PDA BIPOC Postdoc Alliance

Lights, Music, and the Mic! On November 16th, the BIPOC Postdoctoral Alliance hosted a musical night at K-Mix Karaoke in Durham! For the brave, we sung our hearts out to an endless list of classic tunes- from the States to Latin America and Asia- in the main room fully equipt with a massive flatscreen TV, banging speakers, party lights, a smoke machine, and dance floor!

Thank you for coming out UNC Postdocs! Have a hearty Thanksgiving <3

October was a busy month for our co-chairs, Phoebe and Jasmine, with a conference and birthday vacation- respectively. As such, our event was delayed to the first weekend in November. On November 2nd, the BIPOC Postdoc Alliance enjoyed a cool autumn evening at The McKee Farm. The farm, located just north of Hillsborough, has activities for all ages including a corn maze, hayride, barrel train ride, yard games, a pumpkin patch, cute animals, and seasonal ice cream!

Thank you, UNC postdocs, for coming out and enjoying classic autumn activities!

Thank you, UNC postdocs, faculty and staff, for attending our 2nd annual Unity Coffee Hour during National Postdoc Appreciation Week! We aim to host coffee breaks throughout the year to coincide with BIPOC heritage months including Hispanic Heritage Month in September, Black/African Heritage Month in February, and Asian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May.

Don’t worry we see you too Native American Heritage Month in November as well!

Guest faculty and staff: Essie Torres, PhD/MPH and Dara Wilson-Grant, MSEd (Office of Postdoctoral Affairs), Nikea Pittman, PhD (BCBP Department), Whitney Edwards, PhD (Cell Biology), Jose Rodriguez-Romaguera, PhD (Psychiatry), Carmen Samuel-Hodge, PhD/RD (Nutrition), Ben Chi, MD/MSC (Global Women’s Health), Reverend William Kearney (Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention), Ashalla Freeman, PhD (Director of Engagement and Student Success), Marcela Torres-Cervantes MEd (Latinx Center)

Sponsors: The Carolina Postdoctoral Program for Faculty Diversity and the UNC Peer Support Core

Special shout out to the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for use of their beautiful lobby and terrace spaces.

All UNC postdocs are welcome to our events, and this is a great opportunity to mingle with a diverse group of professionals here at UNC Chapel Hill ;)

(Current PDA Leadership Team)

UNC’s campus is bustling again with the return of the academic season and welcome back celebrations are well underway! The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs and the Postdoctoral Association are putting together a variety of events for National Postdoc Appreciation Week (NPAW)! This week long celebration of UNC Postdocs kicks off on Sunday, September 15th with our annual RTP area BBQ. The BIPOC-PA will host our 2nd annual Unity Coffee Hour event on Wednesday, September 18th! The OPA will release the final schedule soon. Once the NPAW webpage is live for registrations, I will add a link under the upcoming events tab. In the meantime, stay tuned for OPA’s newsletters :)

On July 21st, 2024 the BIPOC-PA met up at the North Carolina Museum of Art for their special program: Storytelling and Gallery Walk with Ryan Dial of the Lumbee Tribe of NC. Dressed in traditional clothing, Ryan first introduced himself in his native language. We immersed ourselves in traditional stories on the flute’s origin (with woodpeckers by the way in one story and to woo a woman in another), the Thunder Shaker instrument (from a thunder god), and the views of the Lumbee Tribe about their place in a harmonious world with nature. Afterwords, Ryan led a gallery walk through their temporary exhibit: To Take Shape and Meaning; Form and Design in Contemporary American Indian Art. Thank you for taking us on a journey of Native American history through traditional and contemporary art!

On June 8th, 2024 the BIPOC-PA hosted a bowling party at Bowlero Durham! From strikes, to spares, to gutter balls, a buffet of food and drinks, laughter and new friends- we had a great time!! Thank you for coming out!!! Until next time!! #UNCCH #NCCU #NCSU

On April 20th, 2024 the UNC BIPOC Postdoc Alliance partnered with local organizations to participate in the 3rd annual STEAM Unity Day event. Part of the Community 360 organization, this event is open to students in grades 3rd-12th. Director of UNC Post-baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP), Dr. LaKeya Hardy, PhD was the lead organizer as she is also a Co-Director of Science Outreach.

Dr. Hardy contacted UNC postdocs to lead 1-hour lessons tied to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math)- and we answered! This year there were 6 rooms: Archaeology (led by BIPOC co-chair Jasmine Edwards, PhD), Forensics (led by PDA co-chair Martha Johnson, PhD), Coding, Pharmacology (led by UNC alumni Zayna King, PhD), Poetry, and Crafts. A day full of excitement, the students participated in 3 lessons each, an icebreaker activity, a trivia game, and learned a TikTok dance!

A huge thank you to the UNC Peer Support Core for sponsoring supplies for the Archaeology lesson! Thank you to the volunteers from all over the area, committee chairs Dr. Hardy, Dr. Johnson, and Jessica Burroughs of Community 360, parents, and students for making STEAM Unity Day lit!

Until next year!!

Sponsors: Duke University School of Medicine and School of Engineering, UNC School of Medicine, UNC Peer Support Core, Society for Black Biomedical Scientists, Duke BioCore, Phorward and Black, Burroughs Wellcome Fund

On April 6th, 2024 the UNC Postdoctoral Association (PDA) participated in the annual UNC Science Expo. Two booths were set up for the public to enjoy. The BIPOC Postdoc Alliance organized two activities for event-goers: The Science of Skin Color and Minority Scientist You Should Know!

Participants learned about the skin cells responsible for skin tone called, melanocytes, how skin tone is influenced by environmental factors based on ancestral homelands, and biological factors that cause skin conditions such as Vitiligo, Albinism and freckles. Many enjoyed our competitive indigenous people matching game! We also discussed historical BIPOC people in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) including Gladys West, Mary G. Ross, Fred Begay, Edward Bouchet, John Herrington, Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski and more! Participants and volunteers enthusiastically learned about diverse people in STEAM.

Thank you to all the postdoc volunteers, donations received from FlyLeaf Books, and the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs for your support!

Interested in events like this and more? For upcoming events, check out UNC PDA’s Calendar: https://research.unc.edu/postdocs/calendar/ and the BIPOC PA webpage: https://research.unc.edu/pda/bipoc/. Join us every 2nd Thursday of the month at our monthly BIPOC-PA meetings. Email Jasmine_Edwards@med.unc.edu for the link.

On March 20th, 2024 the BIPOC-PA organized the Let’s Give Back event! BIPOC postdocs put together keepsake bags filled with supplies such as food, water, socks, feminine products and more for those in need around the Chapel Hill/Carborro Community. We are happy to help anyway we can and plan to organize more of these events in the future! If you are a postdoc and interested in community service, networking, and social outings- check out the BIPOC Postdoc Webpage and join us at our next event! https://research.unc.edu/pda/bipoc/

This month we highlight postdoctoral researcher Jasmine S Edwards, PhD for the exciting work she had the pleasure of doing in Zambia!! Dr. Edwards is deeply committed to the ZAPPS study, which focuses on preventing preterm birth and other adverse birth outcomes for African women.

The laboratory of Kristina De Paris, PhD (Microbiology and Immunology department) collaborates with the UNC Global Women’s Health program which established a pregnancy cohort in Lusaka, Zambia. Her research aims to investigate the impact of HIV and vaginal microbiota on the immunological environment at the maternal-fetal interface and subsequent birth outcomes, including term and preterm births.

Through this work, the lab in Zambia strives to capture dynamic “snapshots” of the maternal immunological environment during pregnancy using freshly collected clinical samples. Dr. Edwards spent a month at The University Teaching Hospital’s clinical laboratory optimizing protocols and training personnel to aid in data collection for her project and future projects for master students in Lusaka. Way to go Dr. Edwards!! ~Martha Johnson, PhD