By Megan Bohn, Ph.D.
Over the summer, two postdoc alumni of NIAID’s Laboratory of Immune System Biology returned to NIH (virtually) to share how NIH career development resources shaped their careers. Federica La Russa, Ph.D., and Trisha Tucholski, Ph.D., served as speakers on the Science and Health Policy Alumni Panel organized by the NIH Science Policy Discussion Group (SPDG). Both former co-chairs of the SPDG, Drs. La Russa and Tucholski have now moved on to careers that were bolstered by their leadership experiences with the policy group.
“The greatest thing I learned from SPDG is that clearly communicating science is not only essential to support research but also, if not more, to nurture crucial changes in our society as a whole. This helped me to realize that I wanted to be part of that change, contributing to delivering relevant information to people outside of academia, may they be the general public or policymakers,” says Dr. La Russa, now a health communications scientist with a digital media brand in Italy. Dr. Tucholski, an Associate Program Officer with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, also adds that “through the planning of SPDG seminars and panels, I was exposed to the full spectrum of different careers in science policy, which helped me refine my interests and goals. Not to mention, I made key connections through SPDG, and most importantly, a support system and friends I'll carry with me throughout my career!”
About the Science Policy Discussion Group SPDG
The SPDG was first formed by NIH postdoctoral fellows in 2009 as a self-managed group of early-career scientists who wanted to explore science policy and develop their skills. Their blog, “Science Policy For All,” has been running for over a decade and provides many articles that break down a vast array of scientific ideas ranging from antibiotic resistance to stem cell technology and beyond. These blog posts also provide another key opportunity for SPDG fellows: the chance to demonstrate their writing abilities to potential employers, as all panelists at the summer event noted that this had aided their job searches and applications.
To learn more about SPDG or to speak with Drs. Tucholski and La Russa, please send an inquiry to NIAIDTraining@nih.gov.