RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 A national professional development program fills mentoring gaps for postdoctoral researchers JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 2022.09.26.509546 DO 10.1101/2022.09.26.509546 A1 Ting Sun A1 Denise Drane A1 Richard McGee A1 Henry Campa III A1 Bennett B Goldberg A1 Sarah Chobot Hokanson YR 2022 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/10/02/2022.09.26.509546.abstract AB The Postdoc Academy: Succeeding as a Postdoc was designed to build postdocs’ skills in career transition, career planning, collaborative research, resilience, and self-reflection. This study examined self-reported changes in five skills as learners progressed through the course. Data were collected from participants who responded to both pre- and post-surveys and engaged with the course learning activities. Results from repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance revealed that all of the self-reported perceptions of skills improved significantly upon completion of the course. Hierarchical regressions revealed that underrepresented minority learners had greater gains in their development of skills in career planning, resilience, and self-reflection. Qualitative analysis of learners’ responses to learning activities found that postdocs perceived networking and mentor support as contributing factors to their skill advancement while tensions among multiple obligations and concerns of uncertainties were significant challenges to applying those skills.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.