Trainee Well-being

RC Stabile Trainee Well-being

RC Stabile, EdD, the Associate Director of Trainee Well-being, is responsible for the care management of graduate students and postdocs within BRET. Responsibilities include: • assisting the community to connect to care paths based on the individual’s situation. • coordinating community development events for BRET trainees and the VSSA summer participants. • serving as a member of the

International Support team and intentionally works to support international scholars within the

BRET community.

Left, trainees enjoy an evening Paintings with a Twist. Bottom left, trainees attend TPAC’s performance of “Come From Away.” Below, participants learn about ADHD.

Trainee Well-being

Qualifying Exam Milestone Series Recognition • January 21, 2022 Painting with a Twist Field Trip • February 24, 2022 Lunch & Learn: Failures • March 22, 2022 International Trainee Social • March 22, 2022 Predators Game Field Trip • March 29, 2022 Grad Appreciation Week Breakfast Event • April 5, 2022 “Come from Away” Tennessee Performing Arts Center Field Trip • April 19, 2022 Lunch & Learn: ADHD • April 26, 2022 Trainee Hike • April 30, 2022 Nashville Sounds Game Field Trip • May 7, 2022 Nashville Soccer Club Match Field Trip • June 11, 2022

Embarking on the Adventure of “Wellness Explored”

By Kaitlyn Browning, graudate student

Dr. RC Stabile, Associate Director for Trainee Well-being in the BRET office, was recently awarded a grant by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences for a proposal to enhance wellness and resiliency training for our graduate students and postdocs.

to improve wellbeing and resiliency in the research training environment.

The project Dr. Stabile will lead is called “Wellness Explored.” It will be a multi-week module that invites participants to explore different wellness dimensions, such as physical, financial, environmental, or spiritual wellness. By diving deep into these different dimensions, participants will have the opportunity to focus on their own wellbeing while also exploring and practicing new facets about wellness. The idea is to expose students to new wellbeing experiences so they can find what fuels them, what works for them, in support of their wellness.

Proposed events include seminars from invited speakers and different sponsored trips to acquaint participants with each wellness dimension. Participants will be paired up as accountability partners to make achieving their wellness goals even easier. The goal is that by the end of the module, participants will author a wellness plan for themselves.

Dr. Stabile hopes that trainees will experience a “light switch moment,” one where they discover what wellness practices really work for them. “It has a lot of possibility to give space for folks to find something that recharges them or that they are passionate about,” says Stabile of the module, “If they make one commitment to any of the dimensions with one new habit, that is really impactful.” Giving trainees a chance to learn what fuels them is key to their success not only in graduate school, but in future jobs and relationships, according to Stabile.

Dr. Kathy Gould, Senior Associate Dean for Biomedical Research Education and Training (BRET), is thrilled for the support of this pilot module, one “which aims to equip early-stage Ph.D. students with knowledge and skills for growing and sustaining healthy physical and mental practices during graduate school.” Dr. Gould highlights the camaraderie the module will build among participants and the opportunity for trainees to get out and “have some fun in multiple types of activities that can offer a healthy balance to their intensive academic pursuits.”

These supplemental funds will support the program for one year. Preference to participate will be given to second-year students supported by the IMSD T32, which is led by Drs. Digna Velez Edwards, Julie Rhoades, and Henrique Serezani. The supplement application was also supported by the other five directors of General Medicine T32 programs at Vanderbilt: Brian Bachmann and Gary Sulikowski, Joey Barnett, Walter Chazin, Jim Patton, and David Samuels, who hope their trainees will also benefit. If the module is successful, the BRET office plans to offer “Wellness Explored” to all interested early-stage students in future years.

RC Stabile, Ed.D.