The Infectious Diseases Institute Trainee Association is a trainee-led group of Ohio State and Nationwide Children’s undergraduate students, graduate and professional students, postdoctoral researchers, and employees who have an interest in research and work related to infectious diseases.
IDI spoke with Erin Boulanger, the new Chair of the IDI-TA Steering Committee to learn about the group’s plans for 2022.
Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your interest in infectious diseases.
A: I’m a 4th year graduate student in the biomedical sciences graduate program at OSU. I work in the Department of Microbial Infection & Immunity in Brian Ahmer’s lab where we study Salmonella pathogenesis. I started graduate school right after finishing my bachelor’s at Drew University in New Jersey. I’ve always been super interested in infectious disease so, even though I joined an umbrella program, I was still passionate about finding a lab doing infectious disease research.
Q: What is your role on IDI-TA and what does it entail?
A: So, my current role this year is as the Chair of the IDI-TA. In this role, I’m in charge of keeping everything organized; holding meetings, advocating for trainee ideas to IDI, delegating out responsibilities to other members, and planning and promoting events.
Q: What are IDI-TA’s priorities for the upcoming year?
A: For the upcoming year, one of our first priorities is to get the IDI-TA registered as a recognized organization within the student org groups so that hopefully we have access to more resources and support from the Ohio Union. Secondly, we have a goal to host an IDI Trainee Day. That might involve a keynote speaker or some presentations from IDI trainees themselves just to highlight all of the great work that happens here and show appreciation for all the trainees under the infectious disease umbrella.
Q: For the purposes of the IDI-TA, who is a trainee?
A: Essentially, we all work in these labs, but we work in these labs as a way to get education so that we can move forward. In the research context, the Primary Investigator (PI) is usually at the top, and then everyone under the PI I would consider a trainee.
But the term “trainee” is broader than even just students–for example, we have an employee representative on the IDI-TA Steering Committee, because employees are constantly being educated and are constantly under supervisors and mentors, maybe with aspirations to move somewhere else when they’re done in this particular position. So, a trainee is anyone who is in a role to be educated by a mentor or supervisor.
Q: Who would you say should want to join the IDI-TA, and why?
A: Anyone who has an interest in infectious disease! I think one of the amazing things about infectious disease research is that it spans a variety of disciplines. So you could be in public health, in veterinary medicine, in microbiology, in plant biology, you could be a clinician or a basic science researcher, and all of them intertwine to study infectious diseases. Really, just anyone who has any kind of passion for infectious disease.
Q: It's not limited by your year or your discipline within the university?
A: No, there's no limitation. We have representatives on the board for graduate students, undergraduate students, professional students, postdocs, and employee representatives. Anybody who is interested in infectious disease can: (1) join the Infectious Diseases Institute; and (2) participate in the Trainee Association.
Q: What role does the IDI-TA have with communicating with the faculty at OSU? How do you perform that advocacy for trainees with, for example, the faculty that you're researching and working with?
A: We’re only in our second year, so we're just teasing out how we can best communicate with faculty to help them encourage trainees to participate in events.
Our advisor is Dr. John Gunn, IDI’s Associate Director, so whatever ideas we bring to him he's able to bring forth to the rest of the IDI. We've also been in contact with IDI’s Director, Dr. Michael Oglesbee, about how we can work with IDI to boost trainee interest and engagement with IDI events. By having that interaction, we can add in what trainees are going to want so that more trainees participate.
Q: What would you say is the value of joining and getting involved with a student group even with the limitations on group activities created by the pandemic?
A: During the pandemic it's harder to socialize, but having an organization kind of brings home that socialization aspect. I think it re-emphasizes the fun in science, because now you can connect with people who have similar interests with you. Even though it's virtual you still get to connect with people and network–you just get to do it from the safety of your home. So even though it's slightly different, it's still advantageous.
Q: Why are you part of the IDI-TA?
A: I’ve always been super passionate about infectious disease research. It's something I love, it's something I love sharing with people, and I think that trainees are super important, and we deserve a lot of support. Whether that's in terms of our careers, in networking, or just in having a community that supports each other during research because research isn't easy. I guess I’m just super passionate about bringing that community together in the infectious disease space.
I joined because I wanted to be involved in making decisions on the resources available, like having a career fair. Eventually, trainees move on to the next position, so how can we keep people moving into infectious disease careers?
Q: Is there anything else you would like to highlight about IDI-TA?
A: We're really still building and so we're encouraging anyone who's interested to get involved, whether that is becoming a steering committee member or providing some ideas of what trainees would want in terms of our programming.
The IDI-TA is an organization run by trainees for trainees, so we're just here to provide support to whatever the general group of us are interested in doing.
Q: If somebody wanted to get involved with the IDI-TA, where would you recommend they go to learn more or start that connection?
A: I recommend visiting the IDI-TA webpage. If you want to contact us, you should visit the Meet the Steering Committee page. I encourage people to reach out to anyone on the Steering Committee and just express their interests or their ideas or anything that they want to talk about related to trainees and infectious disease.
You can email me at boulanger.7@osu.edu or contact our faculty advisor, Dr. John Gunn, at john.gunn@nationwidechildrens.org.