The Postdoc Spotlight section features the monthly Postdoc to Postdoc (P2P) speaker. To be featured on the website and to volunteer to present at the P2P seminar series, please sign up here.   

This month’s speaker, Dr. Tiffany Katz is a postdoctoral associate in the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. She holds a Doctorate in Endocrinology and Animal Biosciences from Rutgers University, New Jersey. Dr. Katz is an author on many high-impact publications. In addition, she is also the recipient of awards such as the Minority Scholar in Cancer Research Travel Award and the highly competitive NIH Ruth Kirschstein Fellowship award. The UPPDA spoke with Dr. Katz about her research interests and future plans:

What field is your PhD in?

Endocrinology and Animal Biosciences focus on breast cancer risk and development.

During my Ph.D. studies I discovered that in utero exposure to alcohol lead to an increased risk of mammary tumors in the offspring during adulthood.  Since the increase in tumor susceptibility occurs later in life, months after the in utero exposure to alcohol, there must be a change that can persist long term in the mammary gland.  I believe that change occurs on an epigenetic level.  I decided to take on a postdoctoral position focusing on epigenetic regulation in breast cancer to further understand this phenomenon.

I’m currently studying pregnancy mediated breast cancer protection and how epigenetics plays a role.

Tell us about a great experience or opportunity you’ve had in the past year?

I had the opportunity to speak as a plenary speaker at the 20^th Annual Institute on Teaching and Mentoring in October of 2013, this led to great networking and interactions with truly fantastic people.

What do you hope the next step in your career path will be?

Win a K award and land a faculty tenure-track position running my own lab.

Veterinarian

Welcome to the UPPDA Executive Board for 2014!!

President:  Landon Locke

Career Development Committee Chair:  John Merriman

Advocacy Committee Chair: Natasha Baker

Communications and Networking Chair:  Aparna Rao

International Committee Chair:  Abu Gafar Hossion

Outreach Committee Chair:  Tiffany Katz

Upcoming Events

---

 

The UPPDA Executive Board 2013 (from L to R): Dr. Rachel Brower-Sinning, Dr. Aparna Rao, Dr. Natasha Baker, Dr. Landon Locke, Dr. Sundar Raman Subramanian and Dr. Tiffany Katz.

The UPPDA Mission

The mission of the University of Pittsburgh Postdoctoral Association (UPPDA) is to facilitate a more constructive and positive experience for postdoctoral professionals that will benefit the postdoctoral professionals and the University of Pittsburgh alike.

Data and Dine Symposium

Data & Dine is a scientific poster session and networking dinner for University of Pittsburgh postdoctoral associates and scholars to present their research to colleagues, faculty, and administrators.

Thank you all who attended the 7th Annual Data & Dine on May 16 2013, and congratulations to our travel award winners!  

Postdoc to Postdoc (P2P)

Formerly known as Postdoc Lunch Live! Sign up now to join the audience for the next event. We are also looking for presenters for upcoming months. Sign up here to present.

Get Involved!

The UPPDA is run entirely by volunteers, and while you may not be interested in serving on the Executive Board, there are many other smaller roles for which we need willing volunteers. A list of current projects is available.

UPPDA Facebook Group

In order to facilitate increased networking and communication among postdocs at Pitt, we have now created a group on Facebook. Create a free account on Facebook (if you don’t have one already), and check out our group here!

Please note:

UPPDA does not have a physical location. However, our temporary snail mail address is the Office of Academic Career Development as noted below.

Office of Academic Career Development, Health Sciences
301 Scaife Hall
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15261

Phone: 412-648-8486

Past Events

---

News