Mentoring Mosaic

Overview

Postdoc Mentoring Mosaic is an institution-wide mentoring program designed to complement mentoring by primary advisors by connecting postdoctoral scholars with a broader network of mentors. Through peer-to-peer and faculty mentoring opportunities, the program supports postdocs in navigating career pathways, professional development, and the transition to their next career stage.

Purpose

The purpose of Postdoc Mentoring Mosaic is to provide postdoctoral scholars with access to multiple mentoring perspectives beyond their primary advisor. By engaging with experienced peers and faculty mentors across the institution, postdocs gain guidance, insight, broad perspectives, and support tailored to their individual career goals.

Goals

Postdoc Mentoring Mosaic aims to:

  • Expand access to mentoring beyond the primary research advisor
  • Support postdoctoral scholars’ career exploration and professional development
  • Foster a sense of community and peer support among postdocs
  • Encourage cross-disciplinary mentoring relationships across the institution
  • Promote informed and intentional career decision-making

Eligibility

The program is open to all postdoctoral scholars at the University of New Mexico. Faculty mentors from all departments and disciplines, at any level, are invited to serve; PhD-holding staff are also welcome. If you are interested in volunteering, please email raqthomas@unm.edu.

Structure

Postdoc Mentoring Mosaic includes four components:

  1. Faculty Mentoring: In addition to the postdoc’s relationship with their primary advisor faculty mentors are available to support the scholars in areas such as career planning, professional growth, research/teaching, and long-term goals in a confidential and supportive setting. Scholars are able to contact faculty mentors from a list that includes the mentors’ strengths and ask for assistance in these specific areas. The intensity of the mentoring is decided by the mentor and mentee, ranging from a brief question answered by email to a long-term mentoring relationship.
  2. Peer Mentoring: Experienced postdoc volunteers (must be at UNM for no less than six months) are available to provide guidance on navigating the institution, managing postdoctoral responsibilities, and exploring career development opportunities. Similar to faculty mentors, mentees are able to contact mentors based on a list including the mentors’ strengths and the intensity of the mentoring can vary depending on what is most desirable for both parties.
  3. Individual Development Plans (IDPs): Individual Development Plans provide a structured approach to identifying career goals and plans to attain them and are most effective when discussed with a mentor. Many graduate and postdoctoral programs require their trainees to complete and regularly update IDPs. Additionally, the NSF and NIH both require postdocs who receive funding to complete an IDP annually.1,2
  4. Workshops: Additional program activities may include mentoring conversations, workshops, and panel discussions focused on career exploration and professional skill development. Workshops will be presented by peer and faculty mentors on professional development topics about which they are particularly passionate and/or skilled.

 References

  1. National Science Foundation. Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 24-1) Chapter VII.B.7. https://www.nsf.gov/policies/pappg/24-1 accessed 7/24/26
  2. National Institutes of Health. Revised Policy: Descriptions on the Use of Individual Development Plans (IDPs) for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Researchers Required in Annual Progress Reports beginning October 1, 2014. https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not-od-14-113.html accessed 7/24/26

 

MENTORS (please cc raqthomas@unm.edu on your initial email to any mentor)

Bryce Chackerian, Professor, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology

BChackerian@salud.unm.edu

Years at UNM: 22

Strengths: I think that I'm best suited for helping post-docs interested in careers in academia (i.e. research/teaching), but many of my mentees have also worked in industry/government.

Bio: I am an immunology/virologist who is interested in vaccine development.  I came to UNM after training at the University of Washington and the National Institutes of Health.  At UNM, my lab has focused on developing vaccines for infectious and chronic disease, but I also extensive mentoring experience with graduate students, post-docs, and junior faculty members.  I currently serve as the Director for Post-doctoral Affairs at the Health Sciences Center.

 

Dr. Nikki Maphis, Senior Scientist, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology

NMaphis@salud.unm.edu

Years at UNM: 14

Strengths: Work/Life Balance, NIH grant writing across different funding opportunities, translational and regulatory science pathways, manuscript writing and revisions, reproducible data analysis, stats, IP and tech transfer, navigating academic/industry careers, Job Applications, and domain mentorship in neuroscience and neuroinflammation research.

Bio: Hi, I'm Dr. Nikki Maphis, a senior scientist interested in the brain and Alzheimer's disease. I've been at UNM since 2012 and have held many roles and responsibilities over that time. I was the lab manager for a lab I started in 2012 until I started graduate school in 2016. I finished my PhD in May 2021 and shortly thereafter started my postdoctoral fellowship sponsored by the ASERT/IRACDA program (a training program meant to offer experience with undergraduate science pedagogy and experience teaching at an undergraduate institution) in the department of Neurosciences at UNM. From 2021-2024 I helped found the Postdoctoral association (and write it's charter), complete my education experience at CNM, planned and hosted a national meeting for IRACDA, Hosted multiple PDA events, travelled to my first international meeting, and wrote and published 2 manuscripts and one book chapter exploring alcohol's impacts on Alzheimer's disease. In 2024, I was supported on a different postdoctoral fellowship focused on clinical psychology with a focus on alcohol use disorder and was exposed to different researchers working alongside human patients. In 2025, I completed a second technical postdoc in a different lab in the department of Neurosciences exploring how the integrated stress response impacts memory formation. I was recently promoted in June 2026 to the role of senior scientist where I will be instrumental in launching a clinical trial aimed at testing the safety and efficacy of my vaccine in human patients! This will be the first drug developed at UNM (see my graduate work) and tested at UNM in a clinical phase 1a trials.

I swear I also have hobbies: my dogs, traveling to all the random places in New Mexico, camping, hiking, and seeing live music, especially Death Cab for Cutie, the Decemberists, and EDM artists like Ben Bohmer and Rufus du Sol.

 

Eric Bartee, Professor, Internal Medicine

EBartee@salud.unm.edu

Years at UNM: 6

Strengths: Teaching, research, grantsmanship, project development

Bio: I obtained my PhD from Oregon health and sciences university in the general area of cell biology. I subsequently did a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Florida working in the area of molecular poxvirology using he model leporipoxvirus myxoma.

Currently, my long-term expertise involves the study of virus-host interactions with particular interest paid to how these interactions can be used to improve therapy for cancer patients, a field known as oncolytic virotherapy. In the initial steps of oncolytic therapy, a patient is intentionally infected with a virus which preferentially infects and kills cancer cells. Newly replicated virus subsequently spreads to adjoining cancer cells where the process repeats resulting in a tumor localized cascade of viral infection. This process, known as direct oncolytics, causes the elimination of virtually all directly infected cancer cells resulting in a swift reduction in tumor size. During this process, oncolytic viral infection also induces localized inflammation and the recruitment of an adaptive T cell response. While this T cell response is initially generated to combat the viral infection, once begun, tumor infiltrating T cells also respond to non-viral peptides within the tumor, including tumor specific antigens, through the process of epitope spreading. This results in the generation of not only a primary anti-viral immune response, but also a secondary immune response against the tumor itself. The generation and propagation of this anti-tumor immune response, a process known as oncolytic immunotherapy, can have powerful clinical benefits including the complete eradication of both local and metastatic disease.

Unfortunately, while these treatments show significant promise in preclinical trials, they are often not curative, necessitating that methods be identified to improve the clinical potential of this agent. To this end, our lab is currently working on projects designed to: understand the basic biology of myxoma virus and improve its oncolytic potential in order to initiate first in man clinical studies.

 

Sumira Phatak, IRACDA fellow, PharmSci

SPhatak@salud.unm.edu

Years at UNM: 2.5

Strengths: teaching, professional development, SciComm

Bio: Sumira Phatak pursued a doctorate in toxicology at Utah State University; the focal point of her dissertation was to understand the transgenerational impact of the Western dietary pattern on colorectal cancer, the epigenome, and microbiome. Other work included investigating dietary interventions with functional foods or micronutrients and evaluating the fermentation potential of whole food powders with probiotics. She then screened proposed environmental obesogens during a postdoctorate at the University of California at Irvine, followed by a regulatory toxicologist role in nutraceuticals. Sumira returned to academia as an IRACDA Fellow in the Campen Laboratory where she is aligned with the group’s mission to investigate the impact of common environmental insults on health and aging. Her 25% teaching appointment is completed at NMSU and SIPI, in addition to an assortment of community outreach and engagement events. Having an appetite for adventure, she also an avid outdoor enthusiast, experimental foodie, and aspiring artisan.

 

Ruben Trujillo, ASERT-IRACDA Postdoc Fellow, Chemical and Biological Engineering

RTrujillo9@salud.unm.edu

Years at UNM: 1.5

Strengths: Teaching (especially strong/passionate), mental health, interpersonal skills

Bio: I graduated with my B.S. in Chemical Engineering from UNM in 2019, my PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Cornell in 2024, and have been a postdoc at UNM since April of 2025. I currently study acoustophoresis, which is a fancy way of saying I manipulate particles using acoustic waves. I have learned first-hand how important having great mentors and a support group are to success, and I want to give back any way that I can. I am always happy to chat about literally anything and everything, so feel free to reach out!