Dear UCSC postdocs,
I regret very much that I will not be joining you this week, due to an acute medical situation that will keep me in New York. I apologize for the cancellation on short notice. I’m especially sorry that I won’t get a chance to hear from you all about your research. Watching new ideas take off, and meeting the people who are generating them, is one of the best things in science.
You all invited me to talk about scientific leadership and about the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. I would value the chance to have that meeting with interested UCSC postdocs at a future date, and if you’re up for it I would love to spend a day with you all this summer. I’d particularly like to share some ideas about accelerating science, and I’d like to hear what you all think are the most important issues facing science (scientific and otherwise). I can also talk with you about leadership and my own experience. What I have to say isn’t that complicated. You can’t do everything at the same time, but there’s time to do many things over a career. There’s a time to focus on your own research, then on your role as a mentor, and then there are other possibilities. Whether you’re a postdoc doing experiments, or a lab head, or in a different role, you should always be asking yourself: what is the most important thing I could be doing? And, if I do this, will it be something better than it would have been otherwise?
And sometimes, it’s more important to care about the people in your life than about your work, and there’s time for that too. That’s where I am today. Apologies again.
Sincerely,
Cori