I first got involved with Synapse in 2012 and served as EIC 2014-15. Synapse meant a lot to me in a time when I both needed a creative outlet and was figuring out what to do with my future outside of bench research. In 2014, the whole organization was on the chopping block, so I became EIC in 2014 to overhaul and save it.
In addition to the work of saving Synapse from the chopping block, which included a lot of rebranding and social media integration, we launched several new columns. I always felt really strongly about maintaining our humanity as researchers and clinicians. To that end, some columns I remember were "Life of a Grad Student," in which grad students in each year anonymously shared their honest experiences and challenges, and "Humans of UCSF," inspired by the popular Humans of New York. I also enjoyed working on the annual arts issue sharing creative works produced by the UCSF community.
The surprisingly entrepreneurial experience of being EIC during a transitional period prepared me for my first editorial job in tech after grad school, as well as now being a full-time self-employed writer.
Steven Chin was the managing editor before I became EIC, and he taught me a lot about journalism. Side note that as EIC, I worked really closely with a staff member, and now I'm spacing on her name, I have the worst memory for names [editor’s note: Jennifer Rosko], but she really kept me sane when I suddenly went from being an editor working closely with and guided by Steven to being thrust into being in charge of keeping everything afloat.
