DD Summit 2025 Session: Empowering a Diversified Health Workforce: Insights from the NextGen Scientist Program
Early career scientists in the fields of nutrition, public health and agrifood play vital roles in driving future scientific consensus on health and wellness. However, there can be barriers to entry and advancement within academia, specifically for underrepresented groups. To better support the next generation of diverse professionals, National Dairy Council launched the NextGen Scientist Program, a pilot program with an overall goal of empowering early career academics through mentorship and professional development opportunities.
This diverse group of early career academics embarked on a 3-year program that provided activations on topics including grant writing, leadership and communication training, and educational sessions. Evaluations were provided before and after activations and at different checkpoints to evaluate the participants’ changes in knowledge, attitudes, perceptions, and self-efficacy.
This session will discuss the importance of supporting programs for early-career professionals, an overview of the NextGen Scientist Program, evaluation results, and potential plans for program scale-up. Additionally, first-hand accounts from NextGen Scientists will be presented as they discuss their experiences in the program.
CEUs are only provided on the full DD Summit recording package. Learn more here.
Early career scientists in the fields of nutrition, public health and agrifood play vital roles in driving future scientific consensus on health and wellness. However, there can be barriers to entry and advancement within academia, specifically for underrepresented groups. To better support the next generation of diverse professionals, National Dairy Council launched the NextGen Scientist Program, a pilot program with an overall goal of empowering early career academics through mentorship and professional development opportunities.
This diverse group of early career academics embarked on a 3-year program that provided activations on topics including grant writing, leadership and communication training, and educational sessions. Evaluations were provided before and after activations and at different checkpoints to evaluate the participants’ changes in knowledge, attitudes, perceptions, and self-efficacy.
This session will discuss the importance of supporting programs for early-career professionals, an overview of the NextGen Scientist Program, evaluation results, and potential plans for program scale-up. Additionally, first-hand accounts from NextGen Scientists will be presented as they discuss their experiences in the program.
CEUs are only provided on the full DD Summit recording package. Learn more here.
Early career scientists in the fields of nutrition, public health and agrifood play vital roles in driving future scientific consensus on health and wellness. However, there can be barriers to entry and advancement within academia, specifically for underrepresented groups. To better support the next generation of diverse professionals, National Dairy Council launched the NextGen Scientist Program, a pilot program with an overall goal of empowering early career academics through mentorship and professional development opportunities.
This diverse group of early career academics embarked on a 3-year program that provided activations on topics including grant writing, leadership and communication training, and educational sessions. Evaluations were provided before and after activations and at different checkpoints to evaluate the participants’ changes in knowledge, attitudes, perceptions, and self-efficacy.
This session will discuss the importance of supporting programs for early-career professionals, an overview of the NextGen Scientist Program, evaluation results, and potential plans for program scale-up. Additionally, first-hand accounts from NextGen Scientists will be presented as they discuss their experiences in the program.
CEUs are only provided on the full DD Summit recording package. Learn more here.