BIOGRAPHY: Emily Bell is Associate Director of the Desjardins Centre for Advanced Training of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre which is responsible for supporting the professional and career development of the approximately 1200 trainees at the RI-MUHC. From 2010-2015 she was a researcher with NeuroDevNet, a Canadian Network of Centres of Excellence and has been awarded support, in the form of fellowships and operating grants, from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, FRQS, the CIHR and Killam Trusts. She blends her experience in higher education and in health research to develop structured career development and mentorship programs for trainees at the RI-MUHC, to conduct research on the career paths of scientists, and she regularly advises trainees about career in the life sciences. Emily is currently a principal investigator on CANTRAIN (CIHR funded clinical trial training platform), Stream Lead of CANTRAIN’s GPT Stream, and co-investigator (RI-MUHC Lead) on the McGill-Affiliated TREMPLIN Consortium (FRQS funded).

What is your interest in clinical trials?
• In my postdoctoral work and early career research I was involved in multiple projects examining the ethical and social issues associated with novel therapeutics for neurological and psychiatric conditions. Working in the field of neuro-ethics I was able to work at the forefront of researching pressing issues in research ethics, including conceptions of vulnerability and the application of vulnerability to the research ethics context. My current interests in clinical trials are in supporting new talent to take advantage of the opportunities existing in the clinical trials landscape. I work with graduate students to prepare them for careers in clinical, regulatory, and medical affairs and was awarded a grant in 2019 to pilot a program of training to support graduate students with this training. That program has now become CANTRAIN’s GPT Career Development Program.