The School of Medicine Office of Postdoctoral Education is co-sponsoring an intensive two day seminar to help post-doctoral scholars and junior faculty build leadership and management skills. Modeled after the "Course in Scientific Management" developed by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the Scientific Leadership and Laboratory Management Course will cover:

• An assessment of leadership style
• Understanding university structure and the tenure process
• Advice on staffing, developing budgets, and time management
  

Keith Yamamoto, Executive Vice Dean of the School of Medicine, will give the keynote address and considers the course to be "one important component of a menu of activities and services being established at UCSF to help foster the independence of postdoctoral scientists. This course will confront directly some crucial aspects of the postdoc to junior faculty transition."

The deadline to register for the Scientific Leadership & Laboratory Management Course is November 4, 2005. Limited scholarships are available for postdoctoral fellows.

Additional information about the course can be found on the Office Of Postdoctoral Education's new website, which also features information about courses and a fellowship program that are being developed to better prepare post-docs for careers as successful independent scientists.

Samara Reck-Peterson, Director of Postdoctoral Education, describes the program as "providing tools and resources to help UCSF postdocs develop the skills needed to launch independent research programs in both academia and industry."

Currently, a curriculum is being developed that will include, in addition to the course on scientific leadership and laboratory management skills, training on emerging techniques in the biomedical sciences, and courses designed to foster translational research driven by postdoctoral scholars.

The Office of Postdoctoral Education will also be awarding research fellowships to support creative postdoctoral fellow-driven research, as well as a prize, the Dean's Postdoctoral Prize Lecture, to recognize the outstanding creativity and independence of one UCSF postdoctoral fellow each year.

For more information about the program, contact the Director of Postdoctoral Education, Samara Reck-Peterson, Ph.D.