National Postdoctoral Association
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The National Postdoctoral Association, commonly called "The NPA" is a non-profit organization that represents and provides voice to Postdoctoral Researcher (Postdocs) in the United States of America and Canada.
[edit] Founding Members
While officially NPA came into existence by January 2003, it was a meeting of minds during April 2002 that initiated the process of establishing a national organization for postdocs. The minds that gathered at Washington DC during April 2002 were:
- Orfeu M. Buxton, Ph.D., University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
- Karen Christopherson, Ph.D., Stanford Medical School, Stanford, California
- Raymond Clark, Ph.D.,University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California
- Carol L. Manahan, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
- Arti Patel, Ph.D., M.P.H.,National Cancer Institute/NIH, Bethesda, Maryland
- Avi Spier, Ph.D.,University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California
- Claudina Aleman Stevenson, Ph.D., National Cancer Institute/NIH, Bethesda, Maryland
[edit] Organization of NPA
In 2005, NPA received a 'Tax-Exempt' charitable organization status from the Internal Revenue Service based on it being incorporated as a non-profit professional society in the District of Columbia. Largely run by the voluntary efforts of its members, the activities of NPA are co-ordinated by a professional staff with an office in Washington, DC. After Alyson Reed was appointed as Executive Director during September 2003, the NPA has achieved new heights and increased visibility. [1]
[edit] Definition of Postdoc approved by NPA
A postdoctoral scholar (“postdoc”) is an individual holding a doctoral degree who is engaged in a temporary period of mentored research and/or scholarly training for the purpose of acquiring the professional skills needed to pursue a career path of his or her choosing. Postdoctoral appointees can pursue basic, clinical or translational projects so long as their primary effort is devoted toward their own scholarship. Postdocs are essential to the scholarly mission of the mentor and host institution, and thus are expected to have the freedom to publish the results of their scholarship. [2]
