On Friday, July 24th, early in the morning, we opened the 2026 AMA DocSIG Pre-Conference in Denver at Summer AMA with Phase 1: PhD Journey Series: Decisions That Define Your Impact — three distinguished scholars sharing the choices and lessons that shaped their careers.
Dr. Mark Houston reminded us that research success comes less from raw talent than from persistence, “to endure tenaciously,” urging us to make time, take ownership, seek out criticism, and never let a career cost us our family.
Dr. Martin Mende made the case for impact by design, arguing that real-world relevance shouldn’t be tacked on at 2 AM under review but built in from the first idea, so study consequential phenomena, bring stakeholders in early, and never let a topic’s importance excuse skipping rigor.
Dr. Linda Price closed with “If I could redo my PhD…” and a joyful yes, not to fix mistakes but to savor it all again, reminding us to chase problems we can actually catch, not wait to be asked, and stay connected together by giving help as often as we ask for it.
In Phase 2, students reflected and put these ideas into conversation directly with the speakers — exactly the kind of dialogue this pre-conference was built for.
A heartfelt thank you to our speakers and to Faculty Ambassadors Prof. Kimberly Whitler and Prof. Martin Mende for helping shape this experience.
A huge thank you to our incredible on-site DocSIG Officers: Ishita Nagpal (Chair), Safa Zahra Karami (Chair-Elect), Rafaela Canova Davide (Communications), Xiaoying Feng (Special Projects), Andrea C. Dixon (Member Engagement), and Japmman Pahuja (Scholarly Insights).
30 years of DocSIG, and this community keeps showing up for each other.
