It is my great pleasure to once again take over as President of the UBC Postdoctoral Association (PDA). The previous executive has left the association in great shape, with our outgoing President, Dr. Kieran Hudson, having secured a greatly increased annual budget from the Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies and the Vice President, Academic. This will allow the association to continue to put on, and improve our various events and socials. Kieran’s leadership has greatly improved the association as a whole, and I am to continue on from where he has left off.

I have been involved in the executive since 2015, first on the executive team, then as the UBC PDA President during the 2016-2017 year. Over the past year, I once again served as a member of the PDA executive committee, helping to plan and execute our events. I also have tried to attend the PDA’s social events whenever possible, which has allowed me to meet many other postdocs from across campus. It is my hope that we will continue to see great turnouts at the 3 minute postdoc slam, research day, and all our other events.

On behalf of all UBC postdoctoral fellows, I would like to extend many thanks to the other outgoing PDA officers – Kieran Hudson (President), Mehrdad Bokharaei (VP Operations), Moe Elgendi (VP External), Ido Hatam (VP Communications),  Jürgen Niesser (VP Finance), and Jessica Bosch (VP Social). It has been an honour working with each of you over this past year. I’d also like to thank all the other members of the executive committee. Their input and assistance with putting on the PDA events was invaluable.

Now I would like to welcome our new officers! Andrew Hagner (Michael Smith Labs) will take over VP Operations, Fiona Zhang (Urologic Science) for VP External, Noriko Okamoto (Botany) for VP Communications, Chris Rider (Medicine) for VP Finance, and Ido Hatam (Chemical and Biological Engineering) for VP Social. I would also like to extend a big thank you to all those on the previous PDA executive team that have expressed interest in continuing to be involved in the PDA. I am excited to work with everyone, and I anticipate a fun, and productive year ahead!

Finally, I would like to invite and encourage all of you to join the PDA executive committee as a volunteer. Membership in the PDA is open to all UBC fellows and associates, and all members of the executive team are invited to attend the PDA officers’ meetings, share ideas, get involved in planning and organizing our events, and advocate for postdoctoral fellows and associates at UBC. Please contact us if you want to be involved!

Cheers,
Alexander Smith, PhD
President, UBC Postdoctoral Association

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