Keith Micoli
Chair, National Postdoctoral Association Board of Directors
Postdoctoral Program Director, New York University School of Medicine
Keith Micoli is the 2014 chair of the Board of Directors of the National Postdoctoral Association. He served in the same role from 2004-2006, during which time the NPA transitioned from a special project of the American Association for the Advancement of Science into an independent 501(c) non-profit corporation.
Micoli received his bachelor’s degree from the New College of Florida and his doctorate in molecular and cellular pathology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He remained at UAB as a postdoc, then as an instructor in the pathology department. He also was an adjunct assistant professor of biology at Samford University.
In 2008, Micoli left academic research to become Postdoctoral Program Director at New York University’s School of Medicine. Since then, he has developed a number of formal programs to foster postdoc training, including courses in ethics, grantwriting, lab management and communication skills. He also has broadened his focus to include career development programs for graduate students. He organized a popular career discussion series featuring PhDs who have chosen a wide variety of careers talking about the transition and how to be competitive when opportunities present themselves. His biggest challenge has been organizing “What Can You Be with a PhD?,” a two-day career symposium that brings together over 100 speakers and 1300 graduate students and postdocs from New York City.
Micoli is the co-primary investigator on NIH’s newly-created Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training grant, awarded in September 2013. The goal of this five-year grant is to promote and foster diverse training opportunities for graduate students and postdocs, explicitly targeting careers beyond academic research. A key feature of NYU’s grant is partnering with employer organizations to deliver education and training necessary to create a more competitive future workforce.
His passion is encouraging postdocs and graduate students to take responsibility for their own success by providing the resources they need to develop their own careers.
