ADVISORY
The goal of this program is to facilitate the integration and adaptation of the scientists and science professionals in USA by giving them information about the job market, and about the society. To achieve this, we developed several proyects: Manuals (welcome, return, Access to medical residency), seminars, social events to welcome you into the country and also to help you come back to Spain, ECUSA buddies, FAQ. Contact: advisory@ecusa.es

Bienvenido a Asesoría
Manuals

Welcome Package
Welcome Package is a useful guide made from the experiences of spanish science professionals in United States with verified information from our legal team. It covers a wide variety of topics such as visas, taxes, internships, bank accounts, driving license, etc. to help the Spanish science professionals that start a new scientific career in the United States.
Return manual
This manual put together administrative information about the return to Spain and also about the different options to come back both in an academic environments or out of it. It includes as well several experiences from people who went through the same process. This manual was sponsored by the regional government of Madrid. You can see the full version here: Coming Back Manual


ANECA Guide
UPDATED JANUARY 2022
This guide is for Spanish scientists who have spent part of their professional career in the United States and intend to continue their academic careers at the university. You can see the web version here: ANECA Guide
Residency Access Manual.
This handbook compiles information and requisites on how to convalidate a medicine degree in the United States, (USMLE exam), that enables the application for a fellowship or medical residency.

Informative talks
Seminars treating topics related to he day-to-day life in the US in order to help you with the integration and adaptation to life in the United States. We have helped to organize and spread events such as:
2020. How to protect my scientific papers in Spain and Europe
Panelists: Álvaro de Castro and Isabel Bandín, Gómez- Acebo & Pombo Lawyers.
Moderator: María Leavitt
2020. Opportunities for scientists and investigators in Spain
Panelist: Izaskun Lacunza, PhD. International Projects Head of Unit. Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT)
Moderator: Samuel Alvarez Arguedas
2020. Scientific Return 2019: from Washington DC to entrepreneurship in Spain
Panelist: Marga Gual Soler, PhD. International expert, advisor and educator in science diplomacy. SciDipGLOBAL.
Moderator: Laura García Ibañez
2019- In-Person panel for the return of scientific migrants related to the academia.
Panelists: Juan Mendez and Cristina Ramírez. Moderator: Judit Jiménez. New York, Abril 8, 2019.
2017- Immigration event
Informative session about immigration and panel with permanent resident who got the Green Card in different ways. Lawyer Aviva Meershwam, from Fragomen, explained the regulations and he recent changes in order to obtain the green card.After that we had a post-doc researchers panel who got the permanent resident card through different ways and they told us their experiences. Event organized by ECUSA and several other post-docs associations in New York.
2016- Coming back to Spain for Science professionals.
Gonzalo Giménez Coloma and Ana Elorza Moreno, Minister of Employment and Social Security and Science Coordinator, FECYT representative at the Spanish Embassy in Washington DC respectively, talked about the procedures and steps to follow to come back to Spain from the United States. Also about the available professional opportunities (grants and contracts), both in Spain and Europe to continue your researcher career in Academia.
2015- Taxation for Spanish Scientists living un the USA
Minister of Finance at the Spanish Embassy in Washingtong DC Ana Fernández-Daza, and Immigration lawyer Sarah C Edgecomb from Edgecomb Law LLC, were answering questions from attendees about how to file for taxes in Spain and United States, the double taxation agreement depending on your visa, the tax residence, and the specific situation of every scientist through the explanation of several real cases.
IT Webinars
Online Seminars to provide useful information to Spanish students and science and technology professionals interested in coming to continue their career in the United States .
Some of the webinars we had recently have focused on these topics:
Fostering Grads program for the students from La Laguna University:
- How to Write a CV for a Job, resume and cover letter. By Salvador Sierra. April 5, 2019.
- Procedures to obtain the visa for short stays in the United States. By Patricia Fernandez Ferri. April 5, 2019.
- In the United States a goodp place to continbue my career after my thesis? Part I: Academia. Panelists: Amaia Lujambio, Luis González-Urbina, Irene Pericot-Valverde and Teresa Parejo. Moderator: Samuel Álvarez y Esther Sanchez de Leon. July 25,2019.
- In the United States a goodp place to continbue my career after my thesis? Part II: Alternative careers in Academia. Panelists: Paula Catalán, Yanire Braña, Hasier Larrea and Javier Carmona. Moderator: Salvador Sierra. November 21, 2019.
Return home for Madrid migrants.
Webinars by Manolo Castellano for non academia scientists, presented by Patricia Fernández y Juliana Abraham. March-May 2019.
Welcusa
Networking event organized at the beginning of the academic year to welcome all the new Spanish scientist that arrived in the United States and show them what we do in the association and the activities we carry (Welcome to USA and Welcome to ECUSA). This initiative started in 2016 in several cities across the US and nowadays is one of our most popular events.
Questions Mailbox
We helped a large number of scientists who just arrived or are interested in coming to the United States to continue their professional career. If you are a ECUSA member, you can check out Wiki-Advisory, where you can find answers to a wide number of questions and answers.
Do you want to collaborate with us?
Do you want to tell us your experience about an specific topic (visa, taxes, medical insurance, lodging, etc) so you can help somebody going through a similar experience? Tell us your experience and we will publish it in our FAQ section.
Do you want to tell us about a specific activity or one of our manuals? Do you want to propose new topics?
Are you interested in a specific topic we can cover or in a seminar/event that can help you in your career in the US?
Do you want to help us financially in what we do? We are volunteers and all the money we collect here will be used for the organization of events and activities to help the Spanish scientists seeking for advise.
For these and other questions, please email us: advisory@ecusa.es
Who we are
Team
Patricia Fernández Ferri
Director from 2017-2021 / Meber since 2015
Patricia Fernández Ferri received her Pharmacy degree and her PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Valencia. She performed postdoctoral research at New York University, Institute of Biomedicine of Valencia and at the National Cancer Institute (NIH). She is currently working as a clinical laboratory geneticist at GeneDx, a genetic testing company, after graduating from the Laboratory Genetics and Genomics program at the National Human Genome Research Institute. At ECUSA, Patricia has been a board member of the DC chapter from the beginning, has co-directed the Advisory program (2017-2021) and keeps her collaboration as a member of the Advisory team
Judit Jiménez
Member since 2017
Judit is a biochemist and geneticist researching why certain women with BRCA2 mutations have higher risk to female cancers and how to prevent and cure it at the molecular level. Judit joined ECUSA in 2015 and since then, she has actively participated in the Advisory program and co-directed the E-visibility program, highlighting novel research and researchers’ endeavors. Judit was elected President of ECUSA in May 2021. Her engagement focuses on bringing ECUSA community together and on moving ECUSA to a global recognized non-profit association with the united growth of all the members. She joined Faculty Advisory Council at Yale in November 2020 to represent Associate Research Scientists at Yale Medical School and advocate for the benefits and the career development of this scientific group. Judit wants to promote equity, diversity and leadership skills. She is an advocate of Women in Science. Judit strongly believes that the members of ECUSA and the new generation of STEMM can be a engine to move our planet to a better one. Judit is one of 75 women leaders selected for Homeward Bound Program 5 (#HB5). Judit gets energy from family, dance, nature, meditation and, spending time with others. She strongly values curiosity, creativity, critical thinking and exploring outside her comfort zone.
Olaya Fernández Gayol
Member since 2021
Postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the laboratory of Dr. Lori Zeltser since October 2018. Her research focuses on genetic determinants of susceptibility to anorexia nervosa, using in vivo animal models and in vitro cell cultures. She received her PhD in Neurosciences from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, after completing a degree in Biology and a Master’s degree in Neurosciences in the same university. During her PhD she spent a stay in the laboratory of D. Richard Palmiter, funded by the University Teacher Training Program at the University of Washington (Seattle, USA). She is currently president of the Columbia University Postdoctoral Society (CUPS), where she led multiple communication strategies. She loves musicals, board games, hiking, cooking (she’s the lab’s official pastry chef) and sightseeing in New York.
Past Members
Carmen de Sena Tomás
ECUSA New York
Co-director from 2015-2017
Paula Saá
ECUSA Washington DC
Patricia Oliva
ECUSA Washington DC
Gloria Palomo Carrasco
ECUSA New York
Jimena Baleriola
ECUSA New York
Co-director in 2015
Moisés Grimaldi Puyana
ECUSA Boston
Alicia Pérez-Porro
ECUSA Washington DC
Cristina Vázquez Mateo
ECUSA Boston
Isabel Domínguez
ECUSA Boston
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