Sister Scientists Club
The Sister Scientists Club (SSC) is a social group for all female postdoctoral, clinical, or visiting fellows or contractors, working at a similar level. The SSC is not currently associated with any other group, including NIH fellows committee (FelCom). The goals of SSC are to fellowship with other female postdoctoral fellows, which allows networking and sharing of knowledge with other postdoctoral fellows.
The group was developed, based on principles in the book, Every Other Thursday, written by Dr. Ellen Daniell, who originally created a support network to commiserate and strategize about the difficulties of being female in the still male-dominated world of science. Her group, and now the SSC, explores ways to navigate through such professional problems as time management, the challenges inherent in university/government structures (including the publish-or-perish edict), the hard road to tenure, and mentoring students. Issues outside their professional lives are also a very important part of the discussions.
Our group meets every other Thursday, or occasionally for happy hour in Bethesda. The meeting is a relaxed forum to discuss issues pertinent to female research scientists and research scientists in general. It gives everyone a chance to discuss interesting scientific articles in a casual atmosphere, a place to brainstorm about difficulties we may be having in our work, a place to obtain friendly, nonjudgmental feedback on posters and presentations, and finally a way to amplify our voice at the NIH by combining it with others who are taking this journey.
For more information contact:
Jodie Fleming ( flemingjo@mail.nih.gov ) or Cary Zink ( zinkc@mail.nih.gov )
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