How to Find the "Right" Postdoctoral Fellowship

Ekin Secinti, MS^✉; Student SIG President

We interviewed Dr. Anthony E. Crimarco (Postdoctoral Fellow in Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Stanford Prevention Research Center), Dr. Megan M. Miller (Postdoctoral Fellow at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and Riley Children’s Hospital), and Dr. Joseph Winger (American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow at Duke University Medical Center) about how they were able to find the “right” postdoc!
 

Describe your postdoc.

Dr. Crimarco: My specific responsibilities include the analysis of dietary data, writing manuscripts, and occasionally lecturing material to study participants or master’s and undergraduate students.

Dr. Miller: My position consists mostly of analyzing data and writing manuscripts and grants. A small percentage of my time (1/2 days per week) is spent doing clinical work.

Dr. Winger: My typical day includes study-related duties (e.g., recruiting participants, data management), working on manuscripts for publication, attending meetings with my mentoring team, and writing grant proposals. I also attend various structured trainings (e.g., statistics workshops) throughout the year.
 

How did you find this postdoc?

Dr. Crimarco: I actually came across it from an email through SBM’s listserv (it’s free to sign up and a useful resource for doctoral students that are job hunting).

Dr. Miller: After discussing my research trajectory, Dr. Hirsh offered me the opportunity to work with him at the postdoc level to finish several projects I had begun as a graduate student. I was lucky enough to have my postdoc set up prior to beginning an internship.

Dr. Winger: I was encouraged to apply for this fellowship by my mentors. You can learn more about it on the American Cancer Society website.
 

What excites you most about this postdoc?

Dr. Crimarco: I love the autonomy and the ability to work with all of the faculty. What makes this postdoc unique compared to other ones is that we have the freedom to not only work in our advisor’s labs, but to also collaborate with all other faculty members and fellow postdocs. This allows me to explore new areas of research, while still continuing to become an expert in my original field of research.

Dr. Miller: The large amount of time I can devote to research.

Dr. Winger: I love serving as a principal investigator on work that I’m passionate about. It’s also great to participate in trainings that are directly aligned with my interests.
 

What is your biggest challenge?

Dr. Crimarco: I would say the biggest challenge is finding the right amount of work load. Because Postdocs can work with anyone here, sometimes we take on too much projects at once. It’s also possible to do “too little” if one does not make an effort to get involved in enough projects. So it’s important to be a self-starter and to have realistic expectations for how much work you would like to accomplish each semester. It’s also okay to “say no” sometimes.

Dr. Miller: The unstructured schedule of my position can feel too unstructured at times. I sometimes worry I am not making efficient use of my time and it can be hard to figure out which paper/project to prioritize.

Dr. Winger: My biggest challenge, initially at least, was knowing how to best structure my days and put my time and energy on my own work. When I started this fellowship, it was the first time in 6 years that my schedule was almost entirely up to me. So it was a bit disorienting for the first year. I found myself spending too much time on things other than my own line of research and first-authored publications. I’ve grown in this area immensely. It helps to check in with myself every time I receive a request. I’ll ask myself questions like, how long will preparing for this talk take? Do I actually have time to review a manuscript this week?
 

Any advice for others?

Dr. Crimarco: Start the job search process early -a year ahead of your intended starting date. Search for Postdocs from a variety of websites (e.g., Academic Keys, the American Society of Nutrition, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Indeed.com). Practice some mock interviews with your professors and colleagues. Reach out to former postdocs for advice. Inquire about Postdocs or employment opportunities. If there is a particular professor whose research that you like, send them an email and introduce yourself. Truthfully a lot of postdoc opportunities are due to timing. Every once in a while it’s good to check in to see what type of grants have been awarded and what opportunities may come from these grants.

Dr. Miller: Define what you value in life, both career-wise and personally. Look for a postdoc position that will allow you to stay in line with those values (as much as possible) and maximize both.

Dr. Winger: I’d recommend finding a position where there are data available for you to analyze. I’m thankful to be in a lab with a long history of funded studies – with plenty of data for secondary analyses. A primary goal for research postdocs is to publish papers, so do your best to ensure that’s possible.