Mentorship

Postdocs are in a unique position where they are taking on more mentoring responsibility, while also entering into a more complex mentored experience. It is imperative to establish productive relationships with faculty mentors and mentees.

Postdocs and their primary faculty mentor should establish expectations from the outset and revisit them annually. We highly recommend that postdocs seek out at least 1 additional mentor to navigate your personal and professional development. A supportive environment is key to postdoctoral success.

The OPA offers a mentorship training program using an evidence-based curriculum developed by the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research and supported by the National Research Mentoring Network. This program helps postdocs navigate mentor-mentee relationships from both sides and provides a practical framework to develop their own mentoring philosophy.

Check the Events page for upcoming workshops
Mentor Training Satisfaction

Here are a few online resources that can help you establish productive mentoring relationships:

AAMC Postdoctoral Mentee-Mentor Compact
NPA Mentoring Plans
HHMI Making the Right Moves, Chapter 5
APA Introduction to Mentoring
For Faculty – Mentoring International Postdocs: Working Together to Advance Science and Careers from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

The 2020 Outstanding Faculty Mentor Awardee, Dr. Farshid Guilak, Professor, Orthopaedic Surgery and Director of Research for the Shriners Hospitals for Children receives congratulations from the postdocs who nominated him.

The 2020 Outstanding Postdoc Mentor or Teacher Awardee, Dr. Francisco Ramirez Victorino, Postdoc Research Associate, Rheumatology. He was nominated by many colleagues for his teaching, mentorship, and outstanding work for the WashU Postdoc Society and the Young Scientist Program.

Postdoc Mentorship Training April Session Discussion

The WashU Postdoc Society selects an Outstanding Faculty Mentor from postdoc nominations at the annual symposium every spring.

These faculty have been honored with this award 2005-2020:

Linda	Cottler	Professor, Psychiatry	2005
Robert	Mecham	Professor, Medicine, Cell Biology and Physiology	2006
Karen	O’Malley	Professor, Anatomy & Neurobiology	2007
Aaron	DiAntonio	Associate Professor, Developmental Biology	2008
Craig	Coopersmith	Associate Professor, Surgery	2009
Eric	Herzog	Associate Professor, Biology	2010
Tammie	Benzinger	Assistant Professor, Radiology	2011
Tiffany	Knight	Associate Professor, Biology	2012
Steven	Petersen	Professor, Neurology	2013
Robert	Schreiber	Professor, Pathology & Immunology	2014
Kelly	Monk	Assistant Professor, Developmental Biology	2015
Brian	Finck	Associate Professor, IM: Nutritional Science	2016
Clay	Semenkovich	Professor, Medicine, Cell Biology and Physiology	2017
Maria	Remedi	Assistant Professor, Medicine, Cell Biology and Physiology	2018
Robert	Gereau	Dr. Seymour and Rose T. Brown Professor, Anesthesiology WU Pain Center	2019
Farshid	Guilak	Professor, Orthopaedic Surgery and Director of Research for the Shriners Hospitals for Children	2020

The WashU Postdoc Society selects an Outstanding Postdoc Mentor or Teacher Award from postdoc nominations at the annual symposium every spring.

The postdoc honored with the award for 2020:

Max	Staller	Postdoc Research Associate, Genetics	2019
Francisco	Victorino	Postdoc Research Associate, Medicine – Rheumatology	2020