Meet the Staff
Office of Postdoctoral Affairs
Visit Office of Postdoctoral Affairs Website
Tracy Costello, Ph.D. (Tampa campus)
Title: Director, Postdoctoral Affairs and Graduate Student Development
Phone: (813) 974-0795
Email: tcostello111@usf.edu
Dr. Tracy Costello directs the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA) within the Office of Graduate Studies. In this role, she provides leadership for OPA including strategic planning, fiscal oversight, communication of USF policies and procedures, and administration and data verification of data for national, state, and local reporting. Additionally, she directs, develops, and delivers professional and career development training sessions, maintains information resources, and provides 1-1 career coaching for postdoctoral scholars and graduate students ready to take the next step on their career paths. She develops and hosts community-building events and activities for USF postdoctoral scholars.
She received her B.S. from the University of Southern Mississippi in Mathematics and Physics, her M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Biomathematics and Biostatistics and Human and Molecular Genetics, and was an R25 postdoc at MD Anderson in the departments of Epidemiology and Health Disparities Research. She has authored 31 research articles and a book chapter covering the analysis and identification of genetic markers in oncology and autoimmune disorders, the development of advanced statistical methods for genetic analysis, psychological determinants of smoking cession in underserved populations, and research on postdoctoral fellows in US higher education. She has served in an administrative role since 2012, previously at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Moffitt Cancer Center, currently serves on an NIH study section and formerly NSF review panels for postdoc and graduate fellowships, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for STEMPeers and previously the National Postdoctoral Association.