The Health Psychologist

Society for Health Psychology

The Research Postdoc “Transition Phase”: From Terminal Degree to Developing a Research Identity

2024 Fall, The Health Psychologist, The voice of early career psychologists

Alaina L. Carr, PhD
Research Instructor
Danyel Smith, PhD
T32 Postdoctoral Fellow
Elham Mohebbi, DVM, MPH, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Brenna Mossman, PhD
T32 Postdoctoral Fellow
Katarina AuBuchon, PhD
T32 Postdoctoral Fellow
As new PhDs, we worked tirelessly for 5-7 years to get our terminal degrees, achieving each milestone required to graduate. However, life after graduation seemed difficult to grasp and actually plan. As we started our postdocs, we felt the scaffold of graduate school we were accustomed to fall from underneath us. We’re no longer working on our dissertations, and we’ve spent most of our lives in school, so now what? We discovered that neither our graduate nor postdoctoral training fully prepared us for this “transition phase.” Those first few months of our postdocs were an adjustment as we found our footing again. The following commentary gives voice to this “transition phase” from PhD to postdoc from the perspective of postdoctoral fellows in cancer population science that have been trained in a variety of disciplines. We offer some perspectives on how to use the transition as a time to shape your career.

Start Zooming Out. Your goal is no longer graduating and having a finished dissertation. It’s now defining the researcher you want to be and being able to communicate that effectively to others. There is a new – or if not new, then much stronger – emphasis on your research interests within the context of your more prominent career (think 5, 10 years from now) rather than on proximal milestones/projects as they come in the next 1-2 years. We offer some advice on how to effectively do this:

  • Write out a vision statement. What kind of research and/or teaching do you want to be a part of creating and contributing to the academic world? Consider the type of biography you want to have next to your name and the spark that keeps your research drive alive. Put this into a statement that can help guide your vision throughout the next 5, 10, and 20 years of your career.
  • The intentional “yes.” In graduate school, you may be happy to take on any available project in your lab, with less thought as to how it fits with your broader interests and ultimate career goals because there is an eagerness to learn. Now, you may need to be increasingly thoughtful of longer-term considerations and strategic about your projects. This can be a difficult shift because there are many interesting projects you may want to be involved in! It’s helpful to consider how the projects you come across fit into your vision statement.

More Than One Mentor. The training model in our program intentionally uses a dual-mentorship model, which is increasingly common in postdoctoral training programs. The transition to a postdoc position widened our conceptualizations of mentoring, teaching us that multiple mentors, both formal and informal, can help us shape our research identities. We went from having a formal graduate mentor to dual mentors in our research postdoctoral fellowship, and we learned that we can create additional mentoring relationships at varying levels of formality.  One mentor cannot meet all your professional needs, and forming multiple mentoring relationships can better address wide-ranging areas of continued professional development. Consider a network that includes:

  • Content mentors: These mentors guide your scientific and conceptual development. Meetings with these mentors are concrete and focus on the scientific concepts you are putting into your work.
  • Process mentors: These mentors guide you in academic and career development, but may not have the expertise in your scientific development. For example, this could be someone with the type of job you want, but they might be in a different area of expertise.
  • Peer mentor: These mentors have recently accomplished what you want to accomplish: insider knowledge. This could be someone who is a few years ahead of you career-wise or someone who recently received grant funding for a mechanism you are interested in. These mentors can help by providing peer support, encouragement, and resources.

The Infamous Imposter Syndrome. Even after graduate school, imposter syndrome loves to stick around. Moving from the “student” label to an early-career researcher can feel daunting. Recognizing and addressing feelings of self-doubt when starting a postdoc in a new environment will be critical to your success.

Think back to when you first started graduate school and consider how much growth you’ve had since finishing your terminal degree. The same level of growth will apply when beginning a postdoc; you are coming into this new position with a foundation of knowledge and will continue to learn and grow. Working in an interdisciplinary setting allowed us to accept that we may never be an expert in mouse models, which we are okay with as psychologists and epidemiologists. Recognize your strengths as a part of a web of knowledge you contribute to in your new institution.

Communicating Your Work to Different Healthcare Professionals. Working in interdisciplinary settings where you’re no longer surrounded by other psychologists requires knowing your audience and how best to communicate with them. For example, learn how to explain behavioral medicine or a behavioral intervention. In turn, you may need to learn more about other disciplines, theories, statistical techniques, etc., to work collaboratively and effectively communicate about your work.

  • Leverage your strengths from your terminal degree and training. You have valuable expertise that you can bring into your new position, including, for example, knowledge in a certain theory or methodology. Simultaneously, you may identify new soft and hard skills you need to acquire or strengthen in order to effectively communicate and apply this expertise, helping you to succeed in your research postdoc and prepare for your future career pathway.

Cultivate Connections (aka “Networking”). Embrace institutional events, ask a colleague to grab a coffee, and create your own connections. This article stemmed from a lunch among colleagues! We spent so much time our first year just connecting with people inside and outside our institution. We partnered with our mentors to make these connections meaningful and intentional, which led to mentors on career development awards and future project partnerships.

New Rhythms. Starting a new position means learning new rhythms and structures that work in your new work setting. What worked for you as a doctoral candidate…MAY NOT work for you as a postdoc. Fortify some key organizational and time management habits in order to stay above water as a postdoc, and be flexible about needing to learn new techniques.

Transitioning in Your Non-Professional Life. Depending on where you complete your postdoc, you may be transitioning to new environments both in and out of the workplace. If you moved from a smaller metropolitan area to a major city, adjusting to your new surroundings requires just as much attention as transitioning at work. It’s important to be gracious with yourself as you are learning a new area and culture both in and outside the office.

  • Consider how you may want to restructure your work-life relationship now, during this transition phase. It’s a great time to set boundaries in your time and consider how to make sure your work and life are in harmony for the long haul.

As you embark on this transition, it’s critical to celebrate the fact that you completed several years of schooling to be well-learned in a particular discipline. This postdoc is an opportunity for you to further refine your craft. Data indicates that only 2% of the world has earned a doctorate degree…and only 1.2% of the US population have PhD degrees. Please process this. You are rare! Be kind to yourself throughout this transition phase.