Staci Bilbo, Ph.D.
Dean's Award for Excellence in Mentoring
Haley Family Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
BIO
Staci D. Bilbo, Ph.D., is the Haley Family Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke. She received her B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1998, her M.A. from Johns Hopkins University in 2000, and her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 2003.
Bilbo began as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Colorado before joining Duke, where she was an assistant professor. She spent eight months as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Cambridge. From 2016 to 2019, Bilbo was Director of Research at the Lurie Center for Autism at the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children before rejoining Duke as a tenured associate professor.
Bilbo’s research focuses on microglia and exploring how immune activation during early brain development affects outcomes of neural function, immune function, mood, and cognition later in life. She integrates models of social and environmental factors that impact brain development, working to mitigate their effects through scholarship, education, and community engagement.
ON MENTORING
What do you think are the most important qualities of a good mentor for graduate students?
I think good listening skills and genuine curiosity about the young scholar sitting before you are very important. I also think modeling of the behavior you wish emulated is important, e.g. in solid work habits with clear expectations, but also in work-life balance and the recognition that there’s a whole person in there, alongside a scholar. I think it is critical to be vulnerable, and not pretend you know everything, but rather to approach mentoring as a journey you take together with the mentee.
How have you evolved as a mentor compared to when you first started mentoring?
(I hope!) I’ve evolved quite a bit. I mentioned vulnerability above. I started my lab with this misguided sense that I needed to have all the answers, to always be the expert. That made me a bit defensive and guarded when I inevitably did not have all the answers! I have relaxed into that acceptance now. I try to instill in my trainees the joy of the pursuit of knowledge, of the scientific process, more than anything, and while results are important - because we live in a system that employs metrics — it is not the most important thing.
Who are some good mentors you have had, and are there mentoring practices or traits from them that you have tried to incorporate into your own approach to mentoring?
I’ve had many wonderful mentors, including at the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels, and now, with colleagues and peers that I admire and respect. I observe people and take little bits to employ for myself all the time, to adapt and grow over time. I think we never outgrow the need for mentors. Perhaps the most important trait/philosophy is that of emphasizing the pure joy of discovery in your work and letting that guide you — I learned that from my graduate mentor.
IN THEIR WORDS
Excerpts from Bilbo’s nomination
“I always tell people I am in no rush to graduate because I cannot imagine a better place to do science, and I will be so sad to leave. One really nice thing is that I know I have a mentor for life. I have seen first-hand how Staci continues to be involved in her previous trainees’ lives and careers.”
“Dr. Staci Bilbo is the most outstanding mentor I have ever had. I will look to embody aspects of her leadership and this lab culture in every work environment I have moving forward.”
“Staci has embodied, to my eyes, the figure of relentlessness. The never-ending pursuit of knowledge without looking for immediate reward has featured all great scientists across different eras, and Staci, to me, is the epitome of that definition.”