Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Academic ethics of mental health: the national black postdocs framework for the addressment of support for undergraduate and graduate trainees

Neuropsychopharmacology volume 49, pages 637–639 (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

The past two decades have resulted in a greater appreciation of how lifestyle changes impact minority mental and biological health [1,2,3]. In the last 5 years, awareness of mental health issues among minorities in academia has been highlighted due to the political and national climate surrounding racial injustices [4, 5]. However, the periodic attention directed towards mental health problems in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) trainees lack sustainability, often centering around tragic losses within the scientific community. To effectively tackle these challenges, it is crucial to develop proactive solutions rather than relying solely on reactive measures.

As of August 2023, the NBPA ESP brings together 61 volunteered mentors to assist with psychosocial contextual events that trainees are experiencing. The NBPA ESP aims to assists trainees in overcoming challenges related to their work and personal environments that could prohibit their training and career progression.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: The road map to mental health equity for Black trainees used to establish the National Black Postdocs Association Emergency Support Program.

References

  1. Eleftheriades R, Fiala C, Pasic MD. The challenges and mental health issues of academic trainees. F1000Res. 2020;9:104.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Williams DR. Stress and the mental health of populations of color: advancing our understanding of race-related stressors. J Health Soc Behav. 2018;59:466–85.

    Article  ADS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Braveman P, Gottlieb L. The social determinants of health: it’s time to consider the causes of the causes. Public Health Rep. Wash DC 1974. 2014;129:19–31.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Arday J. No one can see me cry: understanding mental health issues for Black and minority ethnic staff in higher education. High Educ. 2022;83:79–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Jones HA, Perrin PB, Heller MB, Hailu S, Barnett C. Black psychology graduate students’ lives matter: Using informal mentoring to create an inclusive climate amidst national race-related events. Prof Psychol Res Pract. 2018;49:75–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Hayes CA. Black scientists are not the door to diversity. ACS Chem Neurosci. 2021;12:2256–60.

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. McGee EO. Interrogating structural racism in STEM higher education. Educ Res. 2020;49:633–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Maton KI, Hrabowski FA. Increasing the number of African American PhDs in the sciences and engineering a strengths-based approach. Am Psychol. 2004;59:547–56.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Hardeman K. Tired of persevering. Science. 2023;379:110–110.

    Article  ADS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Hobson JM, Moody MD, Sorge RE, Goodin BR. The neurobiology of social stress resulting from Racism: Implications for pain disparities among racialized minorities. Neurobiol Pain. 2022;12:100101.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Cellas A. Hayes

  2. School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Ponce Health Sciences University, Puerto Rico, USA

    Almarely L. Berrios-Negron

  3. Department of Biological Engineering Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Tigist Tamir

  4. Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Keisha N. Hardeman

  5. The Hypothalamic Research Center, Department of Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA

    Frankie D. Heyward

  6. Department of Neuroscience, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA

    Frankie D. Heyward

Authors
  1. Cellas A. Hayes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Almarely L. Berrios-Negron
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tigist Tamir
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Keisha N. Hardeman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Frankie D. Heyward
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

C.A.H.: Chair of ESP, envisioned complete pipeline to be implemented (mental health manual and support request), prepared original draft of manuscript, prepared original draft of figure, manuscript revisions, submitting manuscript to NPP Special Projects Team and journal correspondence; A.L.B.: Assistance in creating mental health manual, creating figure for manuscript, manuscript revisions; T.T.: Creating online portal for program, manuscript revisions/approval; K.N.H.: Advice on streamlining support request, manuscript revisions/approval; F.D.H.: Conceived of the ESP initiative, nominated CAH as ESP chair position, and developed and publicized the initial mentor registration sign-up survey.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Cellas A. Hayes or Frankie D. Heyward.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hayes, C.A., Berrios-Negron, A.L., Tamir, T. et al. Academic ethics of mental health: the national black postdocs framework for the addressment of support for undergraduate and graduate trainees. Neuropsychopharmacol. 49, 637–639 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-023-01787-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-023-01787-x

Search

Advanced search

Quick links