This is the sixth in a series of profiles about recent NIH postdocs who have found an array of jobs, from academia to industry to communications and beyond, in the U.S. and abroad. What do they do now, and how did they get there? What challenges did they face, and what advice do they have? Read on to find out. Name: Sandeep Dayal Current position: Health science policy analyst, Office of Scientific Program and Policy Analysis, NIDDK Location: Bethesda, MD Time in current position: 1 year Postdoc: Role of chromatin remodeling in class-switch recombination with Gary Felsenfeld and Marty Gellert at NIDDK Day-to-day: We analyze the science that goes on at…
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Giving Thanks for our Readers: Why We Do What We Do
Thanksgiving! The time of year where many of us celebrate with a ridiculous amount of food, American Football on television, food, family, food, friends, and did we mention food? Also, and perhaps more importantly, it is a time of year where we focus on those things in our lives for which we are thankful. Here are OITE, we are reflecting on why we are thankful for our jobs and give you all a sense of why we do what we do. Many of us are trained as research scientists. Others are NIH employees committed to education and training. We remain involved in biomedical research while providing the research tools into…
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NIH Alumni: Where Are They Now? Profile 5 – Research Scientist at Johnson & Johnson
Name: Elizabeth Rex Current position: Research scientist at Johnson & Johnson Location: San Diego, CA Time in current position: 4 months Postdoc: Molecular neuropharmacology of dopamine receptors with David Sibley at NINDS My story: When I came to NINDS, I didn’t know what I was going to do [for a career]. I thought it would all be unveiled with time. Looking back, I should have had more “career intellect.” I knew I didn’t want to go into academia. Figuring out what I did want was the hard part. I knew I needed to get closer to helping people. I wanted to get more into drug discovery. Pharma was in line…
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Maintaining Your Network: Quality over Quantity
“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know!” The old adage, while certainly over simplified and perhaps a little cynical, is an important reminder that often the one break a person needs to get started in a career is a personal connection to that first opportunity. In the age of online social networking, the connections we have are often impersonal and disingenuous. A person who is merely a number in you connection list is not likely to prove to be reliable or effective in helping you advance your career. Social networking sites make a big deal out of the number of connections or friends you are linked to on…
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NIH Alumni: Where are they now? Profile 4 – Scientific Program Management
This is the fourth in a series of profiles about recent NIH postdocs who have found an array of jobs, from academia to industry to communications and beyond, in the U.S. and abroad. What do they do now, and how did they get there? What challenges did they face, and what advice do they have? Read on to find out. Name: Tshaka Cunningham Current position: Scientific program manager at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; adjunct assistant professor at Howard University Location: Washington, D.C. Time in current position: 2 ½ years Postdocs: Cancer and HIV/AIDS with Jay Berzofsky at NCI; viruses and immunology with John Yewdell at NIAID How I got…
