MASS AWIS is offering an opportunity to make professional connections across a variety of career paths. ‘Join Me for Coffee’ gives a chance to meet with a STEM professional for 1 hour online. This special ‘Join Me for Coffee’ event will be 75 minutes. Participants will not only learn about that person’s career but also establish a new professional connection. These events are a great opportunity for participants to practice networking in an intimate setting, a skill that helps open doors to meaningful careers in STEM.

The upcoming ‘Join Me for Coffee’ event series will feature Dr. Daniela Vecchio and Alyson B. Smith. If you would like to participate in this ‘Join Me for Coffee’ event, first complete the event application form. A committee will then review all applications and select 4-6 participants for each event. For this special ‘Join Me for Coffee’ event featuring two panelists, 8 participants will be selected. Selected applicants will be notified by email at least one week prior to the event. Upon selection notification, you will be required to formally register for the event and pay the registration fee via our secure website. Selected applicants who fail to complete registration on time forfeit the opportunity to participate.

Dr. Daniela Vecchio

Daniela is a creative and passionate scientist who is currently working as Sr. Clinical Research Scientist at Erasca where she contributes to the company mission to ERAse CAncer. Daniela earned her BS/MS Biology and later her Ph.D. in Cellular Biology and Pathophysiology from Siena University in Italy. She moved to Boston in 2011 where she worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She made a transition to industry in 2016 to work as a clinical research scientist at Boston Biomedical. In 2019 she moved to California where she worked at Gilead and Nektar prior to Erasca.

Daniela values the exchange of ideas, experience, and perspectives mentoring contributes in a professional setting.  In 2015 she founded a Pilot Mentoring Program for the MGH Postdoc Association and served as Co-Chair of the MASS AWIS Mentoring Committee from 2015 to 2018. She is currently serving as a mentor for the Siena Alumni Association. During her free time Daniela enjoys time with friends, travelling, reading, long bike rides, and being in nature.

Alyson B. Smith

Alyson B. Smith is a Principal Scientist and Scientific Manager supporting the Neuroscience, Gastroenterology, Companion Diagnostics, and Oncology assets in the Clinical Biomarker Innovation & Development (CBID) department at Takeda. Alyson received her Master’s degree from Boston University School of Medicine. Following graduation, she worked in various Research leadership positions for Harvard institutions including Massachusetts General Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she was first intrigued by biomarker discovery, research, and development. After transitioning from academia, she worked for Leica Biosystems, globalizing its Clinical Operations strategy for companion diagnostics development. Prior to joining Takeda in January 2021, she consulted for numerous protein and nucleic acid-based diagnostic developers, including Foundation Medicine, just prior to FDA approval of their FoundationOne companion diagnostic assay.

When she’s not working, Alyson loves cooking and enjoying the New England outdoors with her husband, young family, and golden retriever puppy.

Registration fee: Free for MASS AWIS members; $5 for non-MASS AWIS members

Application deadline: Sunday, October 10th, 2021 at 11:55 PM.

For other Join Me for Coffee opportunities, click here.