Trainee mentorship as immortality

Suzanne Barbour found her first science mentor in her grandfather, a lab technician. As a child, she stood beside him in his chemistry lab and watched him work, increasing her desire to become a scientist like him.

Suzanne Barbour

“If I hadn’t had my grandfather, I wouldn’t be talking to you today,” Barbour said.

As an undergraduate at Rutgers University, Barbour said she often felt like “a number more than a name.” Yet, a few professors stood out, providing mentorship and shaping her education in a way that made a difference.

“I want to make sure that there are people to support the next generation,” Barbour said. “The right thing to do was to go into academia. And I never looked back.”

Today, Barbour is a professor of cell biology, dean of the Graduate School and vice provost for graduate education at Duke University. She was also recently elected the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology secretary.

For her record of leadership and mentoring in academia, government and society, she will receive the 2026 ASBMB Sustained Leadership Award.

Barbour also served as a mentor for the National Institutes of Health Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers, or MOSAIC, program, launched in 2019 to support early-career scientists from underrepresented backgrounds. She helped participants navigate the realities of running a lab, including managing personnel and resolving conflicts.

Although the MOSAIC program ended in 2025, Barbour remains positive about its impact.

“It did what it was supposed to do,” she said. “The folks who came through our (iteration) of MOSAIC, they know each other, they're networked together, they'll be colleagues and peers for life. And nobody can take that away from them.”

Having served in many ASBMB leadership roles, Barbour said deeper involvement in the society gives members the opportunity to help people, advance science and sustain the organization.

“When we train our students and postdocs, it’s a kind of immortality,” Barbour said. “It’s a legacy. And ASBMB gives you the opportunity to expand that legacy.”

Takita Felder Sumter and Joseph Provost wrote in support of her nomination that Barbour has “a sustained record of not only mentoring women and students of color, but (also) providing a visible and motivating presence as an impressive female scientist.”

At the 2026 ASBMB Annual Meeting, Barbour will speak about the second half of her career after closing her laboratory in 2013. Instead of mentoring a small group of students, she wanted to extend her leadership to graduate cohorts and early-career investigators.

After closing her lab, Barbour was program director in the division of molecular and cellular biosciences at the National Science Foundation, where she guided applicants through creating successful grant proposals.

“Despite the fact that I’m not at the bench anymore, I think I have even more influence on developing people’s careers now,” Barbour said.