NIH Postdoc Experience

I really enjoyed the article by Ramie Leibnitz entitled "The NIH Postdoc Experience."1 It was an entertaining and enlightening piece with a serious overtone: that women, despite similar age and number of years post-Ph.D., earn approximately $1,000 less per year than men as postdocs at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Although Dr. Leibnitz itemized what did NOT account for this (e.g., numbers of publications), she did not offer any explanations for this disturbing difference. If true, th

Written byHershel Raff
| 1 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
1:00
Share

I really enjoyed the article by Ramie Leibnitz entitled "The NIH Postdoc Experience."1 It was an entertaining and enlightening piece with a serious overtone: that women, despite similar age and number of years post-Ph.D., earn approximately $1,000 less per year than men as postdocs at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Although Dr. Leibnitz itemized what did NOT account for this (e.g., numbers of publications), she did not offer any explanations for this disturbing difference. If true, this represents our government "getting away" with gender discrimination. Are the salaries at NIH that negotiable? It seems that there should be a straightforward pay scale based on experience that should eliminate any gender bias.

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

Published In

Share
February 2026

A Stubborn Gene, a Failed Experiment, and a New Path

When experiments refuse to cooperate, you try again and again. For Rafael Najmanovich, the setbacks ultimately pushed him in a new direction.

View this Issue
Human-Relevant In Vitro Models Enable Predictive Drug Discovery

Advancing Drug Discovery with Complex Human In Vitro Models

Stemcell Technologies
Redefining Immunology Through Advanced Technologies

Redefining Immunology Through Advanced Technologies

Ensuring Regulatory Compliance in AAV Manufacturing with Analytical Ultracentrifugation

Ensuring Regulatory Compliance in AAV Manufacturing with Analytical Ultracentrifugation

Beckman Coulter Logo
Conceptual multicolored vector image of cancer research, depicting various biomedical approaches to cancer therapy

Maximizing Cancer Research Model Systems

bioxcell

Products

Sino Biological Logo

Sino Biological Pioneers Life Sciences Innovation with High-Quality Bioreagents on Inside Business Today with Bill and Guiliana Rancic

Sino Biological Logo

Sino Biological Expands Research Reagent Portfolio to Support Global Nipah Virus Vaccine and Diagnostic Development

Beckman Coulter

Beckman Coulter Life Sciences Partners with Automata to Accelerate AI-Ready Laboratory Automation

Refeyn logo

Refeyn named in the Sunday Times 100 Tech list of the UK’s fastest-growing technology companies