About our expert

Thalyana Stathis is the career advisor for postdocs and PhD students at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City. She supports hundreds of students and postdocs in each stage of their career planning, and she directs workshops for career exploration and navigating the job market for all academic and non-academic career paths.

Thalyana received her PhD from Yale University in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology.

Thalyana’s advice on your first or next postdoc

Make sure you know why you want to pursue a postdoc and how this is part of your career strategy.

In order to figure this out, know your values, strengths, and the career goals you have.

• Start your journey with a self-assessment, for instance with the help of myidp.sciencecareers.org.
• Explore your options – what can you do after a postdoc beyond academia? What institutes/labs are the best fit for your scientific interests? What resources will you have access to?
• When applying for a postdoc – be proactive and promote yourself! Do your homework and make sure you have a compelling application portfolio.
• Don’t be shy to ask for help from your current mentor to help connect you with faculty members at other institutions where you would like to do a postdoc.
• When interviewing for a postdoc position in a lab, make sure to speak with as many current and former lab members as possible to have a complete understanding of what it’s like to work in this particular lab.
• Utilize supportive networks during your postdoc – beyond the lab and research institutions.
• Prepare for your next career step after the postdoc in time.

You will find more details regarding these steps in Thalyana’s presentation:

Interested in pursuing a postdoc at MSKCC?

To learn more about the diverse laboratory specialties and to peruse currently open positions, please visit the Postdoctoral Opportunities page and the SKI Career portal, where you can also upload your CV to be contacted about future opportunities.

If you have any questions about how to apply to postdoc positions at MSK, how to contact faculty members you are interested in working with, or how to learn more information about different labs at MSK, please feel free to get in touch with Thalyana.