Your training at Fox Chase Cancer Center doesn’t begin and end in your lab. During your time as a trainee, it is important build your personal and professional communities by getting involved and availing yourself of what the Cancer Center, Academic Affairs, and the city of Philadelphia has to offer.
Some of the ways to get connected with the training community include meeting the Postdoc Welcoming Committee, joining a Chat and Chew session with members of the Office of Academic Affairs, attending the information meetings, joining the Postdoctoral Association, and participating in the many social and team-building events.
PD welcoming committee
Upon joining the training community, each new postdoctoral fellow meets with the Postdoc Welcoming Committee, a group of junior and senior postdocs devoted to delivering important information and providing a friendly face for newcomers.
Chat and Chew
To ensure Academic Affairs is responsive to the needs of our trainees, we hold monthly Chat and Chew meetings with small groups of trainees to discuss ways to improve the trainee experience and facilitate introductions amongst newly arrived and more senior trainees.
Info meetings
Twice a year, the Director of Academic Affairs and the Director of the Graduate Student and Postdoc Program meet with all the Center’s research trainees to discuss updates to the training program, training and career development opportunities in the coming year, and to introduce new trainees to the community.
Postdoctoral Association
The Fox Chase Postdoctoral Association, formed in 1998, consists of postdoctoral trainees and graduate students. Our role is to make the postdoctoral experience at Fox Chase as rewarding as possible, both inside and outside of the laboratory. Postdoctoral trainees at the Center do this through their daily contacts with each other, and many participate regularly in informal social and sporting activities.
In a more formal context, members of the association are involved in organizing the events, with the aim of providing additional opportunities for postdocs to present their work, meet with visiting scientists and help with career choices.
Fun Stuff
To build a sense of community amongst our diverse trainee population, Academic Affairs organizes monthly social events to help trainees expand their networks, unwind and de-stress out of the lab, and get to know other postdocs and graduate students at the Center. Attention is paid to ensuring there are a variety of activities to suit trainees schedule, family obligations, and interests. Although the activities vary from year to year, recent events including a hiking trip to the Pocono Mountains, axe throwing, laser tag competitions, a cricket match, a biannual scavenger hunt, a potluck picnic, holiday parties, and happy hours at a local pub.