Please enter your votes for the NextGen Association for Postdocs and Graduate Students. Voting ends Monday, November 8, 2021 at 11:59 PM. You can vote for up to two (2) candidates.
As a reminder: The two highest-ranking candidates will be offered the co-chair positions; the remaining candidates will be offered vice-chair positions. Each position is to be held for a one-year term.
👉 CAST YOUR BALLOT HERE: https://forms.gle/eu42UpLfYjHRbH326
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions at traineeaffairs@broadinstitute.org.
Candidates
Lisa Cervia
Nasim Jamali
Harris Lazaris
Sean Moran
Sandeep Satapathy
Elena Torlai Triglia
Lisa Cervia
Hi fellow Broadies! I had the honor of serving as Vice Co-Chair of NextGen this year and Co-Chair the year before. I am a proud member of the Cancer Program at the Broad and am dedicated to connecting trainees (both PhDs and Postdocs) throughout programs at the Broad through NextGen. We worked on planning a lot of exciting things including seasonal socials, the trainee talks lunch seminar series, the re-launch of the Facing Forward faculty lunches, and the 2021 and 2019 Trainee Retreats. We adapted to the current climate and planned virtual events including team trivia, paint nights, and wine tastings to continue to keep our community connected. We are continuing to work on new initiatives including providing resources to prepare different career paths, creating opportunities for teaching and mentoring, and overall representing and strengthening the trainee community. Since beginning my postdoc, I have participated in multiple events hosted by NextGen. Among these great events and resources, the NextGen Retreat and the monthly meetings have stood out as experiences that have made me feel welcome at the Broad and provided me with a variety of settings to meet other Broadies! In the current climate, community is especially important and I’d like to continue to work on ways to grow our community. I’d be honored to serve as part of the NextGen council and to represent the trainee community. I look forward to meeting you and hearing new ideas and suggestions that you might have that I could help implement through NextGen!
Nasim Jamali
Hi wonderful Broad trainees,
I’m a third year postdoc in the Imaging Platform. I joined the NextGen Association during my first year at Broad, and introduced a new series (Non-academic Job Mock Interview) for trainees. This event series aims to introduce the non-academic opportunities in the life sciences and help trainees to practice the interview process.
We ran this very successful event series last year, and covered topics such as overview of Non-academic STEM career options, Networking & Informational Interviewing, Resume writing, and a Non-academic Panel Discussion. These workshops followed by an application process for mock non-academic positions and practicing the interview process. Even though the goal of this event series wasn’t to match trainees with positions, an interviewee was hired last year by their interviewer!
My past experiences from working in non-academic sectors and co-founding a non-profit trainee focused consulting group, to actively developing and planning workshops, retreats and meetings, gave me a better understanding of what additional skills trainees could gain to prepare for their next adventure (inside or outside of academia).
It has been an honor being part of the executive board of NextGen last year and working with Angela, her team and other board members. If elected as your NextGen Co-Chair, I am committed to hearing your suggestions, advocating on your behalf and planning events through NextGen.
Harris Lazaris
After serving for a year as vice-chair, I would be thrilled to serve the NextGen Association as a co-chair, as I firmly believe that there is potential to enhance its current activities and broaden its role in the following ways:
- As a person with a dual background in molecular and computational biology, I would like to help wet-lab postdocs get exposed to computational biology.
- I believe that postdocs who want to follow academic careers are not typically exposed to leadership opportunities, opportunities to train others, or formal training on how to run a lab (budget, leadership, management skills). Broad as an organization offers some opportunities in these areas and this could be extended to postdocs.
- Given the shrinking number of tenure-track positions, I would like to contribute to the efforts of the NextGen Association to inform postdoctoral scientists on what options they have in or outside academia.
- I would like to contribute to the efforts of the NextGen Association to promote diversity and inclusion. This is not limited to populations that are traditionally considered underrepresented in the sciences but also to other groups such as first-generation college graduates or talented individuals who have not had enough opportunities to work in scientifically stimulating environments such as the Broad Institute, the Whitehead Institute, and other world-class institutions in Kendall Square and the Greater Boston area.
- I aim to stimulate discussions and exchange ideas with postdoctoral-level scientists within and outside Broad on how to improve life quality, training, and job prospects for postdoctoral scientists. Some ideas include enhanced networking opportunities utilizing the Broad Alumni Network, access to resources for successful applications to academic and industry positions, better advertisement of resources available to trainees that would facilitate their participation in conferences, etc. Last but not least, I would like to help NextGen gain more visibility within Broad and elsewhere through Slack, social media, advertisement of relevant events, etc.
Sean Moran
Hello fellow Trainees! My name is Sean Moran and I am a 2nd year postdoc in the Pan lab working in the Stanley Center’s Therapeutics group and I am excited at the opportunity to continue to serve on the NextGen Association of Broad Trainees as a co-chair. For the last year, I have served as a Vice-Chair on the NextGen committee where I helped organize our recent NextGen Trainee Retreat, organized other events including a Trainee wine tasting and served on administrative panels to ensure that trainee voices were well-represented. While the pandemic has limited our ability to host large in-person events, I plan to work with our committee to expand our calendar of both in-person and virtual events so that trainees can network and have opportunities to meet more of the exceptional people here at the Broad Institute.
Interacting with NextGen is a great way to make sure your concerns are being heard by the administration so during the next year I plan to work with the committee to hold open trainee community events where your concerns can be voiced. I believe it is important to continue to solicit information from the Trainee community so we know how best to serve your needs and when necessary, amplify your concerns to the administration. However, until then, you are welcome to email me at any point with any concerns or ideas that you have that can make the trainee experience better.
In conclusion, I look forward to the opportunity to continue to serve trainees as I have in the past, and I will do my best to help each of you make the most of your Broad Experience. Until then, stay well!!
Sandeep Satapathy
“Leadership is not just a skill but an experience that introduces me to my strengths & weakness and motivates me to enhance my leadership skills.”
The above statement outlines my strong intent in pursuing leadership roles which has tremendously helped me to grow my interpersonal communication skills and tailored my abilities to take initiative and pursue new ideas and goals through various platforms. During my PhD, I furthered my leadership interests by being involved in multiple leadership roles such as “academic senate representative” (lobbying for uniformity in recording and access of students to recorded lectures), “student support-subcommittee member” (lobbying for the formation of a complaint redressal form for PhD students which involved a new idea of “unbiased and fair hearing of student voices), “university education committee international student representative” (focusing on introduction of additional language and teaching support material for international students), “ international postgraduate student mentor” ( mentoring for international UG and PG students for issues relating to study and living in Australia), “ Chair of the faculty equity, diversity and inclusion committee” ( most notable role where I started meaningful discussion on systemic racism in academia and its impact on students), “staff and student partnership committee” (lobbying for increased engagement and interaction between staff and students to improve the learning experience and outcomes for students)” and “international culture ambassador” (working to introduce different Asian culture to high school students from rural and suburban communities in Australia with an aim to promote cultural inclusiveness and tolerance towards diversity). Overall due to my involvement in multiple leadership roles I was awarded with UOWx award- an award that recognizes extraordinary students for their involvement in extracurricular activities.
Currently I am working as the co-chair of the outreach committee of the Harvard Medical Post-Doctoral Association (HMPA) for the year 2021-22. Finally, my experience of working at the Broad Institute has been phenomenally enriching, thanks to the wide supporting and networking programs available through peers, mentors, and supervisors. This has further strengthened my belief on the importance of a strong mentoring and support service for early career scientists including PhDs and Post-Docs in building a holistic scientific career! I aim to create programs that connect trainees to their peers for mentoring through “buddy support program”, career oriented seminars and workshops with focus on both industries and academia, and finally promoting “science communication”- an indispensable part of scientific research to make it more accessible to the wider community.
I look forward to your support for my candidature!
Elena Torlai Triglia
Hello Broad trainees!
I am a postdoc in the Bernstein and Regev labs and, in this last year, I had the pleasure to serve as a co-Chair of NextGen. During these hectic months of travel bans and always-changing policies, we advocated for improving the support of the trainee community by presenting the results of the last surveys (on trainees’ needs and on support from the HR and Immigration team) to Broad’s leadership, as well as organized a Trainee Retreat, Career Development events for Academic and Extra-Academic paths, as well as Facing Forward, a virtual series about the career of faculty members, and Social events. For the coming year, I am committed to continue to advocate for trainees’ needs and to organize Career Development events, including Panel Discussions and Networking events with Broad alumni, to learn more about their exciting paths after their time at Broad. I look forward to hearing your suggestions (directly, from town halls or from surveys), and to keep working with all of you to improve trainees’ experience at Broad.
NextGen Association 