VPA Resources

VPA Leadership

2025-2026 Executive Board

  • President: Ronald McMillan
  • Vice President: Heather Hartmann
  • Community Building Co-Chairs: Alicia Cronin & Milene Fontes
  • Postdoc Advocacy Co-Chairs: Hiren Dandia & Pooja Mina
  • Scholarly Advancement Co-Chairs: Ashima Chopra & Rachel Spicer
  • Career Development Co-Chairs: Mohd Khan & Charlotte Sappo

Previous Executive Boards

  • 2024-2025
    • President: Kanchana Devanathan
    • Vice President: Naome Mwesigwa
    • Community Building Co-Chairs: Ilkin Safa & Alicia Cronin
    • Postdoc Advocacy Co-Chairs: Yency Forero & Ismary Blanco
    • Scholarly Advancement Co-Chairs: Ashima Chopra & Mithun Nag
    • Career Development Co-Chairs: Taseer Ahmad & Kanchana Devanathan
  • 2023-2024
    • President: Tor Nasci
    • Vice President: Katie Young
    • Community Building Co-Chairs: Jayden Lee & Yasmina Mekki
    • Postdoc Advocacy Co-Chairs: Vanessa Cerda & Haya Hayek
    • Scholarly Advancement Co-Chairs: Madeline Searcy & Madushika Wimalarathne
    • Career Development Co-Chairs: Abdul-Musawwir All Oluwafuyi & Taseer Ahmad
  • 2022-2023
    • President: Daniel Fehrenbach
    • Vice President: Jeanne Ishimwe
    • Community Building Chairs: Kasey Schalich & Zhiyu Wan
    • Postdoc Advocacy Chairs: Saptarshi Chatterjee & Victoria Nasci & Kasey Schalich
    • Scholarly Advancement Chairs: Nestor de la Visitación Pastor & Markie Sneed
    • Career Development Chairs: Brandon Baer & Hani Chanbour
  • 2021-2022
    • Senior Co-Chair: Brianna Yamasaki
    • Junior Co-Chair: Daniel Fehrenbach
    • Treasurer: Markie Sneed
    • Secretary: Chitra Basu
    • Senior Advisor: Rei Ukita
    • Scholarly Learning Chair: Anirban Sengupta
    • Advocacy Chair: Shramana Ghosh
    • Social Activities and Community Buidling Chair: Kakali Ghoshal
    • Postdoc Advocacy Chair: Maxime Chevee
    • Communications Chair: Zhiyu Wan\
    • Community Outreach Chair: ReAnna Roby
  • 2020-2021
    • Senior Co-Chair: Jim Sears
    • Junior Co-Chair: Rei Ukita
    • Treasurer: Hiral Master
    • Secretary: Maxime Chevee
    • Scholarly Learning Chair: Mariya Kovaleva
    • Advocacy Chair: ReAnna Roby
    • Social Activities and Community Building Chair: Katelyn Poole
    • Postdoc Advocacy Chair: Fatemeh Adelnia
    • Communications Chair: Anirban Sengupta
    • Community Outreach Chair: Vacant
    • VPA Executive Partners: Neelima Wagley and Brianna Yamasaki

    Thanks also to Sam Centanni who, with Brianna Yamasaki and Neelima Wagley, inspired the creation of the "VPA Executive Partners" position.

  • 2019-2020
    • Senior Co-Chair: Cole Zmurchok
    • Junior Co-Chair: Mariya Kovaleva
    • Treasurer: Stella Child
    • Secretary: Rei Ukita
    • Scholarly Learning Chair: Carly Bess Williams
    • Advocacy Chair: ReAnna Roby and Susanne Seitz
    • Social Activities and Community Building Chair: Andrea Ruiz Alejos and Courtney Williams
    • Postdoc Advocacy Chair: Vacant
    • Communications Chair: Vacant
    • Community Outreach Chair: Jim Sears
  • 2018-2019
    • Senior Co-Chair: Ralph J. Hazlewood II
    • Junior Co-Chair: Geoffrey Li
    • Treasurer: Anel Jaramillo
    • Secretary: Monica L. Ridgeway
  • 2017-2018
    • Senior Co-Chair: Anneke Sanders
    • Junior Co-Chair: Chris Smith
    • Treasurer: Kathryn Trogden
    • Secretary: Monica L. Ridgeway

VPA Committees

There are four standing committees which exist to execute the 3 main functions of the VPA:

  1. Scholarly Learning
  2. Social Activities
  3. Postdoc Advocacy

The Standing Committees Are:

Committee on Scholarly Advancement – This committee is primarily responsible for organizing the annual VPA symposium. In addition to the annual symposium, this committee may also organize other invited talks, workshops, and seminars for the postdoc community.

Committee on Community Building – This committee is primarily responsible for planning, organizing, and implementing social-and-networking-focused initiatives and events for the postdoc community.

Committee on Postdoc Advocacy – This committee is primarily responsible for planning, organizing, and implementing advocacy-focused initiatives and events for the postdoc community. In addition, members of this committee, in partnership with the Executive Committee, will evaluate questions, concerns, and/or complaints brought forth by the postdoc community.

Committee on Career Development – This committee is primarily responsible for planning, organizing, and implementing professional-development-focused initiatives and events for the postdoc community.

If you are interested in joining any of these committees, please contact the Executive Committee at postdoc@vanderbilt.edu.

VPA Resources

Annual VPA Symposium

Learn more about our interdisciplinary one-day conference which highlights postdoctoral research, as well as, providing a venue for networking and professional development.

Learn more