As a PhD student, I was the only black person in my program. It was hard. I was depressed. I felt out of place.🥺 Fast forward to today: I started a program at
@JohnsHopkinsSPH
to make sure URMs don’t experience this isolation. So excited to meet the students & PDs 😆
This morning I reflected on a time I came across a colleague’s personal statement with 2 paragraphs about how working with me was a contribution to DEI. My feelings are still hurt when I think about it, and it always makes me question who else sees me as a token.
Today I removed myself from authorship on an analysis I’ve been “working with” a clinician on for >2 years. Sometimes it’s best to just bow out, & here are some reasons why 🧵:
Dear co-authors: when you’re providing input, instead of writing a comment saying “you should add a sentence/info about XYZ” you can just ADD THE SENTENCE and track the changes! Thank you in advance.
#AcademicChatter
My student’s paper was just rejected because a reviewer couldn’t understand “why is chronic stress worse for one group (Black women) than other groups? Shouldn’t the magnitude of effect be the same if others experience stress?” 😒I’m tired.
PM me and I’ll tell you the journal.
Because it apparently needs to be said:
The first time you email someone, DO NOT address them by their first name. If they respond with an ending salutation using their first name only, that’s opening the door to refer to them as such.
I’ve gotten a lot of questions about what to include in DEI statements given my previous tweet. Here are my thoughts for people of various demographic identities 🧵🪡
@BrilliantBlkGrl
My dad was a high school principal. One time a girl pulled a blade, he walked over to the custodian, grabbed his broom, and whacked her with it. She fell down... fight was over
Random idea, and I would like your honest opinion: I’m thinking about inviting students (only those I actually “know”) who can’t go home for Thanksgiving to come spend it with me. I usually cook a lot…for just myself.
Would that be weird? Do you think they would come?
#blackhistoryfact
: Before destroying his legacy, Ben Carson was the first neurosurgeon to successfully separate conjoined twins attached at the head
@HopkinsMedicine
. Unfortunately, that’s not what he’ll be remembered for 🤦🏾♀️
When these things happen, it’s best to conserve your peace and research reputation, and just leave. Hopefully you can make the decision sooner than I did.
Any other examples of reasons to bow out?
1. Your “collaborator” doesn’t really want a collaboration. They just need your skill set (they don’t understand statistics) and want you to do the work.
Woke up this morning to a K01 NGA from NIEHS! When I started my position a little >1 year ago, my goal was “don’t make them regret hiring you”. Between this, a foundation pilot, 2 in-house pilots, and an NIA supplement, I’m officially overfunded!
As students are receiving acceptance, waitlist, “rejection” letters for PhD programs, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about “why,” and there are a LOT of background gears at play students don’t always know about. I’ll share some and invite
#AcademicChatter
to add to this:
Food insecurity is a real thing in grad school & I remember stalking events for a free meal. We haven’t been able to host events during the pandemic, so the first 10
@JohnsHopkinsSPH
students to meet me at Garden Plate get lunch on me.
Heard someone cite “Dickerson et al.” in presentation, and it took all of my self-control not to unmute or type in the chat “that’s me!!!” 🙋🏾♀️ It never gets old. I still love to see/hear it.
3. How will you CONTRIBUTE to DEI at your institution? Your being underrepresented should NOT be your only contribution. Clarence Thomas is underrepresented too.
Your seat at the table is likely the result of DEI efforts of people who came before you.
Unpopular opinion: virtual conferences are awful. Nobody wants to do a training session on how to use some company’s “virtual lobby”. Nobody wants to visit a virtual poster session. Just take a break and plan for a bigger, better conference next year.
#AcademicChatter
Call with my 79y/o dad in Montgomery, AL:
Me: Hey Daddy. What y’all doin?
Dad: Standing in this line to vote.
Me: Why didn’t you vote early?
Dad (yelling): Cause I marched and let them beat the hell out of my for THIS LINE!
*silence*
Dad: I put on my compression socks
#Vote2020
1. Write about how diversity has impacted your development and engagement with people.
How has it contributed to helping you recognize the bias around you and what have you done to mitigate the problems you see? Are you an ally or complicit?
Ex discussion pts:
-experiences interacting with multicultural pops (not specific people)
-thoughts on DEI issues & opportunities
-how you integrate DEI into pedagogy & scholarship
-how you support student groups & DEI initiatives
-How you plan to develop & engage further
An honest moment for students who rarely get to hear about faculty failure: this is an opportunity I really wanted. I waited yes for applications to open, applied, interviewed, & everybody I know got it BUT me. I’m happy for them, but also disappointed
When a student confides in you about their mentor’s abuse, the response should NEVER be “keep your head down so you can graduate.” Long gone are the days of allowing academic hazing. I won’t stand for it and I am coming for you!
Stop trying to force acronyms that don’t fit your study name!
“ACademics against Ridiculously lONg studY naMes” doesn’t spell ACRONYM
That’s not how you make a cool studY name. Stop it
#AcademicTwitter
2. Write about how you consider diversity in your teaching, mentorship, research, & service.
Do you discuss the issues of race as a social construct in research and the impacts of racism? Are you volunteering to mentor in DEI programs or do folks have to beg you to…and why?
Congratulations to Reviewer of the Year Aisha Dickerson!
@aisha_dickerson
is an epidemiologist and faculty member at
@JohnsHopkinsSPH
, justice warrior, diversity influencer, environmental researcher, and educator.
I just got the sweetest email from a young black epidemiologist I mentored when I was a postdoc & realized that sometimes all you need is one person to tell you how you made a positive impact on their lives to make everything all better 🥰
#BlackGirlMagic
#mentoring
I was only ever taught how to make sweet potato pies (plural). I do not know how to make just 1. No, nobody else is joining me for Thanksgiving. Yes, I can eat 3 pies by myself...especially when loneliness sets in
I just received an email asking if I can pick-up projects with notice that my long-time colleague Li-Ching Lee has passed away. She helped me with my dissertation and was always a patient and calm voice of reason. I’m overcome with sadness, and thus starts/ends this workday.
Last day in Europe, and I almost made it out of my hotel without a random American White woman asking my if I work here. When I made a face and said “no, why?” She angrily responded “I don’t live here. It had nothing to do with your color.”
#travelingwhileblack
Your perspective & experience are what you bring to the institution, so how will you use it? Do you keep your head down and go with the status quo or do you make your presence count (in a positive way)?
Y’all! The difference between working on papers with collaborators you like vs people you were voluntold to work with is amazing. You’d be surprised hope fast I can write 3 quality pages for somebody I like. It’s a difference of hours vs months!
It’s still application season so it’s not too late for this helpful tip: if you’re emailing a professor you’d like as an advisor…make sure to use that professor’s the name in the salutation (not the name of the last person you emailed).
Also, my prefix is not Mrs.
Note to Journals: if someone wants to hack into my reviewer acct & review the manuscripts you send, by all means, LET THEM DO IT! I’m tired of resetting my password or trying to make it “strong” enough. When I give up & you lose a reviewer, it’s your fault.
Still looking for an environmental Epi
#postdoc
around these parts. Requires a research doctorate (PhD, ScD) or a DrPH with substantial interest in research. Yes, I know everybody else is hiring for a postdoc, but will they also feed your soul? I will.
Back in 2019 (before I had a Twitter acct) I was hired at
@JohnsHopkinsSPH
. On Friday they finally threw a party for me……..& all the other people who were hired or promoted between 2019-2023 🤷🏾♀️
@DomoDTurner
When I’m not using that person’s title, I simply use their first AND last name. It’s really not that complicated. The same way you would start the email with “Dear [first and last name]” instead of “Hi [first name]”
It’s not that complicated.
I’m starting to question the utility of recommendation letters. They take so much time that people simply don’t have a lot of to construct 1-2 poetic pages of compliments about somebody. Can we shift to simple yes/no surveys instead? No extra text.
This picture at
#ISEE2023
represents the benefit of unofficial mentoring. In 2016 I asked Ken Olden if I could chat with him about his career path, told him one day I wanted to be like him (the boss), explained I was afraid to move to Boston for training, & he told me I had to go
#blackhistoryfact
: In addition to marching from Selma to Montgomery and giving rides during the Bus Boycott, Frederick Dickerson was the first black man to win a discrimination lawsuit against an AL school system in the AL Supreme Court. That's my daddy, and that was in the 90s!
Student: my paper was desk rejected, but the editor wants to forward it to their open access option.
Me: submit it somewhere else.
Can’t give a reason other than “we get a lot of submissions, but give me 💵 and we’ll see what we can do?” Nah playa
I hope I just reviewed my last PhD app for this cycle, so I would like to share some suggestions for future applicants:
1. Ask for a STRONG letter of support, & offer to draft it. (I had a referee submit the same 6-sentence letter for 2 separate students. He was a bad choice)
Jean was my very first student mentee as faculty…and now she’s going to get her PhD 🥹 She just sent me this picture while she was touring
@HarvardChanSPH
Side note: why is my picture scratched? I knew I should’ve taken it with me.
#academia
#phdlife
The desire to be likable is a struggle for women + the effort to not be perceived as “aggressive” is an added obstacle for Black women…but hear me well when I say this:
I’m almost 40, so IDC if you don’t like me. 🤷🏾♀️
Reading a student’s paper, had a question about the results, scrolled up to the very detailed methods and found the answer, then whispered to myself “I love her so much”
I had a smoothie with spinach picked from my garden, tea with mint from my garden, and will be having collard greens from my garden for lunch…and that’s when I realized I’ve become my parents.
When random stranger mouths “help me” from across the bar because a dude won’t go away, you get up & go hug her like you haven’t seen her in years.
#girlcode
5. Maturity: PhD programs can be taxing. If in your interview you don’t seem mature enough to handle set backs or difficult people/situations, we don’t want to be the people who break you, and we don’t want you to give up and lower the graduation rate. Go to the workforce first.
What did I do on this day off? Harvesting from my
#garden
. I got a whole pot full of collards, some broccoli, cherry tomatoes, and this massive zucchini…and only 8 🦟 bites.
Umm, I’m submitting an abstract for the
@ISEE_global
meeting, & although I can use 3 of the required salutations provided (Prof./Dr./Ms.), I would like to request that “Mx.” be added for our non-binary/gender-fluid students and non-academics, please. Thank you 😊
I was about to get excited about being so close to 3000 followers, then I combed through the list and blocked anybody referring to NFT or crypto…
Congratulations, you made it to the next round!
Just got my first batch of admissions review files for
@JohnsHopkinsEPI
. So excited to see the quality of applications given we’ve omitted the GRE this year! I believe these personal statements are going to be significantly more interesting this year.
I got to meet so many
#Students
I’ve only seen my via Zoom as they prepare for
#graduation2022
. This picture was at the
@AmericanHealth
dinner, but I think it captures the joy of meeting students in person for the 1st time…& the joy of my
#thrited
#vintage
culottes
I just realized I miss scientific meetings, even the ones where I had to “subtly” tell the speaker to stop talking. I miss hanging with my old colleagues, creating new collabs, the surprise of realizing someone I admire knows my name, bad coffee... all of it
#AcademicTwitter
Today
@JohnsHopkinsEPI
was dealt a heavy blow with the passing of
@LauraCamarat
.
I always looked forward to stopping by her office, & she was always happy to see me. We kept missing each other in the building, & now I’ll miss her forever 🥺This is the last pic she sent me.
I’ve been able to obtain funding for conference travel for several years now via travel awards, grants, & mentors…but being able to tell students I can fund their conference travel too just hits different 😆
Since I was a PhD student, I’ve been documenting my random research ideas. I looked at the list & cackled, b/c most are actually feasible now! They weren’t then due to funding/technology, but NOW they are.
Your ideas aren’t bad. Sometimes it’s just a matter of timing!
Yesterday I finally finished one of my papers. So you too can finish your papers! Be like me. Finish your papers.
…but also, I helped a lot of other people finished their papers this year instead of working on my own stuff. So maybe don’t be like me 🤔
#AcademicChatter