Postdoc Research Day 2020

Out first virtual Postdoc Research Day on September 24^th, 2020 was an outstanding success. 2020 was an extraordinary year, with a global pandemic from which we are still working towards finding “the new normal” and the nationwide social uprising that brought systemic racism and social inequalities to the forefront of our attention. But we used this day to celebrate endurance of our postdoc community and highlight the innovative and cutting-edge research carried out despite trying circumstances.

We started our half-day event with a timely talk from our key note speaker Dr. Akiko Iwasaki, Professor and HHMI Investigator at Yale School of Medicine, titled “Immune Response to SARS-CoV-2”. This was followed by an exceptional panel discussion focused on “Equality and Social Justice – what can Postdocs do” led by Irina Leonardi. The committed panelists Dr. Akiko Iwasaki, Dr. Marcus Lambert (Assistant Dean of the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences and Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine), Patricia Gonzales (Assistant Director for Multicultural Student Leadership and Empowerment at Cornell University), Dr. Sahar Jalal (postdoctoral fellow at the Dalio Institute for Cardiovascular Imaging and chair of the Anti-Discrimination Committee of the WCM PDA), and Dr. Joe C. Udeochu (postdoc at the Appel Alzheimer’s Disease Research Institute, active member of the Anti-discrimination Committee of the WCM PDA, and part of the Black in Neuro campaign) carried out an open discussion about the chronic racism in academia.

In the following two sessions WCM postdocs presented their own data in different presentation formats with topics ranging from corticospinal tract recovery to the role of circRNAs in HIV infections, showing the diversity of WCM research and the resilience and passion for science of our postdoc community.

We ended the day with a virtual networking session giving our postdocs the possibility to connect with faculty and each other followed by the award ceremony led by Dr. Les Krushel from the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs. Dr. Ankit Gilani and Dr. Sara Zaccara impressed the faculty judges with the outstanding presentations and were awarded with first and second price, respectively, while Dr. Silvia Pires excelled with her data blitz.

The success of our very first virtual PDRD was due to the hard work of the Postdoc Research Committee: Anna Schlusche, Melanie Balbach, Alice Giani, Irina Leonardi, Serena Lucotti, Heidi Meyer, Marie Parsons Divya Ramchandani, and Zhenhua Shen with the crucial help and support by Les Krushel from the Office for Postdoctoral Affairs and the commitment and overwhelming participation of our postdoc community.