National Jewish Among Best Places for Postdocs to Train

National Jewish Medical and Research Center has been named one of the best places in the nation to undertake postdoctoral training. The Scientist, a magazine of the life sciences, named National Jewish the sixth best place in the United States for "postdocs" to work, based on the results of a Web-based survey completed by more than 2,300 postdocs. This was the fifth annual survey by The Scientist and the first time National Jewish has been ranked. The results were published in the March 2007 issue of The Scientist.

"This recognition is a very gratifying indication that we are 'doing it right' in terms of training basic and clinical research fellows at National Jewish" said John Cambier, PhD, Chairman of the Immunology Department.

Posdoctoral researchers usually join an established research lab for a few years after earning their PhD's to get more training in a specific area before starting their own research laboratories. National Jewish employs about 90 postdocs in numerous research laboratories. 

The survey covered 11 topics in which respondents judged their respective institutions. National Jewish rated especially well in quality of training and mentoring, networking opportunities, benefits, family and personal life. National Jewish also rated at the top of the heap on laboratory- and colleague related factors.

"Postdocs understand they are free to navigate across [departmental] lines to get help in their research," John Cambier told The Scientist. "They can visit any lab for input, get a needed reagent, or get help in learning a technique. That's important."

"Here there are many of the country's top immunologists with which to interact, and they care deeply about student and postdoc education," said National Jewish postdoc Jenny Chain.