Testimonials
My experiences, with Simon was tremendous. As someone whose graduate work was in Drosophila, I had a lot to learn about mouse genetics when I started in Simon's lab. Not only did I get that training, but I also had the advantage of a great mentor who helped give me a robust skill set that propelled my career and help me eventually establish my own lab. I enjoyed every aspect of my postdoc with Simon and would happily recommend his lab to others.
Michael Anderson, Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, The University of Iowa
My experience in the John Lab taught me how to think. Had I not been exposed to the high quality of science being done there, I would never have had the grounding or the confidence to try to understand the brain.
Joe Barter, Graduate Student, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University
One of the most powerful parts of working in the John Lab is the intensity of the immersion. It is a close group of post docs, and everyone is using similar tools and techniques. It is a small town and a tight community. That is definitely one of the program's strengths. It is a great opportunity to be in such a unique location for post doc training.
Simon was a great mentor. We spent a lot of time together in the lab as well as socially. We became close friends, often spending the weekends at his house in the winter or rock climbing in the summer.
There is a bottleneck for post docs finishing their training and competing for faculty positions. The post docs that Simon has trained have been successful in obtaining faculty positions. He trained us well as scientists and also included career mentorship, making sure we went to meetings and understood managerial issues. Simon shared with us the challenges he faced. This exposure made it easier to deal with issues in my own lab because I already had exposure to many of the problems that arise and how they can be managed.
Doug Gould, Professor & Director of Research, Departments of Ophthalmology & Anatomy, Institute of Human Genetics, University of San Francisco