TRP project to support equitable healthcare in Hamilton wins LMP’s 3-Minute Thesis competition

Achievements & Awards, Agile Education

TRP project to support equitable healthcare in Hamilton wins LMP’s 3-Minute Thesis competition

Carolyn Kelly-Ruetz, 2nd year TRP student, won the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology’s first 3-Minute Thesis Competition.

February 29, 2024

“I’m passionate about communicating powerfully. I believe that the words that you use to describe an experience (whether it be a research project, a job, or anything else!) matter. The 3MT was a great opportunity to practice tailoring my communication to a certain audience while also raising awareness about my specific research,” said Carolyn Kelly-Ruetz. Carolyn is a Translational Research Program (TRP) student and winner of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology’s first 3-Minute Thesis Competition.

The 3-Minute Thesis Competition (known as the 3MT) is an academic research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland, Australia in 2008. A graduate student has one slide and 3 minutes to communicate their major research project. Dr. Laurent Bozec, a Professor cross-appointed in LMP from the Faculty of Dentistry, has been running 3MT competitions for the last decade and recently brought the competition to LMP.

“We saw this as a training opportunity for all learners in LMP so opened our competition up to anyone in any program. It takes a lot of work to take these scientific concepts and terminology and make it more accessible. Through training, coaching and a lot of practice, these students have developed skills that will help them communicate to those within and outside their field; with patients; to apply for funding in pitches and grant applications – there are many benefits to challenging yourself to develop these skills,” explained Dr. Bozec.

Learners in LMP attended training sessions and one-on-one coaching with Dr. Bozec, as well as using the expertise of the Peer Communications Team (PCT) to refine their entries.

Six graduate students made it to the final earlier this month and presented in front of Department Chair Dr. Rita Kandel and a live audience of friends, current and prospective students, and faculty.

Public speaking often feels nerve-wracking so it’s great to be able to look back at the LMP 3MT competition and use it as encouragement to continue speaking about my research.

Carolyn Kelly-Ruetz

The judging panel included Darina Landa (Executive Director, Advancement, Temerty Faculty of Medicine), Linda Quattrin (Director Communications, Temerty Medicine), and Dr. Myron Cybulsky (Vice Chair Research, Clinical, LMP).

The winners!

First Place: Carolyn Kelly-Ruetz, MHSc Translational Research (TRP) student, “10 km: the difference between living and dying”
Second Place: Ain Kim, PhD candidate in the Gabor Kovacs lab. “Shape sorting cubes for proteins to better understand disease”
Third place: Juliette Blais-Savoie, MSc student in the Samira Mubareka lab, “Cracking open the differences between egg-grown and cell-grown influenza vaccine stocks”
The People’s Choice Award: Suji Udayakumar, MSc student in the Mario Ostrowski lab, “HIV: Where your immune system is a battlefield

Carolyn commented, “Winning the LMP 3MT was meaningful to me because it has given me the confidence to know that I can continue to communicate powerfully about topics that matter to me. Public speaking often feels nerve-wracking so it’s great to be able to look back at the LMP 3MT competition and use it as encouragement to continue speaking about my research. I’m now looking forward to progressing to the U of T- wide 3MT. This will give me the opportunity to further represent the LMP department and share just one research project that is coming from such a diverse department.”

Carolyn took part in the training and coaching that was offered and found the experience demanding but rewarding, “Public speaking always feels challenging to me, but I’m grateful I can look back on the experience (of the LMP 3MT) and know that it’s something I have the ability to do if I work hard at it. The 3MT event itself allowed me to connect with people in the audience that were excited about my project and others who had previous experience related to my own research; it was great to meet peers and experts and share stories and knowledge”.

Dr. Joesph Ferenbok, TRP Program Director, commented, “I am delighted to see a TRP student win this competition. In our program they are learning to bridge the gap between discovery and clinical research, and patients – to make an impact and bring about change. It’s an area full of ambiguity where communication between different stakeholders, including the public, is incredibly important. I am delighted to see our students excelling in these vital communication skills.”

Carolyn will next compete in the U of T 3MT semi-finals in March and will present at the LMP Research Day on April 25.

Watch Carolyn's 3MT presentation:

Watch the full final:

Jenni Bozec

Jenni is the Communications & Outreach Officer for the Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology.