Almost 300 postdoctoral scholars call UAB home, and we are excited to welcome you to the Blazer community! Across campus from the School of Engineering to the School of Nursing, scholars are engaged in creative research that promotes the greater global good. You can find them huddling over a microscope, boarding a plane headed to Argentina to attend a meeting by the International Society of Eye Research, or writing a children's book in Campbell Hall after RNA-sequencing. Their wide-ranging curiosity drives our Office of Postdoctoral Education (OPE) to support scholars with an array of resources and opportunities during their journeys here to professional and personal growth. This commitment to postdoctoral scholar success on and off campus stems from our office's inception. UAB's OPE was established in April 1999 as the nation's third university office devoted exclusively to supporting postdoctoral scholars during their training years. Two of their first initiatives involved establishing a base postdoctoral salary and benefits package for all scholars. Thus, you are joining a community that has a long history of advocating for postdocs. The office runs through the Graduate School and Global Affairs and is overseen by the Associate Dean for Research and Training. It works in tandem with the Postdoctoral Association and the Black Postdoctoral Association, two postdoctoral peer groups, and the Council on Postdoctoral Education, a committee of postdocs and faculty that counsels OPE on programming and policies that affect scholars.

We are dedicated to preparing postdoctoral scholars for their future careers in research, academia, public policy, education, and beyond. UAB, ranked in the top 4% among public universities for NIH awards as well as being recently named the first health promoting university in the U.S., offers an infrastructure that can support interests from medicine and public health to mathematics and the natural sciences.

If you are considering a postdoctoral position here at UAB or are already in residence, we welcome your suggestions and look forward to working with you. Our door in Lister Hill Library is always open. Stop by!

With warm regards,

Lisa M. Curtis, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Research and Training
Graduate School and Global Affairs