I went to my first conference last Monday and Tuesday! The 7th annual Translational Research in Mitochondria, Aging, and Disease (TriMAD) conference was held in Rochester this year – meaning a whole 6-hour drive from Philadelphia. Being on a car ride with your PI, mentor, and lab manager was sure quite an experience. They were lovely company, but the length of the ride made me more susceptible to dozing off periodically. I usually never fall asleep on car rides, but something about that environment and all of the farmland we passed by made me sleepy.
The conference was a super cool experience. I’ve never been in a room with so many well-respected people within the mitochondria field. While my research mainly focuses on redox signaling and calcium uptake in the heart, I tunneled myself into that route and lost sight of the fact that mitochondria as organelles are the vital components of many cells, not just cardiac. There was a whole section dedicated to mitochondria in neurology as well as a section about mitochondria and cancer. The cancer section made me realize how important the mitochondria are to the immune system, which is the field that I ultimately want to go into.
This conference made me realize the intricate relationships and interactions that academics have with one another. The way they ask questions, how they answer, how they present, and much more. After it was all over, my mentor debriefed me on the original intent of the conferences; they were meant to be a convergence of like-minded individuals to show preliminary to almost complete data and to garner feedback – almost like an in-person review of your paper. This allowed for easy communication and an almost immediate exchange of ideas unlike now where most reviews are anonymous and take quite a while to respond to or even receive clarity on. Regardless of intent, it was fun to stay in an Airbnb, spend the entire day listening to the up-and-coming works in the mitochondria field, and learn aspects of mitochondria and research I’ve never heard about. I learned about which labs were working on mitochondria in a similar way to us, what the Seahorse stress test was, and that C. elegans was the top model organism.
For this event, the dress code was business. I had never had to wear business or formal clothes before! Yet, here I was, buying myself dress shoes with button-up dress shirts. The secret and beginning of any fancy event is dressing nicely. You wouldn’t want to make a bad impression on others especially if they are quite respected within the field. I remember spotting a couple of students at the conference who dressed very casually and while no one said anything to them, I could feel everybody noticed them and their different attire. When I went to Dr. Susan C. Aldridge’s inauguration as Thomas Jefferson University’s 7th President, I felt a little underdressed. While I was given a gown to cover up my clothes, I do believe that my skirt and button-up erred on the side of business-casual rather than business. It dropped my confidence a little, but I felt some solace in the fact that the gown covered up my clothes anyway.
The inauguration was super cool! Held in the Kimmel Center last Wednesday, the auditorium gave me a sense of grandeur that I didn’t feel when my brother had his graduation there. The choir and opera singing, all of the different hats and robes as well as the speakers, and the orchestral music playing all gave me a feeling of empowerment and “new beginnings,” which is fitting to the event. Carrying the flag as a student marshall was a wonderful opportunity to take part in and I feel proud to represent the College of Health Professions! The flag was a little heavy and the top was very sharp, which concerned me, but overall, it was a fun experience.
The reception afterward was overwhelming to me, though. As someone who doesn’t really attend events like those, I felt like a fish out of water – all those people drinking wine, shaking hands, and making connections made me feel dizzy. I never want to be a part of an industry where I have to deliberately go up to someone in a higher position and essentially “charm my way up” to win favors. It felt artificial to me and I don’t think I had the social capacity to approach someone, make small talk with them, and drink. The food was ok, but also not what I expected from a reception. I was expecting fuller course meals, but the crackers, cheese, and fruit were cute snacks to chew on whilst mingling. It felt cool to experience having those waiters carrying trays around with alcohol and food. It felt like a movie! Either way, this week was a lot of firsts for me, but I hope to step out of my comfort zone and get better at navigating these events in the future.