Post-Doc Power at The Hormel Institute
Post-doctoral work provides further knowledge to the world of science as well as the scientists By The Hormel Institute If you visit The Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota, many of the scientists you see working hard in the labs are “post-docs.” Post-Doc is short for post-doctoral researcher or fellow, and describes a scientist who has earned his or her Doctor of Philosophy (or Ph.D.) degree. With that degree comes a requirement for additional training in a focused area of research — a required part of the education, same as residency training is required for new doctors upon graduation from medical school. In the case of The Hormel Institute, post-docs are training in areas of cancer research. The Hormel Institute is currently home to 60 post-docs, who work in this position an average of three to seven years — some longer. These post-docs eventually would like to lead their own lab and head their own research projects. Charles Day, Ph.D., is a post-doc in the Cellular Dynamics lab led by Dr. Edward “Ted” Hinchcliffe. Known internally as “Charlie,” Dr. Day recently organized The Hormel Institute Post-Doctoral Association in an effort to build community and culture among the young post docs. Why? Post docs work extremely hard and has a lot of pressure to conduct 22 | Austin Living | May-June 2020
“Charlie has shown real leadership in proposing and developing The Hormel Institute Post-doc Association. He is an outstanding young scientist, and his commitment to help mentor other post-docs, and to build community at the Institute speaks to character and integrity.” Dr. Ted Hinchcliffe
projects. It is easy to get wrapped up in the demands of their research projects and not connect with postdocs in other labs. One goal of the Post-Doctoral Associationis to get post-docs to interact more and through building community and relationships, achieve making their work at The Hormel Institute both more enjoyable and productive - they hope to facilitate a greater flow of scientific ideas and knowledge. A second goal of the Post-Doctoral Association is to provide career development training. The path from graduate student to heading an entire research section is a rigorous path and requires new skills such as grant writing, leadership and management. Dr. Day, in communicating with other post docs, observes there is little training in these important areas during graduate school. By providing seminars and learning from experts about these topics they hope to make it easier for HI post-docs to transition to the next stage of their careers. Dr. Day lives in Rochester with his wife and two children and has worked for the last five years in the Cellular Dynamics lab, led by Dr. Ted Hinchcliffe. We asked Dr. Day some questions about his research and time at The Hormel Institute.
