History of the NBPA
Prior to establishing the NBPA, Dr. Frankie Heyward, had a first-hand account of himself and other Black postdocs being inadvertently siloed within their respective institutions throughout the Harvard Medical School campus. He appreciated the need to establish an HMS-wide network to cultivate a sense of connectedness throughout the HMS Black research community, and to exchange information and opportunities that would enhance the social well-being, research advancement, and professional development of its members.
Dr. Frankie Heyward, President
Thus, in 2020, he led a team of Black postdocs at HMS in forming the Harvard Medical School Black Postdoctoral Association (HBPA). At the time, Stanford University had founded (2015) and established the first and only Black Postdoctoral Association.
Since Dr. Heyward was acutely aware that many Black postdocs did not have access to their own supportive networks, he set out to develop a virtual community for Black postdocs across the nation, many of whom he suspected were similarly experiencing unprecedented levels of isolation.
In late June 2020, Dr. Heyward selected Slack as a platform for this community, while creating various channels to serve as discrete safe spaces for building community, sharing information, providing peer support, and brainstorming grassroots diversity, equity, and inclusion projects. By early July, he invited every Black postdoc he knew via Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter (now X) to join and to bring a friend. Conversations in the “introduce yourself” channel demonstrated that many members were overjoyed by the existence of this unprecedented burgeoning digital community of Black postdocs that evolved into the NBPA.
The NBPA was officially incorporated and became a nonprofit organization in March 2021, with Dr. Heyward as Founding President. To date, Dr. Cynthia Tchio is the current NBPA Treasurer and Dr. Anthony Williams is the current NBPA Secretary.