Postdoctoral training serves as a valuable bridge between doctoral research and future career opportunities. The postdoc experience reinforces many of the skills learned in graduate school, such as technical writing and project management, while polishing expertise in a field of study or advancing cross-disciplinary connections. Often, postdoctoral research marks a defined transition from more individual, dissertation-focused projects to larger, multidisciplinary projects in which postdoctoral researchers collaborate with their peers in both leadership and supporting roles.

However, many postdocs do not receive adequate training in the skills necessary to perform collaborative research (1) or to make the transition to nonacademic positions (2). Furthermore, postdocs face intense pressure to be at their most productive during a brief, transitory, and often-isolating professional stage (3–5).

We believe postdoctoral consortia can help alleviate these challenges. These consortia—distributed collections of faculty researchers and postdoctoral scholars who prioritize professional development, career mentorship, and job placement while conducting research united in a common theme—can help to maximize the benefits of postdoc training periods while mitigating challenges, barriers to diversity, and disenchantment (6). Here, we present recommendations based on our experiences as part of a large, collaborative consortium, and we argue that more such arrangements are necessary. Federal funding agencies (e.g., NSF, NIH) would be wise to invest in, and institutional logistical support would allow for, the development of more interdisciplinary, cohort-based postdoctoral research programs moving forward.