Research Workforce Learning Community webinar - Beyond Funding: The Role of Mentorship in Supporting Early-Career Investigators [September 24, 2026]

Research Workforce Learning Community webinar – Beyond Funding: The Role of Mentorship in Supporting Early-Career Investigators [September 24, 2026]

9/24/26 | 2pm-3pm ET - virtual via Zoom - Webinars

Mentorship plays a critical role in the development and long-term success of early-career researchers. Join Dr. Shanen Sherrer for a discussion of findings from her recent studies examining outcomes of the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program, including the role of mentorship in career advancement and leadership development. Drawing on evidence from fellowship alumni and program evaluation efforts, Dr. Sherrer will share insights into how funders can incorporate meaningful mentorship opportunities into their programs, assess mentorship impact, and better support the professional growth of young investigators.

Speaker

Dr. Shanen M. Sherrer is a versatile scientist, educator, and administrator. Her broad training in the chemical, biological, and biomedical sciences included biochemical research across various organisms – primarily in archaea, yeast, and human model systems. Dr. Sherrer’s past research experiences focused on determining mutagenic profiles and pre-steady state kinetic characteristics of error-prone DNA replication and studying the molecular mechanism of the human DNA mismatch repair pathway. Notably, she worked as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Research Associate (2011-2013) in the HHMI laboratory of Nobel Laureate Dr. Paul L. Modrich before completing a 3-year American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship (2014-2017) in the same laboratory.

After earning tenure as a faculty member at St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM), Dr. Sherrer completed a 2-year American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellowship (2023-2025) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). During this time at the NIH, she worked for the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the Division of Cancer Prevention, and she completed a work detail in the NCI Division of Cancer Biology. Dr. Sherrer’s work as an NIH scientist-administrator earned her 3 NCI awards, including an NCI Director’s Award. Dr. Sherrer’s undergraduate student-centered research program at SMCM studies the impact of environmental pollutants on DNA-protein interactions using both classical and novel techniques such as chromatography, thermal scanning, molecular cloning, gel electrophoresis, and metal-indicating fluorophores. Her rigorous courses and research training practices help prepare students to enter the scientific workforce, graduate schools, and health professional programs.