We sat down with Jo Viney to learn about one of her mentoring stories.
CB: Can you share a story about one of your mentoring relationships?
JV: Rebecca and I first met in the summer of 2018. Rebecca was a graduate student from Florida, and had come to Boston to attend the American Association for Immunologists (AAI) course for Advanced Immunology where I gave a lecture on the topic of “Immunotherapeutics”. After my lecture, Rebecca and a number of other students gathered in a huddle and I answered the usual barrage of questions related to careers in industry vs careers in academia. Rebecca wasn’t the most vocal member of the group, but she stayed till the end and then asked if I would be open to connecting on LinkedIn. I recall thinking at the time, that Rebecca seemed well-disposed to the benefits of mentoring.
A couple of years passed, and out of the blue I received a LinkedIn message from Rebecca asking if I would be willing to connect via Zoom to provide some career advice. It took me a little while to recall who she was and how we had met, but I happily agreed to chat. Wow – was I impressed?! Here was an individual who had a clear career goal in mind and had thought through various options for achieving that goal. I shared my perspective on different career trajectories… academia, industry, bench scientist, consultant… and I then introduced Rebecca to a number of people in my network who I thought may be willing to share their experiences in these various roles.
Fast forward a few weeks, and Rebecca reached out again. She had gathered more data, talked to a variety of people, had narrowed down her choices to two options, and now wanted some specific advice about which path to pursue. It was an absolute delight to brainstorm with Rebecca, and it felt really great to be able to share some of my own personal experiences with someone at the beginning of their career.
Fast forward another few weeks, and Rebecca called to say she had accepted a position as a scientist at a brand new startup company in Boston and was excited to relocate from Florida. She thanked me for helping with her decision making, and we then talked about what to expect and how to prepare, and she asked whether I had any recommendations for how she could quickly build her own network in her new city – and so, of course, I introduced her to WEST.
Little did I know that a short time thereafter, I would be taking on a new role at the very same company as Rebecca… and this time, it was my turn to ask her advice on what to expect and how to prepare!We often think of mentoring as going in only one direction from the most experienced person to the person earlier in their career. But I can tell you that Rebecca’s sage advice was hugely helpful in ensuring I was up to speed and raring to go in no time at all in my new role.
As I reflect on the past few years, some of the most rewarding and inspirational conversations I have had with Rebecca revolve around the benefits of developing long term mentoring relationships. I think our shared experience – after meeting serendipitously! –highlights how mentoring can very easily be bidirectional and can take many twists and turns over many years! Both of us are very committed to helping the next generations of scientists succeed. I have been involved with WEST’s mentoring programs for a long time, and it is a delight to now see Rebecca jumping into WEST’s new Dynamic Pod Mentoring program this fall. I look forward to continuing to mentor – and be mentored by – Rebecca as we both continue to navigate our respective careers.
About Jo Viney, PhD, CEO Seismic Therapeutic & Former WEST President
Jo Viney is an experienced biotech executive and entrepreneurial scientist who has taken 13 drugs to clinic.
Dr Viney is Founder, President and CEO of Seismic Therapeutic, the machine learning immunology company. Prior to founding Seismic, she founded Pandion Therapeutics in 2017 and served as President and CSO until the acquisition by Merck for $1.85B in 2021. Prior to founding Pandion, she worked at Biogen, Amgen, and Immunex.
Jo is an independent board director for Finch Therapeutics, Harpoon Therapeutics, Graphite Bio and Lab Central. Jo was featured in Endpoints’ 2019 Special Report on 20 Extraordinary Women, and in FiercePharma’s 2020 Fiercest Women in Life Sciences.
Jo is an advocate for workplace inclusiveness. She has served on the board of Women in the Enterprise of Science & Technology (WEST), a non-profit organization supporting early to mid-career women, including as President 2017-18.
