and hear from a panel of postdoc innovators on how they are making an impact.

Join us to discover the many different paths to innovation for postdocs at UCalgary and be inspired by our innovators.

A link will be emailed to all registrants prior to the start of the event. Please contact postdoc@ucalgary.ca for more information.

About the Speakers:

Keri Damen, Executive Director, Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking

Keri believes in the power of entrepreneurial thinking to transform lives and economies. At the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking, she is dedicated to connecting and growing the university's entrepreneurial thinking and innovation community to ensure students from all disciplines have the skills and experience to succeed in the next economy and that UCalgary is creating the ventures of the future.

David Katz, President & CEO, Deep Surface AI Inc.

The idea for Deep Surface AI emerged while I was a postdoctoral researcher in the Hallgrimsson Lab, Cumming School of Medicine. My scientific background is in the quantitative analysis of craniofacial shape for evolutionary, developmental-genetic, and biomedical research purposes. I also have a law degree and practiced law for several years prior to pursuing my PhD.

Lian Willetts, PhD, Department of Cell Biology & Anatomy, Cumming School of Medicine

Dr. Lian Willetts is currently a faculty member in the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy and the Cumming school of Medicine at the University of Calgary. During her postdoctoral fellowship with the Department of Oncology at the University of Alberta and the Alberta Prostate Cancer Research Initiative (APCaRI), Lian focused her research on the mechanism of cancer metastasis and the clinical applications in the diagnosis of metastasis. Lian and her team used live-cell imaging to screen for biomarkers of cancer metastasis with diagnostic, prognostic, and potential therapeutic value.

Lian has won several prestigious awards for her work, including Postdoctoral Fellowship from the United States Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Program. She was awarded the silver medal at the 2015 International Falling Walls Lab and Conference in Berlin, Germany.