Changing the Postdoc Experience @ UCSF

An open forum by postdocs for postdocs

Hosted by P(ostdoc)-Value* and the Science Policy Group

#ChangeThePostdoc on and

So what exactly is a postdoc?

Here’s the NIH/NSF definition (2007)

“An individual who has received a doctoral degree (or equivalent) and is engaged in a temporary and defined period of mentored advanced training to enhance the professional skills and research independence needed to pursue his or her chosen career path.”

Postdocs get the squeeze in the grand scheme of academic training & support

“An individual who has received a doctoral degree (or equivalent) and is engaged in a temporary and defined period of mentored advanced training to enhance the professional skills and research independence needed to pursue his or her chosen career path.”

So what do us postdocs want?

We’ll present our best ideas

MENTORING

CAREER DEVELOPMENT TOOLS

FAMILY SUPPORT

RESEARCH INDEPENDENCE

$$$

TRAINING RECORD

TRANSPARENCY

Increasing Autonomous Funding Opportunities for Postdocs

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Saori Haigo, Ph.D.

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Ripla Arora, Ph.D.

Challenge: Postdoc intended to increase independence, but not the case for most

Hypothesis: Postdocs with greater independence (through institutional support) have different career outcomes than the average postdoc

Case study: Postdoc Fellows at Bay Area UCs vs. UCSF and National Postdocs

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@ UCSF: Program For Breakthrough Biomedical Research (PBBR)

$15K research grant for 1 year

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@ UC Berkeley: Miller Fellows Program

$65K salary + benefits, $10K research grant + community support

for 3 years

Result: Increasing postdoc support leads to higher % getting tenure-track faculty jobs

1 year @

$15K research funds

3 years @

$65K salary + benefits + $10K research funds + community support

Program Perks

Result: Increasing postdoc support leads to higher % getting tenure-track faculty jobs

1 year @

$15K research funds

3 years @

$65K salary + benefits + $10K research funds + community support

Program Perks

Solution: Increase Autonomous Funding Opportunities for UCSF Postdocs

Expand UCSF PBBR Postdoc Awards to reach more postdocs

• Double annual fellow cohort size - Did you know PBBR exists? (They don’t get enough qualified applicants every year.)
• Provide community support
• Fellows weekly lunch
• PBBR faculty fellow mentorship
• UCSF offers lunch & networking
• Benefits: independence, morale, develop $ management skills

If PBBR expansion successful, expand UCSF community support and research allowances to other (salary-based) postdoc fellow programs.

Nobel Laureate & Miller Faculty Fellow Randy Schekman advising Miller Postdoc Fellows @ weekly lunch.

Training PIs to Mentor Postdocs

Matthew Cook, Ph.D.

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Kirsten Obernier, Ph.D.

Good Science

≠

Good Mentorship

Mike Shapiro

Challenge: Good mentorship is more necessary than ever as the landscape for postdoc success turns bleak

(“Rock Talk”, Sally Rockey, Deputy Director Extramural Research, June 29, 2012, http://nexus.od.nih.gov/)

(“Postdoc Experience Revisited”, Nat’l Acad. Sci., 2014, http://www.nap.edu)

(rentjungle.com and “Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy”, Oct. 10th, 2004, urbanpolicy.berkeley.edu)

(“Postdoc Experience Revisited”, Nat’l Acad. Sci., 2014, http://www.nap.edu)

The National Academy of Sciences believes institutions should formally train faculty to be mentors

“Mentoring is an essential component of the postdoctoral experience and entails more than simply supervision. [...] Host institutions and funding agencies should take responsibility for ensuring the quality of mentoring through evaluation of, and training programs for, the mentors.”

--The Postdoctoral Experience Revisited

Solution: 1) Training Program and 2) Evaluation

1. Training program:
1. 5-day intensive training for new hires and again for faculty who receive tenure
2. Can be offered once a year or twice (modeled after new MDP)
3. Topics: managing lab finances, logistics, projects, people, mentorship, personalities, etc.
4. Estimate $650/participant, ~30 participants per year = $19,500

2. Evaluation by trainees

1. Exit interview of any trainee exiting a research lab
2. Survey questions should be developed jointly by faculty, postdocs, and grad students
3. Data available to the program that runs the PI training

Important: Being satisfied with training profoundly influences one’s opinion of the host institution

Would you recommend your host institution to others?

“Improving the Postdoctoral Experience: An Empirical Approach”, Geoff David, Feb. 1, 2006, Sigma Xi

Solution: 1) Training Program and 2) Evaluation

• Training program:
• 5-day intensive training for new hires and again for faculty who receive tenure
• Can be offered once a year or twice (modeled after new MDP)
• Topics: managing lab finances, logistics, projects, people, mentorship, personalities, etc.
• Estimate $650/participant, ~30 participants per year = $19,500

2. Evaluation by trainees

• Exit interview of any trainee exiting a research lab
• Survey questions should be developed jointly by faculty, postdocs, and grad students
• Data available to the program that runs the PI training

Tracking & Transparency in UCSF Postdocs’ Career Outcomes

Stephanie Vlachos, Ph.D.

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Challenge: transparent records of postdoc aspirations and outcomes does not exist

TETRAD & BMS Students: 2007-2011 (n=208)

Imagine if you could see this information and use it to make an informed decision about where and who you would do your postdoc with?

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Solution: create a public record of postdoc incentives and career outcomes

Introduce entrance and exit surveys that include postdoc training incentives, mentor contribution, and career outcomes

• for individual labs
• for UCSF as a whole
• data posted on the postdoc office website

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Goals:

• Align mentor incentives
• Promote mentor contribution
• Optimize postdoc training from Day 1

Solution: Build on the leadership role

UCSF has already established for itself

UCSF postdoc career outcomes survey (2000-2013):

• 85% of T32 postdoc alumni landed research-related careers

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UCSF Campus Climate Assessment (Nov 2012- Jan 2013):

• 57% Response rate by Postdocs
• 27% dissatisfied with their academic experience/ intellectual development

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Postdoc office pilot entrance survey (Jan-May 2014):

• n=60
• Low participation

Data via entrance/exit surveys should be posted on the Postdoc Office website

ENTRANCE:

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• Desired job?

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• Why UCSF?

EXIT:

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• Desired job?

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• Why UCSF?

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• Supportive mentor?

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• Job secure?

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• Altered career path?

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These data should be tracked, associated with specific labs,

and made public for prospective postdocs to see

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Supporting Postdocs with Families

Lakshmi Subramanian, Ph.D.

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Katie Thompson-Peer, Ph.D.

Why care about families?

26% of UCSF postdocs have dependent children

(UCSF Campus Climate Survey, March 2014)

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Challenge 1: Economic Costs of raising a child

The economic challenge:

• Postdoc salary has to cover rent + child care + expenses

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• No childcare financial support for postdocs (unlike grad students)

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• Childcare availability is limited
• Waitlist 1.5 to 2 years
• Back-up childcare only open to faculty or residents

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Monthly budget for a TWO postdoc family

with ONE child

Solution 1: Economic Costs of raising a child

What can UCSF do?

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• Financial assistance with cost of childcare & backup care

(Brown, CalTech, Columbia, Cornell, Fox Chase CC, Fred Hutchinson CC, Gladstone, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, MIT, NIH, Penn State, Princeton, Rockefeller, UC Merced, U Mass, U Michigan, UNC, USC, Whitehead, Woods Hole)

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• Family housing, parking for postdoc parents

Who Pays? Fund with the indirect costs of NIH grants that postdocs help to bring in

Monthly budget for a TWO postdoc family with ONE child

Challenge 2: Career Costs of raising a child

The career challenge:

• Affects women more than men

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• Poorer career outcomes for women postdocs with family

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• Why should UCSF care?
• 52% of UCSF postdocs are women
• Loss of diversity in academic workforce
• Loss of talent & training

Women Postdocs pay a heavy baby penalty

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Solution 2: Career Costs of raising a child

What can UCSF do?

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• Track Career Outcomes for postdocs with family

(both men and women)

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• Option to delay “the postdoc clock”

(postdoc→scientist title change, K99 eligibility window, etc)

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• Mentoring/ support system that addresses work-life balance as well as professional advice

Who Pays? Fund with the indirect costs of NIH grants that postdocs help to bring in

Increase Structured Career Preparation & Exploration for Postdocs

Saori Haigo, Ph.D.

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Karina Carneiro, Ph.D. & Oliver Zill, Ph.D.

Challenge: Academic postdoc training not in line with career outcome reality

Illustration by Tom Dunne.

Solution 1: Postdocs need to mentally prepare for >1 career outcome

Solution 1: Postdocs need to mentally prepare for >1 career outcome

1. Make an official requirement for postdoc contract signing & renewal
1. What’s your career Plan A? Plan B?
2. What transitional experience do you need?
2. Motivating INformed Decisions (MIND)

Provides networking resources for postdocs and graduate students to explore life science careers.

• Network, network, network!

UCSF OCPD, Science Policy, WILS, SACNAS, etc. host great events that you should take advantage of!

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Solution 2: UCSF creates avenues for postdocs to explore career options

• Careers in the Life Sciences Seminars

(modelled after UC Berkeley MCB seminars for Ph.D. students)

weekly seminars by life science professionals

2. Expand

to PS-ICE

(Postdoc & Student Internships for Career Exploration)

3 month internships for postdocs

Open Mic Forum

You, Ph.D.

Disconnect between PIs and postdocs on factors for success & positive experience

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2011_08_26/science.opms.r1100106