Jennifer Aumiller and Catherine Brooks Zander

The National Postdoctoral Association’s Outreach Committee promotes the public image of the NPA. The Outreach Committee spreads awareness of the National Postdoc Appreciation Week, and during the rest of the year they support the social media presence of the NPA. Outreach could not accomplish this without volunteers, and there are a number of outstanding volunteers for the organization. Because of their remarkable excellence in service to the NPA, the Outreach Committee would like to highlight two volunteers, Thierry Dubroca, PhD and Asmaa Elkenawi, PhD.

Dubroca major leader in Outreach

Dubroca has been volunteering with the Outreach Committee for over three years and is one of the major leaders in the Outreach Committee’s National Postdoc Appreciation Week effort. In addition to his service with the Outreach Committee, he has been attending the Annual Meeting for several years and has presented twice.

Dubroca completed his doctorate degree at the University of Florida in materials science in 2007, followed by a postdoc in optical spectroscopy at Florida State University. During his postdoc he became the first president of the Florida State University postdoc association, and has been an invited speaker for postdoc workshops.

His postdoc position led to the development of a startup company. As CEO, he ran the company for a few years, and then sold the technology to a larger company. He is currently visiting research faculty at the National High Magnetic Field Lab. Here, he developed unique, state of the art instrumentation, which researchers from all over the world come to use. His current project aims to further the development of high-resolution high sensitivity nuclear magnetic resonance.

El-Kenawi has had multiple roles in the NPA

El-Kenawi was a recipient of a travel award to the 2016 NPA Annual Meeting. She has been an outstanding volunteer within the Outreach Committee since 2016, assisting with many projects throughout the year, including the National Postdoc Appreciation Week. She has also volunteered with NPA in other capacities, including being a member of the 2017 NPA Annual Meeting Committee. In that role, she helped in organizing the fundraising event and recruiting more members for the Outreach Committee.

El-Kenawi is an active user of social media where she promotes and advocates for diversity, early career researchers, and women in science. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Moffitt Cancer Center. She is an international scientist and the mother of two young boys.

El-Kenawi joined the local postdoctoral association council at Moffitt Cancer Center to support and advocate for diversity and work life balance. Her research aims to understand how tumor cells are shaping macrophage phenotypes with an emphasis on identifying novel pathways involved in therapeutic resistance in prostate cancer. Prior to her current experience, she received her PhD in pharmaceutical sciences (pharmacology) from Mansoura University, Egypt in 2011.

Outreach opportunities

Members of the Outreach Committee develop and implement marketing plans, cultivating relationships with news media and professional societies, and they work to expand member benefits through partnerships. As a direct result they also increase their own personal network, often with people who are valuable to know in furthering their own career. The Outreach Committee is always seeking outgoing and dependable individuals to increase the influence and visibility of the NPA – contact outreach@nationalpostdoc.org if you are interested in joining our group of outstanding volunteers!

Jennifer Aumiller, MEd, has worked as the director of Career and Professional Development and Office of Postdoctoral Scholars at the University of Maryland School of Medicine since 2013. She received her bachelor's degree from Northern Illinois University and her master's degree in higher education administration from the University of North Texas.

Catherine Brooks Zander, PhD, is a research fellow at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She received her doctorate degree from The State University of New York at Binghamton in chemistry.