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Need advice - Biomedical postdoc

Hello everyone, I am a Postdoc in biomedical engineering, working on AI models for biological and clinical data. I did my PhD in Bioinformatics and a 1-year Postdoc (again Bioinformatics) in a prestigious university before joining my current position.

In my current postdoc, almost a year in, I’ve written 2 papers and a third paper is near completion. Additionally I teach lab practicals, prepare course materials, mentor students, and regularly update my progress with my PI (at least once a week). I have also helped with a grant application and some papers I am not directly involved with. I consider myself a fairly average postdoc and work about 50-60 hours a week.

My PI keeps telling me my performance in my current position is very poor and that I am in danger of termination. I’ve been told this 4 times over the past year. When I request help with understanding her expectations I am rebuffed and my PI becomes aggressive. It’s common for her to bang the table, question my credentials and use verbal put-downs like “are you kidding me! I feel like I’m dealing with a PhD student”. Lately I’ve been asked to take up non-urgent tasks on the weekend, and I also get berated on things I have no control over, such as the progress in a students project. (The project is something I help with but the direction and tasks are assigned by my PI). I am the only Postdoc in this lab and I am isolated from pretty much everyone. Attempts to reach out to other postdocs are thwarted by her (I was told to never collaborate with others but dedicate 100% of my time to producing papers) and she refuses to collaborate internally with other faculty. When I joined this lab the PI claimed she had a collaborator in a highly prestigious institution which turned out to be completely untrue - no meetings or projects ongoing with any collaborator.

Quitting is not an option for me, since I need to consider my child’s schooling and more importantly, the laws are skewed towards my employer. My employer may legally ‘fine’ me for up to 3 months of pay, which I can’t afford (I only got to know this law once I had been onboarded). I take records of all our interactions. I am trying to cultivate mental toughness so that her behavior does not get to me.

What should my output be in biomedical research as a postdoc, specifically in my field? I’m thinking that since I work overtime a lot during my weekends I might as well reach out to external faculty for guidance and work on a small paper of my own instead to prop up my record and get a letter of recommendation. Is this a good plan of action? Thanks in advance.
gpt
I am so sorry for your situation. Your PI is abusive and a bully. Regardless of your productivity nobody should be behaving that way. Does your institution have a postdoc office or an ombudsperson you can report your PI? If you are geographically stuck you could try to find a different lab. Some contracts do have a penalty clause for quitting too early but this should not count for such abusive environment that you've documented.

As for productivity, your output would be in an excellent range for a first year postdoc. It can increase in subsequent years depending on what you are doing ..