<h1 class="page-heading"><strong><a href="http://info.vtc.vt.edu/best/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/j0316739.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-392" alt="j0316739" src="http://info.vtc.vt.edu/best/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/j0316739-300x202.jpg" width="300" height="202" /></a>Mini-Internship: “Funding and Fundraising in Medical Research Philanthropy"</strong>
<strong>Sept 29th, 2 PM – 5 PM, VTCRI Room R3012</strong>
The BEST program mini-internships are designed to expose trainees to “a day on the job” for a variety of career paths, through hands-on exercises, site visits, and/or case discussions with biomedical professionals. At our next mini-internship, let Scientific Program Director Dr. Laura Brockway-Lunardi guide you through a series of exercises to build critical skills for PhDs working in program management, particularly for non-profit research funders. Participants will play the role of Scientific Program Director for a disease foundation, learning what it takes to evaluate the success and failure of funded research for strategic evaluation and communicate advances to diverse audiences, including donors, patients, and the public.</h1>
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<strong>Laura M. Brockway-Lunardi, PhD</strong>
<strong>Scientific Program Director, Melanoma Research Alliance</strong><a href="http://info.vtc.vt.edu/best/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Lunardi-Photo.png"><img class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-349" alt="Dr. Lunardi" src="http://info.vtc.vt.edu/best/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Lunardi-Photo-150x150.png" width="150" height="150" /></a>
Laura Brockway-Lunardi, Ph.D., joined the Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA) as Scientific Program Director in 2009 with over ten years of experience in scientific program management, science policy, and biomedical research. At MRA, she manages the organization’s grants portfolio, which totals more than $60 million in research funding, as well as its annual scientific conference, and assists in communications and external relations. Prior to MRA, she was scientific program manager at the International Life Science Institute North America where she coordinated programs on nutrition and health. From 2004-2008, Dr. Brockway-Lunardi was senior science policy analyst at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, developing policy recommendations on biomedical research issues including conflicts of interest, scientific publishing, grant review as well as contributing to advocacy efforts for federal research funding. She was a Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable of the National Academy of Sciences, contributing to their studies of intellectual property in academic-industry relationships and U.S. science and technology competitiveness. Dr. Brockway-Lunardi received her doctorate in Vision Science from the University of Alabama at Birmingham where she was president of the Industry Roundtable, an organization dedicated to fostering a greater awareness of science careers outside academia. She received her bachelor’s degree in biology with honors from Florida State University.