FROM THE PRESIDENT
Laura Last
You know the basic responsibility of our positions in life sciences training: We develop our colleagues. We grow their skills, advance their careers and enable their success wherever professional life is taking them. It’s a nice way to make a living.
But there’s also often an irony about our work: While we’re busy helping others, we sometimes don’t take the time to develop ourselves. No matter what level you’ve achieved so far in your career, there are always more opportunities to prepare for, more challenges to overcome and more learning awaiting.
Still, sometimes, our needs become secondary to our learners. That’s noble and noteworthy on one level, but it’s also a miss. You must have your own back, so to speak.
In other words, you need to own your own development.
Spoiler alert — you’re going to hear me ringing this particular bell a bit over the next couple of months. It’s a need that I’ve seen over my career — in myself and others — and it gets to the heart of the LTEN mission.
Your own education is as important as anyone else’s. I hope that is part of the reason you’re part of LTEN in the first place — to take advantage of the resources we offer to grow your career.
I’ll be talking about development in this column and next month I’ll talk about it on the main stage at the LTEN2025 Annual Conference. Hopefully we can turn this topic into a conversation and together ensure that we develop all the talent, for our company, our teams and ourselves.
Let’s start with LTEN2025, taking place July 28-31 in Aurora, Colo. It’s our network’s flagship event and it’s growing every year. It’s quite simply the best place to get the most from LTEN. We’ll have dozens of workshops, Learning Lab microlearning sessions, keynote presentations, a bustling Learning Village exhibit hall and Technology Demos.
That doesn’t even address the best LTEN has to offer — each other. LTEN2025 will give you ample opportunity to connect with colleagues, expand your network and join a wider community of professionals facing similar challenges.
Between the people and the education sessions, it’s impossible to walk away without some valuable new knowledge, ideas or resources. For instance, this year we’ll again devote the last half-day of the conference to a deep dive into how artificial intelligence can support life sciences training.
I hope you’re planning to join us at LTEN2025. Now is a good time to start getting ready for the trip. Check out the program agenda on www.LTENconference.com and begin to build your own training plan for the event. Decide which sessions promise value for your company, your team and, of course, for yourself. Look for gaps and areas of improvement — there’s a good chance a solution will be available at the conference. We will also have some exciting announcements about new opportunities LTEN will be offering soon.
I’m looking forward to LTEN2025 and seeing all of you, but I’m even more excited to start this dialogue for us. LTEN has resources to help you own your development and advance your career.
Remember, you’re worth the investment!
Laura Last is executive director, head of global talent development and enterprise learning for BeOne Medicines USA (formerly BeiGene USA), and president of the LTEN Board of Directors. Email Laura at laura.last@beigene.com or connect through linkedin.com/in/lalast.
