MLA 2016
Posted on January 20, 2017 by Kelli Hines | No Comments
Amy Nadell
Recipient of MLGSCA Professional Development Award
Thank you MLGCSA for the wonderful opportunity to attend the 2016 MLA annual meeting in Toronto. It exceeded all my expectations. Because MLGSCA was able to provide me with funds to attend, I had a much easier time of requesting funds from my company, Fortis College, to cover the rest of the expenses.
Some of the highlights of my trip were:
- Exploring Toronto.
- The last time I was in Toronto was 20 years ago. What I remember most from that trip was how multicultural the city was. This time I was able to appreciate how cosmopolitan and modern the city has become. Tall glass residential high-rises squeezed between two story red brick buildings and modern architecture butting up against 1970s cement monoliths. As a tourist in Toronto I saw the musical Kinki Boots, an art film, the play The Heidi Chronicles by Wendy Wasserstein, and ate dim sum.
- Learning about new and existing technologies and programs which I did not know about or had not seen demos of before.
- Quetzal from Quertle, Boopsie, and Clincial key
- Sitting in on lighting sessions
- I was extremely impressed with the breadth and quality of Canadian medical librarians’ research and contributions to systematic reviews. Overall they appear to have more respect in their home institutions and as such they are motived and encouraged to peruse more complex research.
- The parties at the aquarium. I had a lovely time with Janice Hermer and Sue Espe at these parties.
- Thank you Kathleen Carlson for inviting me to sit-in on the AHIP credentialing meeting. It was great to learn about some of the inner workings and future goals of the MLA.
- The keynote talks by Ben Goldacre and Ellen Jorgensen were thought provoking and entertaining. Both of these speakers are amazing academics and conduct practical projects which improve life for all of us. I feel incredibly fortunate to know about these people and be able to share their research with students and friends. In case you are not aware of them, Ben Goldacre pushes against publication bias and all biases for that matter. Ellen Jorgensen started a DYI genetic lab which has opened research opportunities to people outside the biomedical field and does not require funding to work in a fully equipped lab. What both of these speakers have in common, is their passion to take science and evidence out of the hands of the large corporations and allow intellectuals of all disciplines to make conclusions and experiments of their own design.
- I enjoyed manning the MLGSCA poster while I was not inundated with people, I was able to talk with the other poster representatives and learn about their organizations.
- Resume clinic.
- I did not even consider this before coming to the MLA, I did take advantage of the opportunity to have another professional look at my resume. The representative gave my excellent suggestions to reorganize my resume into a more functional format trying to highlight aspects of my achievement that I would like to pursue in the future.
Thank you to the officers of MLGSCA who voted to provide me funds to attend MLA in Toronto. It is a learning experience that has improved my skills and outlook not only in my daily work at Fortis College but also my long term professional goals.
Sincerely,
Amy Nadell
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