Providing a setup and opportunities for better training of postdoctoral research fellows in an academic environment

Thousands of young researchers come from different parts of the world every year to take up postdoctoral (postdoc) research fellowship positions in the developed countries. In the US alone, there were 48,601 postdocs in the year 2005 working in different labs in the fields of science, health and engineering. Many pursue this option for lack of other alternatives. Expectedly, these individuals face a lot of difficulties in making this transition from being a student to becoming an employee of an institution. Many institutions are prepared to make this transition and period of stay easy for their fellows while others are not equipped at all. The presence of a postdoc office (established by an institution) or an association (formed by the fellows) can be of immense help to postdocs. Additionally, the availability of institutional professional development and leadership programs can also help to nurture and polish postdoc fellows into future faculty members and valuable members of the community at large. To name a few, these professional development programs can focus on communication and presentation skills, medical education, teaching and learning, bioethics and mentorship. There is an urgent need to address some or all of these issues so that better training environment and opportunities are available to this group of postdoc fellows.