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 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 2005-2019:
| 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 |
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 2019:
| Max | Staller | Postdoc Research Associate, Genetics | 2019 |