NPA Appoints International Committee Leaders

August 12, 2025

The National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) Board of Directors has appointed Yorgos Kepesidis, Ph.D., and Nabila Riaz, Ph.D., as International Committee vice chairs. They will join Elham Javed, Ph.D., in leadership duties. The International Committee serve as the public face of international postdoc issues for the NPA and are the primary resource and expert advisors for the NPA Board of Directors, staff, and committees.

Kepesidis is, since March 2023, a postdoctoral appointee in Sandia National Labs, Livermore, working for the Algae program of the lab. Kepesidis holds a bachelor's/master’s integrated degree in biology from the Department of Biological Applications and Technologies at the University of Ioannina, Greece. His passion for microorganisms and curiosity about photosynthesis and plants led him to pursue a doctorate in algal cellular biology, focusing on light-related responses in the model green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii at the University of Grenoble Alpes, France. Following the defense of his thesis, he worked as a research engineer in the microbiology-focused R&D department of the early-stage startup Genomines in Paris, France.

Concurrently, he serves as the social and networking chair for the California site of the Sandia Postdoctoral Development (SPD) Association, overseeing the social events of the lab’s postdoctoral community. He also co-organized the last two annual SPD mentorship Awards, recognizing and highlighting outstanding mentorship across the lab. Furthermore, he is among the organizers of the National Lab Postdoctoral Leadership (NLPL) meetings, which aim to foster the connection between the postdoctoral communities of the DOE-funded National Laboratories. His experience as a Greek citizen who has worked in three different countries, transitioning between both academic and industrial labs, along with his passion for postdoctoral advocacy, has led to his interest in the affairs of international postdocs and their support.

Riaz is a policy analyst and researcher specializing in workforce development, science policy, and equity in higher education. Originally from Pakistan, she earned her Bachelor of Science in biology from the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and her Master of Science in plant sciences from the University of Bonn, Germany. She later received her doctorate in biology from Dartmouth College. She is passionate about advancing equitable, evidence-based policies that support international postdocs and strengthen the U.S. research enterprise. She has worked with leading national science policy organizations, including the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), to champion early-career researchers and advance workforce development initiatives. At FASEB, she led policy initiatives impacting early-career researchers and international STEM scholars, spearheading a comprehensive international postdoc policy portfolio. She also partnered with the NPA’s Advocacy Committee, serving as FASEB’s liaison to the broader postdoctoral policy community.

In 2023, Riaz was selected as a National Academies Christine Mirzayan Science & Technology Policy Fellow, where she contributed to projects aimed at improving the representation, retention, and well-being of early-career scientists.She is excited to bring her expertise in science policy, higher education, and program management to support the NPA postdoctoral community and help cultivate a research environment where all scholars can thrive.