Yasmeen Saad

Microbiology and Immunology PhD candidate @Columbia_MI @ColumbiaMed | 🇪🇬 | She/her

[Darrion Nguyen @lab_shenanigans]

when i was your age, we didn’t have chat gpt, but we did have

[Andrew Akbashev @Andrew_Akbashev]

No reward - no duties.  75% of respondents have reduced the hours spent on academic duties since 2020 (Nature polls).

Mostly due to burnout and unwillingness to work for free.

This included attending conferences, peer reviewing manuscripts and grant proposals, committees, mentoring and even teaching.

Why?

Because scientists are tired of not being able to do #science.

- Students are tired of being unappreciated and overloaded

- Faculties are tired of “community duties” that become overwhelming (conferences, committees, reviewing, outreach, etc)

And everyone is tired of small salaries, zero empathy and little credit.

The problem is greatly summarized by Isabel Müller (in the article):

“There’s so little acknowledgement that people have difficult, complicated lives outside of work.”

A year ago, Nature described how PhD students don’t want to be postdocs and faculties are leaving academia. Now, we see that those who stayed are trying to resist the system from the inside.

But the problem is - the system is too rigid, too traditional and too elitist.

So, as a community, we can change it only by raising our voices and expressing distaste with the status quo. I applaud Nature for writing about these issues so regularly. The academic world has too many interdependent parts which should be addressed concurrently.

This is why we should stay united and strong as a community.

Regarding the academic environment we all hope to have, I loved how Isabel Müller put it in the article:

- I hope it becomes the new normal to say: “My life matters. My work is an important part, but I decide what my life looks like, not my employer”.

#AcademicTwitter #education

[Yasmeen Saad @yazocyte]

@Columbia_MI 2nd Year PhD Students :)

[Yasmeen Saad @yazocyte]

Thank you @Columbia_MI for hosting a wonderful departmental retreat this year!! #MIRetreat

[Columbia CMBS @ColumbiaCMBS]

Congratulations to CMBS student Samyukta Mallick and @Columbia_MI students Carly Lam and Maria Nunez for being awarded the prestigious @NSF #GRFP fellowship!! 🎉

[Chi-Min Ho @mimi1inh]

Excited to see this in print! Had fun with @leonie_anton & @davwcbb putting together this perspective on the impact of #cryoEM & #cryoET on #structural #parasitology of #malaria❄️🦠🔬

https://t.co/1P9LdOF8Mb @TrendsBiochem

[The Fidock Lab @fidocklab]

Our recent @ScienceTM paper on the new antimalarial candidate, MMV688533, was highlighted by @ColumbiaMed! The article features an interview with @MurithiJamesM as well! :-) Thanks to all involved!
https://t.co/LxqtHeJDdO

[Jeremy Faust MD MS (ER physician) @jeremyfaust]

That’s my third straight shift without a single Covid patient.

I ❤️ vaccines.

[Chi-Min Ho @mimi1inh]

Lots to celebrate in the @cmholab recently, starting with our very first #CRISPR'ed #malaria parasites, courtesy of @davwcbb!!! 🥳🦠🔬

[Joe Penney @joepenney]

Bay Ridge, Brooklyn #FreePalestine

[The Fidock Lab @fidocklab]

Delighted to have made the cover for the June 2021 @TrendsParasitol issue, which includes our review! (Artist: Hratch Arbach) :-)

[Yasmeen Saad @yazocyte]

I’m very excited to share that I will be attending Columbia University to pursue a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology this fall! This is a dream come true!!