NPA Names Six Postdocs to Its 2027 IMPACT Fellowship Class
The National Postdoctoral Association has introduced the six early-career researchers of its Class of 2027 IMPACT Fellowship Program. The sixth cohort will go through a 16-month course of personal and professional development.
The National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) has introduced the six researchers who make up the Class of 2027 of its IMPACT Fellowship Program. The announcement was timed to precede National Postdoc Appreciation Week. This is the sixth cohort of the program, and its members come from different backgrounds and research fields. Over 16 months they will follow a course built around personal and professional development.
The six fellows and their institutions
- Jyotsna Godavarthi of UTHealth Houston;
- Alexandra Kuvaeva of SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University;
- Jaya Nepal of The Pennsylvania State University;
- Shefali Rai of the University of California San Diego;
- Shruti Tophkhane of the University of Minnesota;
- Yabo Vidogbena of the University of Pennsylvania.
How the program works
IMPACT was founded in 2021 for postdoctoral scholars from underrepresented communities. It gives them resources to build on the strengths they already have, learn new skills, form lasting professional networks, spot opportunities and plan their careers with more confidence. Applicants are chosen both because they have shown a need for such resources and because they show promise as future leaders; the work takes place in an intensive setting driven by the participants themselves.
A central part of the fellowship is an individual project that each fellow designs with the skills gained along the way. The projects are aimed at communities that matter to the fellow and are expected to bring benefits that last and can be repeated elsewhere. Examples cited by the association include science programs in urban K-12 schools and academic partnerships with Native American communities that advance the understanding of disease.
Thomas P. Kimbis, the association's executive director and chief executive officer, said he is struck every year by the calibre of the scholars who join, and that the new group is no exception. Andrea Pereyra, who chairs the NPA board of directors, described the program as a way to build critical skills and confidence in a new generation of leaders, in research and in society at large. The association thanked the program's sponsors, among them NYU Langone Health, Gallagher Insurance and the Dana Foundation, and said it is looking for additional ones. The NPA is a charitable and educational nonprofit headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland.