Postdoctoral Association’s Poster Day showcases wide-ranging research
Research on topics including menstrual period symptoms, psychological well-being and dementia incidence, and the environmental impact of mulch films used in farming, was on display at the Postdoctoral Association (PDA)’s Poster Day on April 21. The event marked a return to what had been an annual tradition prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Twenty-seven postdoctoral fellows, research associates, and students registered to share their posters in Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Kresge Cafeteria. Seven of the participants also presented their research during a series of Lightning Talks held in Kresge G-3 during the event.
At the closing award ceremony, PDA council president Jake Figi said, “It’s been wonderful to see such a wide range of exciting research and conversations across the School.” He noted that the PDA serves nearly 300 postdocs and research associates across the School through programming, networking and teaching opportunities, and advocacy.
Events like Poster Day that bring researchers together across disciplines are important because they can help spark innovation, Dean Andrea Baccarelli said in remarks during the ceremony. At the School, he said, “You have an opportunity to meet people whose work is different than what you do, to learn a different [scientific] language, to learn different methods, and to bring it back to your research.”
Four awardees were chosen by a panel of faculty and research scientist judges and presented by Xiang Meng, PDA Poster Day planning committee chair:
Best Lightning Talk: Tong Yang, postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Environmental Health, “Comparative analysis of the environmental impacts of biodegradable plastic mulch films and traditional mulch films”
Lightning Talk Runner-Up: Säde Stenlund, research associate in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, “Dimensions of psychological well-being and risk of developing dementia”
Best Poster: Carmela Pablo-Torres Jimenez, postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Environmental Health, “Dupilumab Enhances Regulatory T-Cell Responses During Omalizumab-Facilitated Multi-Allergen Oral Immunotherapy”
Poster Runner-Up: Chenshuang Li, postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Environmental Health, Exposome-Wide Association Study and Predictive Risk Score for incident Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias
In addition, a mentorship award was presented to Barbra Dickerman, assistant professor of global cancer prevention.
