Leanna Smith

Professional Experience
 

03/2023 - present

The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)

Clinical Research Project Coordinator

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• A forward-thinking and motivated individual with strong time management skills, committed to delivering multiple precision medicine projects within the clinical program, including 3 prospective observational studies and 1 retrospective observational study.

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• Excellent client-facing skills with experience in recruiting study participants and obtaining informed consent from patients and their families, as evidenced by >700 study participants.

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• Coordinating patient study visit schedules (as per study protocols), resulting in the collection and biobanking of 7 types of human biological samples (HBS) from consenting patients and relatives.

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• High-level strategic planner with substantial experience in the collection and processing of HBS, resulting in successful collaborations with 2 biobanks.

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• Responsible for data abstraction, updates, and cleaning (using REDCap, as per SickKids policy and ICH/ GCP guidelines), demonstrating regulatory acumen.

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• Strong relationship building and teamwork skills demonstrated by providing cross-coverage for all research projects, including 2 additional research studies within the Centre’s research program.

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• Providing enrollment and sample collection updates to Sponsor-Investigators and a Program Manager via periodic and ad-hoc reports.

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10/2022 - 09/2024

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Science Rendezvous

Executive Director and Co-Chair (University of Toronto, St George Campus)

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• Refined project management and leadership skills demonstrated through successfully leading a team of volunteers in planning, delivering and evaluating two editions of the STEM the festival (2022, 2023); as evidenced by >5,000 attendees, per year.

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• Demonstrated confidence and decisiveness through the implementation of a complete recruitment process for volunteers (from drafting job descriptions to the provision of references), resulting in >80 applications for Executive roles, per year.

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• Developed refined people management skills through leading the Executive Committee, resulting in the supervision of 41 volunteers (comprised of 11 Heads and 31 Executives) distributed across 10 teams.

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• Experienced in providing a return on investment, as evidenced by establishing collaborations with a wide range of stakeholders (including University departments, research centers, student interest groups, external STEM organizations and charities); resulting in >140 unique hands-on activities hosted, per year.

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• Produced a budget and successfully secured sponsorship from a wide range of internal and external organizations, demonstrating financial acumen and resulting in >$70,000 in sponsorship raised, per year.

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• Exercised well developed leadership skills through producing meeting agendas, drafting presentation slides, and leading meetings, as evidence by the delivery of quarterly (hybrid) Executive Committee meetings and weekly (virtual) Head meetings.

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• Skilled in information management, as evidenced by disseminating periodic updates from the Science Rendezvous National Team to the University of Toronto's Executive Committee.

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• Experienced in cross functional collaboration and teamwork through presenting periodic updates, attending campus site visits and receiving periodic updates from 3 key university stakeholders.

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• A strong work ethic and unwavering commitment to planning, delivery and evaluation of STEM outreach events; as evidence by >700 hours of volunteer time contributed, annually.

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• Creative problem-solving skills and experience in change management, as evidenced by the (mandatory) relocation of the 2024 festival from Kings College Circle to St George Street.

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• Experience in successful relationship building, with >60% of volunteers participating in exit interviews and a retention of >30% of Executive Committee members, year-on-year.

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• Demonstrated experience in information and data management through the co-authorship of 2 annual reports and 2 festival handbooks, submitted to the Science Rendezvous National Team and incoming (2025) festival Co-Directors/ Co-Chairs, respectively.

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• Made recognized tangible contributions to sustainability at the University of Toronto, as evidenced by two Platinum Sustainable Action Awards (awarded in 2023 and 2024).

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• Experienced in leading the delivery of creative, high-quality, and impactful STEAM outreach events, with the outstanding work of the Executive Committee recognized via the 2024 STEAM Big! Award (and nomination for the 2023 STEAM BIG! Award).​​

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04/2022 - 03/2023

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Toronto General Hospital (TGH), University Health Network (UHN)

Clinical Research Analyst

• Led clinical research studies in the field of hepatology (including a global retrospective registry and a prospective feasibility study), in collaboration with an international group of researchers and a pharmaceutical collaborator, respectively.

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• Excellent attention to detail, with a sound knowledge of investigator‐driven research processes, budgeting, contract review and mandatory reporting.

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• Responsible for REB submissions (including initial submissions, amendments, and renewals), in addition to study financial oversight; as demonstrated through the authorship of study protocols, budgets, CRFs and ICFs.

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• Refined verbal and written communication skills, resulting in successful collaborations with external stakeholders, including 44 international collaborating research centers.

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• Experienced in information and data management, as evidenced by the preparation and presentation of study status reports for a wide range of stake holders, including principal investigators (weekly), collaborators (annually), and Steering Committee members (quarterly).

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• Demonstrated financial acumen through the production of budgets and implementation of fundraising activities for investigator meetings, resulting in >$20,000 raised in unrestricted funding from 6 pharmaceutical companies and endorsements secured from 10 organizations.

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• Refined client facing skills developed through assisting collaborators (from Europe, Canada, the USA and Asia) in the completion of their own institutional REB submissions and DTA executions (with UHN).

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• Gained experience in implementing and coordinating data management activities, including authorship of a data management plan, data entry into CRFs and data collection (as per UHN policy and ICH/ GCP guidelines) via 2 database systems (Castor EDC and REDCap).

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• Organizational, planning and time management experience gained in co-organizing (12/2022 – 04/2023) the 2022 Global PBC Study Group Investigator Meeting (11/2022, Washington DC, USA), working collaboratively with 2 other committee members throughout the planning process. Delivered a presentation at the meeting and provided onsite support.

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• Teamwork and leadership skills demonstrated in co-organizing (12/2022 – 04/2023) an investigator meeting celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Global PBC Study Group (04/2023, Rotterdam, the Netherlands); successfully working collaboratively with 5 other committee members throughout the planning process.

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• Demonstrated confidence and decisiveness in implementing a recruitment process to secure interns from clinical research programs, resulting in the successful recruitment of 4 students.

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• Demonstrated excellent written and verbal communication skills through authoring newsletters and periodically updating the study group website (https://www.globalpbc.com/).

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04/2018 - 04/2022

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Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC)

Postdoctoral Fellow

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• Prioritization skills with experience in monitoring tight, fluid project timelines and deliverables (with work under pressure), both independently and within a multi-disciplinary team, with cross functional collaborations facilitating the leadership of 5 projects with 5 international pharmaceutical partners.

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• Experienced in working under pressure through leading drug discovery projects, including: optimizing enzymatic assays for targets across 2 protein families, implementing high throughput screening (using libraries of up to 20,000 compounds), developing selectivity screens and optimizing biophysical assays.

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• Exceptional skills in data collection, data management, problem solving, decision-making, and troubleshooting; resulting in the production and maintenance of technical documentation for 12 screening experiments and the discovery of a chemical probe (and inactive control) targeting USP21.

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• Strong written and verbal communication skills with an in-depth and comprehensive knowledge of the early drug discovery process, as demonstrated by the dissemination of project updates to external and internal collaborators every 6 weeks, accumulating to ~40 presentations per year.​​​

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• An ability to manage information through performing literature and database searches, retrieving data, exercising critical reasoning, and organizing documents as evidenced by 2 journal publications.

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04/2016 - 10/2016

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University of Warwick

Postgraduate Research Mentor (Undergraduate Research Support Scheme, URSS)

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• Experienced in relationship building and maintaining confidentiality through advising students on the conduct of research; supporting professional development and signposting participants to support and other resources available at the university, resulting in the successful mentorship of 15 undergraduate students undertaking summer research projects across a wide range of academic disciplines.

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• Refined client-facing skills acquired through communication (via online portfolios) to participating mentees, resulting in the provision of bi-weekly constructive feedback (on action plans and profiles).

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• For more information, visit: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/skills/urss/

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01/2016 - 12/2017

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University of Leeds

Visiting Researcher

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• Technical literacy gained through conducting structural and computational analysis of the Checkpoint with Forkhead and RING finger domains (CHFR) protein; resulting in the production of a validated homology model, implementation of molecular dynamic simulations, full biophysical characterization and identification of essential protein-protein interactions required for its autoubiquitination activity.

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• Developed exceptional organizational skills as a member of the Organizing Committee (08/2016 - 01/2017) for The Joint Astbury Centre (University of Leeds, England) - Institute for Protein Research (IPR, Osaka University, Japan) Young Researchers Symposium (01/2017, University of Leeds, England), working collaboratively with 6 other committee members throughout the planning process. Chaired a session during the meeting and provided onsite support.

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• Excellent communication skills gained during bi-weekly discussion of research results with laboratory members, resulting in the delivery of two poster presentations.

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09/2014 - 09/2017

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University of Leicester

PhD Student

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• Technical literacy gained through the expression and purification of recombinant proteins, site directed mutagenesis and the development of autoubiquitination assays, resulting in 9 presentations (6 posters and 3 oral) at local, national, and international meetings.

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• Excellent communication skills, resulting in the presentation of research to non-specialist audiences; including the 2017 Festival of Postgraduate Research (selected to present research from over 150 PhD student applicants from across all three of the university’s colleges) and Café Research.

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• Leadership skills gained as Chair of the Organizing Committee (01/2015 – 04/2015) for the Second Annual MIBTP Symposium (04/2015, University of Leicester, England), working collaboratively with 4 other committee members. Chaired a session during the meeting and providing onsite support.

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• Financial acumen and experience in research budget management gained in drafting and submitting grant applications, preparing budgets, allocating funding, and reporting project outcomes; resulting in 4 travel grants, 1 event grant and 1 PhD studentship (worth >$180,000 in total).

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04/2014 - 06/2014

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University of Warwick

PhD Student (Rotation Project)

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• Creative problem-solving abilities, as evidenced by establishing and documenting methodologies underpinning experiments using CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technologies, with bi-weekly periodic updates presented at laboratory meetings.

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01/2014 - 04/2014

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European Molecular Biology Laboratory – European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI)​​

Project Management Intern

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• An excellent attention to detail, as evidenced by managing collaborations with 10 international research infrastructures.

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• Developed critical thinking skills as a member of the Organizing Committee (01/2014 – 04/2014) for the Second BioMedBridges Annual General Meeting and Midterm Review (03/2014, Florence, Italy), working collaboratively with 2 other committee members and providing onsite support.

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• Excellent leadership skills in processing and managing information available to project partners through periodic updates of the external project website (www.biomedbridges.eu) and utilizing Alfresco Management Software.

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09/2011 - 08/2012

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Institut Pasteur

Undergraduate Trainee (ERASMUS Traineeship)

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• Experienced in cross functional teamwork, with experiments implemented across multiple laboratories and research platforms, resulting in 3 successful collaborations.

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• Technical literacy demonstrated across a wide range of scientific disciplines (including molecular biology, immunology, and parasitology), resulting in the production of 2 novel transgenic rodent malaria parasites.​

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• Exceptional diligence demonstrated through fully characterizing the transgenic parasites (within both murine and mosquito hosts), resulting in 4 journal publications and 2 presentations (1 oral and 1 poster).

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10/2012 - 09/2013

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Keele University

Student Ambassador

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• Professional awareness gained through providing administrative and on-site support to the University’s Recruitment, Outreach and Access team; including supervising 2 Community Days (in 2012 and 2013), assisting with attendee registration at 1 University Open Day (2012), and working as a Call Centre Operative during Clearing and Confirmation Week (2012).

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07/2011 - 08/2011

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Keele University

Undergraduate Trainee

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• Technical acumen achieved through the preparation of heparin compounds and the optimization of in vitro coagulation assays; resulting in the successful identification of carbohydrate compounds capable of inhibiting Plasmodium falciparum rosetting, whilst maintaining homeostatic coagulation activities.

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• Financial acumen gained through the completion and submission of grant applications, resulting in a Summer Vacation Studentship (awarded by the Biochemical Society) and the submission of a project report.

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09/2010 - 05/2011

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Keele University

Lead STEM Subject Competition Coordinator

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• Strategic planning and creativity demonstrated through organizing a regional STEM competition for Gifted and Talented High School students, including devising and planning 3 activities for learners throughout the competition, coordinating >100 competition entries, assessing submissions, and consulting with 10 participating schools.

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• Gained financial acumen through producing and managing a budget (>$10,000).

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• Return on investment provided to the university through conducting an in-depth evaluation of the competition, as evidenced by a detailed report submitted to project managers.

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09/2010 - 09/2013

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Keele University

STEM Specialist

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• Excellent management skills developed through planning and delivering >50 interactive outreach sessions to school groups and to the public (ranging from 5 to 50+ learners), promoting STEM subjects.

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09/2010 - 05/2011

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Keele University

E-Mentor

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• Demonstrated emotional intelligence through the mentorship of 10 students (aged 14- to 18-years old); providing support and advice regarding pre-university course selection, career preparation, professional development, and university applications.

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06/2010 - 07/2010

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Keele University

Student Associate

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• Confidence and personnel development gained through a 15-day placement at a secondary school, providing classroom support, guidance, and mentorship across a wide range of topics including access to higher education and career choices.

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• Demonstrated refined communication skills through the compilation and submission of a comprehensive report, resulting in a $850 bursary from the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA, UK).

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