Appendix B

Biographical Sketches of Presenters

SPEAKERS

Marie A. Bernard is the National Institutes of Health (NIH) chief officer for scientific workforce diversity (COSWD). As COSWD, she leads NIH’s science of scientific workforce diversity, building, disseminating, and acting on the evidence. Her office is the NIH thought leader in assuring optimal scientific creativity and innovation, both intramurally and extramurally, through a diverse scientific workforce. Dr. Bernard also co-leads NIH’s UNITE initiative to end structural racism. Prior to being selected as the COSWD in May 2021, she was deputy director of the National Institute on Aging (2008–2021). As an academic geriatrician, she has been recognized widely for leadership in geriatrics research, teaching, and clinical practice. Her work within NIH has been recognized with NIH Director’s Awards (2018 and 2019), including the 2020 NIH Director’s Award for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

Jean-Claude Brizard is president and CEO of Digital Promise, a global, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization focused on accelerating innovation in education. He is former senior advisor and deputy director in U.S. Programs at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation where he focused on PK–16 education across five communities in four states. He also led several strategies to help close the racial and economic achievement gaps in

Washington State’s educational system as well as to support the growth and sustainability of the state’s public charter school sector.

He is the former chief executive of Chicago Public Schools. Prior to his appointment in Chicago, he was superintendent of schools for the Rochester, New York, School District. Under Mr. Brizard’s leadership, both the Chicago Public Schools and the Rochester City School District saw substantial improvements in student performance. Mr. Brizard’s experience also includes a 21-year career as an educator and administrator with the NYC Department of Education. He served as a regional superintendent, supervising more than 100 schools in the Borough of Brooklyn and he also served as the system’s executive director for its 400 secondary schools. He is a fellow of the Broad Center, a fellow of the Pahara-Aspen Institute, and a member of the Aspen Institute Global Leadership Network.

Laura Castillo-Page is chief diversity and inclusion officer at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, where she leads the development of an overall diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategy and set of programs for the entire organization. Prior to coming to the National Academies, Dr. Castillo-Page most recently served as senior director for equity, diversity, and inclusion at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). She holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in educational administration and policy studies as well as an M.A. in political science from the University at Albany, SUNY, and holds a B.A. in political science and Latin American studies from Fordham University.

Kafui Dzirasa completed a Ph.D. in neurobiology at Duke University. His research interests focus on understanding how changes in the brain produce neurological and mental illness, and his graduate work has led to several distinctions including the Somjen Award for Most Outstanding Dissertation Thesis, the Ruth K. Broad Biomedical Research Fellowship, the UNCF·Merck Graduate Science Research Fellowship, and the Wakeman Fellowship. Dr. Dzirasa obtained an M.D. from the Duke University School of Medicine in 2009, and he completed residency training in general psychiatry in 2016.

Dr. Dzirasa received the Charles Johnson Leadership Award in 2007, and he was recognized as one of Ebony magazine’s 30 Young Leaders of the Future in February 2008. He has also been awarded the International Mental Health Research Organization Rising Star Award and the Sydney Baer Prize for Schizophrenia Research, and his laboratory was featured on

CBS 60 Minutes in 2011. In 2016, he was awarded the inaugural Duke Medical Alumni Emerging Leader Award and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the nation’s highest award for scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. In 2017, he was recognized as 40 under 40 in Health by the National Minority Quality Forum, and the Engineering Alumni of the Year from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He was induced into the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2019.

Dr. Dzirasa has served as an associate scientific advisor for the journal Science Translational Medicine, as a member of the congressionally mandated Next Generation Research Initiative, on the Editorial Advisory Board for TEDMED, and on the NIH Director’s guiding committee for the BRAIN Initiative. He currently serves on the NIH Director’s Novel and Exceptional Technology and Research Advisory Committee (NExTRAC) and Brain Multi-Council Working Group.

Dr. Dzirasa is an associate professor at Duke University with appointments in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Neurobiology, Biomedical Engineering, and Neurosurgery. His ultimate goal is to combine his research, medical training, and community experience to improve outcomes for diverse communities suffering from neurological and psychiatric illness.

Gabriel Felix is a physician completing adult psychiatry training at Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA)/Harvard Medical School (HMS). He received his medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine. While in medical school, he held multiple positions of leadership at local and national levels, including serving as the 55th national president for the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) and as an officer on the Board of Trustees of the National Medical Association (NMA). His nonclinical skill set includes event planning, developing programmatic agendas, strategic planning, and public speaking. He is an active member in several professional organizations, including the NMA, the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the American Medical Association (AMA), and the Black Psychiatrists of America (BPA), among others. He is currently a Public Psychiatry fellow for the American Psychiatric Association and serves as the postgraduate physician trustee for the National Medical Association. He continues his involvement in the SNMA as a mentor for premedical and medical students.

Samsher (Sam) Singh Gill is the third president and CEO of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF), a New York-headquartered, national philanthropic organization that supports the performing arts, medical research, the environment, and child well-being. He also serves as president of several operating foundations that run under DDCF’s umbrella, including the Duke Farms Foundation, which operates a center for environmental stewardship in Hillsborough, New Jersey, and the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, which operates a museum for learning about the global cultures of Islamic art and design in Honolulu, Hawai’i, as well as a New York-based grants program with a related mission.

Prior to joining DDCF in April 2021, Mr. Gill was senior vice president and chief program officer at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, where he oversaw more than $100 million in annual grant making across the foundation’s programs, in addition to managing Knight’s research and assessment portfolio and its grants administration function. Previously, he also served as vice president of Freedman Consulting, LLC.

Mr. Gill also served on the board of the Philip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science in Miami and on the Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship, a project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He attended the University of Chicago and the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

Edmund W. Gordon is the director emeritus of the Institute for Urban and Minority Education at Teachers College of Columbia University. He is also John M. Musser Professor of Psychology, Emeritus, at Yale University and the Richard March Hoe Professor, Emeritus of Psychology and Education at Teachers College of Columbia University. He has served as a senior scholar in residence for the College Board since 1993, and was the chairperson of the Gordon Commission on the Future of Assessment for the Educational Testing Service from 2011 to 2013. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Science and Humanities, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Society, the American Psychological Association, and the Educational Testing Service and holds honorary degrees from several universities, including Howard University, Mount Holyoke College, Brown University, and Yale University. Dr. Gordon has published extensively on education, justice, and the hidden curriculum.

Anicca Harriot is a biochemistry and molecular biology Ph.D. candidate at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Her research focuses

on the mechanisms responsible for skeletal muscle atrophy and injury. Ms. Harriot plans to use her degree to explore the effects of long-duration space missions on the human body and hopes to someday venture out into the final frontier for herself. She also serves as the chief of community development for #VanguardSTEM: Conversations for Women of Color in STEM, a nonprofit dedicated to lifting the voices of women and nonbinary people of color in STEM. Through #VanguardSTEM, she is able to deploy her passion for advocacy and science communication alongside other women of color and nonbinary people of color in STEM to self-advocate by fully representing themselves and their STEM identities and interests, without assimilation. Ms. Harriot’s passion for advocacy and prominent influence has led her to being recognized as one of Motherboard’s 2017 Humans of the Year, a 2017 Young Futurist for The Root, and most recently as a 2020 President’s Fellow at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Bernard Harris is CEO of the National Math and Science Initiative and leads the organization’s efforts to improve teacher effectiveness and student achievement in communities across the country. He has been involved in math and science education for over 25 years through his philanthropy as founder of the Harris Institute/Foundation. He also served as managing partner of Vesalius Ventures, Inc., a venture capital firm that invests in early-to mid-stage health-care technologies and companies. He is responsible for managing a portfolio of private assets of early- and mid- stage venture investments and operating companies.

Dr. Harris was at NASA for 10 years, where he conducted research in musculoskeletal physiology and clinical investigations of space adaptation and developed in-flight medical devices to extend astronaut stays in space. A veteran astronaut for over 20 years, he has logged more than 438 hours and traveled over 7.2 million miles in space.

He is a member of the Board of Directors for U.S. Physical Therapy, Raytheon Technologies (RTX), and Monebo Technologies. Dr. Harris serves as a board of director/trustee for Salient Midstream & MLP Fund and Salient MF Trust, and Barings Fund & Trust. In addition, he serves on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Health Sciences Policy, the Texas Medical Center, the National Math and Science Initiative, and the Harris Institute/Foundation.

He earned a bachelor of science in biology from the University of Houston, a master of medical science from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, a master of business administration from the Univer-

sity of Houston, and a doctorate of medicine from Texas Tech University School of Medicine. He completed a residency in internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic, a National Research Council Fellowship in Endocrinology at the NASA Ames Research Center, and trained as a flight surgeon at the Aerospace School of Medicine, Brooks Air Force Base. He is also a licensed private pilot and certified scuba diver.

Dr. Harris is the recipient of numerous awards, including nine honorary doctorates (from Stony Brook University (SUNY), Morehouse School of Medicine, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Washington & Jefferson College, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, University of Hartford, Indiana Institute of Technology, University of Houston, and University of the Sciences), the NASA Space Flight Medal and the NASA Award of Merit, and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians; he was the recipient of the 2000 Horatio Alger Award.

Dr. Harris is the author of Dream Walker: A Journey of Achievement and Inspiration.

Kenneth Hill has served as the president and CEO of Chicago Pre-College Science and Engineering Program since 2008. He has been recognized throughout his career for curricular innovations, including the founding in 1976, of an award-winning out-of-school urban K–12 (initially middle school) STEM education program—the Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program—often cited as a model in its field. He launched Chicago’s first K–3 out of school science and engineering program, the Chicago Pre-College Science and Engineering Program (ChiS&E) with support from the National Science Foundation in 2009, which has since expanded to a K–12 program and incorporated pre-algebraic concepts into ChiS&E’s K–3 programs, for both students and parents, with support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. He holds degrees in civil engineering from Howard University and mathematics education from Wayne State University.

Courtney L. Savage Hoggard is a 2019 graduate of Brown University, where the former student-athlete received a bachelor of arts in health and human biology and Latin American and Caribbean studies. While at Brown, Ms. Hoggard researched post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a post-disaster state of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and the role of the American public housing infrastructure and systemic racism on Asthma’s categorization as the “Black and Puerto Rican Disease.” Since graduating from Brown University, she has worked as an associate at the Milken

Institute in Washington, D.C., and interned at the Commonwealth Fund in New York City, helping to develop the growing vulnerable populations and maternal health body of work under Dr. Laurie Zephyrin. Beginning in the fall of 2021, she enrolled in the master of bioethics program at the University of Pennsylvania. She intends to focus her scholarly project on how systemic racism informs patient autonomy and clinical ethics, further asking how community-oriented primary care can aid in addressing these questions. During this year, Ms. Hoggard is also applying to medical school to continue studying how the history of medicine and science play a role in the upholding of white supremacy within health-care systems.

Sonya Douglass Horsford serves as professor of education leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she conducts research and teaches courses on the politics of race and inequality in education. She has published more than 20 articles in journals such as Educational Administration Quarterly, Education Policy, and Teachers College Record, edited three books on educational equity and leadership, and authored two award-winning books: Learning in a Burning House: Educational Inequality, Ideology, and (Dis)Integration and The Politics of Education Policy in an Era of Inequality: Possibilities for Democratic Schooling with Janelle T. Scott and Gary L. Anderson.

Since 2016, Dr. Horsford has served as co-director of the Urban Education Leaders Program (UELP) at Teachers College, an Ed.D. program for practicing and aspiring district-level education leaders committed to equity, justice, and excellence. In 2017, Dr. Horsford founded the Black Education Research Collective to convene scholars devoted to conducting, translating, and disseminating research that leads to improved educational opportunities, experiences, and outcomes for Black children and youth. In 2020, she launched the SDH Collaborative (affectionately known as “the Lab”) to create a generative and supportive research and learning environment for current and former students interested in solving educational problems through research, advocacy, and action.

Dr. Horsford chairs the Leadership for Social Justice SIG and Politics of Education SIG for the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and serves as TC’s Plenum Session Representative to the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA). She also serves on the advisory boards of Columbia Journalism School’s Spencer Fellows Board and Teachers College Press.

Kimberly M. Jackson is chair and professor of chemistry and biochemistry and director of the Food Studies program at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. She is also co-director of a living and learning community for STEM scholars (The LINCS), an initiative whose goal is to improve access to STEM research careers for women of color through professional and social networks and social justice empowerment, while addressing a critical national need by cultivating talent for the STEM workforce. Author of Realigning the Crooked Room: Spelman Claims a Space for African American Women in STEM,” Dr. Jackson has mentored more than 40 research students, providing them with research experiences in cancer therapeutics and drug discovery.

As a Fulbright scholar, a visiting faculty at Harvard Medical School, and a research fellow at the Women’s International Study Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, her robust and active research program focuses on novel therapeutic agents for hormone refractory prostate cancer and the role of minority-serving institutions and women of color in diversifying the STEM pipeline; each with a host of publications, presentations, and funding from multiple agencies. She has received the Spelman Presidential Award for Excellence in Research, Teaching, and Mentoring, American Association for Cancer Research MSI Faculty Scholar Award, and the Governor’s Teaching Award for her commitment to STEM excellence. She serves on the national advisory board for COACh for Women Scientists, the American Chemical Society Committee on Minority Affairs, and the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Public Affairs program with the goal of helping advocate for and implement policies to promote best practices for recruitment, retention, career development, and evaluation of programs for the advancement of Black women scientists.

Cato Laurencin is the eighth designated University Professor in the 135 year history of the University of Connecticut. He is the Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Endowed Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery. He is the CEO of the Connecticut Convergence Institute for Translation in Regenerative Engineering and the director of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Center for Biomedical, Biological, Physical and Engineering Sciences at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Laurencin earned a B.S.E. in chemical engineering from Princeton University, and his M.D., magna cum laude, from the Harvard Medical School, and received the Robinson Award for Surgery. He earned his Ph.D. in biochemical engineering/biotechnology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was named a

Hugh Hampton Young fellow. A practicing sports medicine and shoulder surgeon, Dr. Laurencin has been named to America’s Top Doctors for over 15 years. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, a fellow of the American Orthopaedic Association, a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and a member of the American Surgical Association. He received the Nicolas Andry Award, the highest honor of the Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons. Dr. Laurencin served as dean of the medical school and vice president for health affairs at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Laurencin is a pioneer of the new field of regenerative engineering. He is an expert in biomaterials science, stem cell technology, and nanotechnology and was named one of the 100 Engineers of the Modern Era by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and received the Founder’s Award from the Society for Biomaterials. He received the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, NIH’s highest and most prestigious research award, for his new field of regenerative engineering and the National Science Foundation’s Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation Grant Award. Dr. Laurencin is the editor-in-chief of Regenerative Engineering and Translational Medicine, published by Springer Nature, and is the founder of the Regenerative Engineering Society. He is a fellow of the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Biomedical Engineering Society, the Materials Research Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The AAAS awarded Dr. Laurencin the Philip Hauge Abelson Prize given “for signal contributions to the advancement of science in the United States.” Dr. Laurencin is active in mentoring, especially for underrepresented minority students. He received the AAAS Mentor Award, the Beckman Award for Mentoring, and the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Math and Engineering Mentoring in ceremonies at the White House. The Society for Biomaterials established the Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D. Travel Fellowship in his honor, awarded to underrepresented minority students pursuing research. Dr. Laurencin is also active in addressing health disparities. Dr. Laurencin completed the program in African American Studies at Princeton University. He is a core faculty member of the Africana Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut, and is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, published by Springer Nature. He co-founded the W. Montague Cobb/NMA Health Institute, dedicated to addressing health disparities, and served as its founding chair. The W. Montague Cobb/NMA Health Institute and the National Medical Association established the Cato T. Laurencin Lifetime Research Achievement Award, given during

the opening ceremonies of the National Medical Association Meeting. Dr. Laurencin is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Active internationally, he is an elected fellow of the Indian National Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Academy of Engineering, the African Academy of Sciences, and the World Academy of Sciences, and is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Cora Bagley Marrett is professor emerita of sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She has held posts at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Western Michigan University; the University of Wisconsin System; and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. At UMass she was provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. For 11 years she served as an administrator at the National Science Foundation (NSF), initially overseeing activities associated with the social and behavioral sciences and later, those centered on education and human resources. In her final years, she held the second ranking post at NSF: deputy director. She was appointed to that position by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Over her career, she has served on governing or advisory boards with the Social Science Research Council; the Russell Sage Foundation; the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine; and the Office of Naval Research, among others. At the request of President Jimmy Carter, she was a member of the body that examined the nuclear power incident in Pennsylvania: the Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island. She holds honorary degrees from her undergraduate alma mater, Virginia Union University; the institution of her doctorate, the University of Wisconsin–Madison; and Wake Forest University.

Ebony O. McGee is an associate professor of diversity and STEM education at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College. She investigates what it means to be racially marginalized while minoritized in the context of learning and achieving in STEM higher education and in the STEM professions. In particular, Dr. McGee studies the racialized experiences and racial stereotypes that adversely affect the education and career trajectories of underrepresented groups of color. This involves exploring the social, material, and health costs of academic achievement and problematizing traditional forms of success in higher education, with an unapologetic focus on Black folk in these places and spaces. Her National Science Foundation

(NSF) CAREER grant investigates how marginalization undercuts success in STEM through psychological stress, interrupted STEM career trajectories, impostor phenomenon, and other debilitating race-related trauma for Black, Indigenous, and Latinx doctoral students. Education is her second career; Dr. McGee left a career in electrical engineering to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics education from the University of Illinois Chicago, a Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Chicago, and a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship at Northwestern University. With funding from six NSF grants, she cofounded the Explorations in Diversifying Engineering Faculty Initiative, or EDEFI (pronounced “edify”). She also co-founded the Institute in Critical Quantitative and Mixed Methodologies Training for Underrepresented Scholars (ICQCM), which seeks to be a “go-to” institute for the development of quantitative and mixed-methods skill sets that challenge simplistic quantifications of race and marginalization. ICQCM was founded with support from the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the W. T. Grant Foundation. She is the lead editor of the recently published book Diversifying STEM: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Race and Gender (2019), which offers scholarship that includes race, culture, and social stratification; racial justice and identity; racial socialization processes; and race and gender intersectionality in STEM. Dr. McGee’s research has been featured in prominent media outlets, including The Atlantic, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, The Chronicle of Higher Education, NPR’s Codeswitch, The Hechinger Report, Christian Science Monitor, Huffington Post, U.S. News & World Report, Inside Higher Education, Tennessean, and The UK Voice Online.

Valerie Montgomery Rice is the sixth president of Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) and the first woman to lead the freestanding medical institution, where she serves as both the president and CEO. A renowned infertility specialist and researcher, she most recently served as dean and executive vice president of MSM, where she has served since 2011.

Prior to joining MSM, Dr. Montgomery Rice held faculty positions and leadership roles at various health centers, including academic health centers. Most notably, she was the founding director of the Center for Women’s Health Research at Meharry Medical College, one of the nation’s first research centers devoted to studying diseases that disproportionately impact women of color.

Dedicated to the creation and advancement of health equity, Dr. Montgomery Rice lends her vast experience and talents to programs that

enhance pipeline opportunities for academically diverse learners, diversifies the physician and scientific workforce, and fosters equity in health-care access and health outcomes. To this end, she holds memberships in various organizations and participates on a number of boards, such as the following: member, National Academy of Medicine, the Association of American Medical Colleges Council of Deans, and the Horatio Alger Association and board of directors for the Metro Atlanta Chamber, Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine, the Nemours Foundation, UnitedHealth Group, Westside Future Fund, Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, Headspace, Wellpath, and CARE.

Dr. Montgomery Rice has received numerous accolades and honors. She was named to the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans and received the 2017 Horatio Alger Award. For three consecutive years (2016–2018) Georgia Trend magazine selected her as one of the 100 Most Influential Georgians. Other honors include the following: the Dean Griffin Community Service Award from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Girls Inc. 2019 Smart Award, National Medical Association OB/GYN 2019 Legend of the Section Award, Turknett Leadership Character Award (2018), Visions of Excellence Award, Atlanta Business League (2018), Links Incorporated Co-Founders Award (2018), Trumpet Vanguard Award (2015), Dorothy I. Height Crystal Stair Award (2014), National Coalition of 100 Black Women—Women of Impact (2014), YWCA—Women of Achievement of Atlanta (2014) and Nashville (2007), American Medical Women’s Association Elizabeth Blackwell Medal (2011), and Working Mother Media Multicultural Women’s Legacy Award (2011).

A Georgia native, Dr. Montgomery Rice holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology, a medical degree from Harvard Medical School, an honorary degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and a doctor of humane letters honorary degree from Rush University. All reflect her lifetime commitment to education, service, and the advancement of health equity. She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Emory University School of Medicine and her fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Hutzel Hospital.

J. Nwando Olayiwola is the chief health equity officer and senior vice president for Humana. She is responsible for creating and implementing a strategy to achieve health equity across all lines of business, including care delivery, giving all communities and groups of people a fair and just oppor-

tunity to be as healthy as possible. Dr. Olayiwola leads cross-functional efforts for the organization’s journey toward more equitable care.

A longtime advocate for underserved communities, Dr. Olayiwola brings more than 20 years of experience in clinical, community, and academic medicine, health technology leadership, public health, and domestic and international health systems redesign to Humana. Her October 2020 Tedx Talk is a clarion call for health equity.

Prior to joining Humana, Dr. Olayiwola was the chair and professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Ohio State University (OSU) College of Medicine, where she was also the founding director of the Center for Primary Care Innovation and Transformation and co-chair of the OSU Wexner Medical Center’s Anti-Racism Action Plan. She previously served as chief clinical transformation officer for RubiconMD, director of the University of California, San Francisco, Center for Excellence in Primary Care, and chief medical officer of Community Health Center, Inc., Connecticut’s largest Federally Qualified Health Center system. She continues to practice as a board-certified family physician, serving a largely medically underserved patient population.

Dr. Olayiwola was a Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University fellow in Minority Health Policy at Harvard Medical School from 2004 to 2005. During this fellowship and leadership training, she received her master’s degree in public health with a concentration in health policy from the Harvard School of Public Health. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Human Nutrition/Pre-Medicine at the Ohio State University and her medical degree from the Ohio State University/Cleveland Clinic Foundation. She completed her residency training in family medicine at Columbia University/New York Presbyterian Hospital, where she was a chief resident. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including Family Physicians Who Are Changing Our World by the Family Medicine Education Consortium and the Woman of the Year Award by the American Telemedicine Association. Dr. Olayiwola is married and has two school-aged children.

Sudip Parikh became the 19th chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and executive publisher of the Science family of journals in January 2020. Dr. Parikh has spent two decades at the nexus of science, policy, and business.

Immediately prior to joining AAAS, Dr. Parikh was senior vice president and managing director at DIA Global, a neutral, multidisciplinary organization bringing together regulators, industry, academia, patients, and

other stakeholders interested in health-care product development. He led strategy in the Americas and oversaw Defense Intelligence Agency programs that catalyzed progress globally toward novel regulatory frameworks for advanced therapies not amenable to existing regulations.

An active member of the scientific advocacy community, Dr. Parikh serves as a board member and officer for several impactful organizations, including Research!America, Friends of Cancer Research, and ACT for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He has received multiple public service awards, including recognition from the American Association of Immunologists, the National AIDS Alliance, the Coalition for Health Services Research, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Dr. Parikh is committed to early STEM education and, as a parent of three energetic young children, he prioritizes volunteering as a mentor for Science Olympiad teams at two elementary schools.

Early in his career, he was a presidential management intern at the NIH. He was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship while earning his Ph.D. in macromolecular structure and chemistry from the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. There, he used structural biology and biochemistry techniques to probe the mechanisms of DNA repair enzymes bound to DNA. The son of Indian immigrants who worked in the textile and furniture manufacturing plants of North Carolina, Dr. Parikh completed undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, first as a journalism major before switching into materials science.

Keivan Stassun is the Stevenson Professor of Physics & Astronomy, director of the Vanderbilt Initiative in Data-intensive Astrophysics (VIDA), and director of the Frist Center for Autism and Innovation at Vanderbilt University. After earning A.B. degrees in physics and astronomy from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Wisconsin, Dr. Stassun was a NASA Hubble postdoctoral fellow before joining the Vanderbilt faculty in 2003. A recipient of a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and a Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, his research on stars and exoplanets has appeared in more than 400 peer-reviewed journal articles. He is a co-investigator for the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission and chairs the executive committee of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. From 2004 to 2015, he served as founding director of the Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-Ph.D.

Bridge Program, which has become one of the nation’s top producers of Ph.D.’s to underrepresented minorities in the physical sciences. He has served on the federal Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee, the NSF Committee for Equal Opportunity in Science and Engineering, is a recipient of the American Physical Society’s Nicholson Medal for Human Outreach, and is an elected fellow of the American Physical Society, American Astronomical Society, and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He has served as an expert witness to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology. For the past 10 years, Dr. Stassun has served as founding director of the Vanderbilt Initiative in Data-intensive Astrophysics. In 2017, he launched the Center for Autism and Innovation, focused on advancing science and engineering through the engagement and advancement of individuals with autism. The center has become permanently endowed by a $10 million gift from Frist Family Foundation. Most recently, he was selected for a $1 million HHMI Professor award, was named Mentor of the Year by the AAAS, was honored by the White House with a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Engineering Mentoring, and has been appointed to the National Academies’ Decadal Steering Committee for Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Altha J. Stewart is senior associate dean for community health engagement and associate professor in psychiatry at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) in Memphis, Tennessee. She also serves as director for the Division of Public and Community Psychiatry and director for the Center for Health in Justice Involved Youth in the Department of Psychiatry, where she manages community-based programs serving children impacted by trauma and mental illness and their families. Prior to joining the UTHSC College of Medicine faculty, she served as executive director of Memphis’ federally funded System of Care Program for children with serious emotional disorders and their families. Dr. Stewart is the former executive director of the Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency, one of the largest public mental health systems in the United States. She served as deputy commissioner and later interim commissioner of the former New York City Department of Mental Health, and CEO/executive director in other large public health and mental health systems in New York and Pennsylvania, overseeing the management and development of programs for persons with mental illness, substance use disorders, and justice system involvement. Dr. Stewart received her medical degree from Temple University Medical School, completing her psychiatric residency at

what is now Drexel University. In 2017, she was elected the 145th president of the American Psychiatric Association, the first African American elected to this position in the 175-year history of the organization. She is also past president of the Black Psychiatrists of America, the Association of Women Psychiatrists, and the American Psychiatric Foundation. She has received numerous awards and honors, including visiting professorships at the Massachusetts General Hospital, University of Maryland, and University of California, Davis; honorary membership in the South African Society of Psychiatrists; honorary degrees from Regis College and Christian Brothers University; the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Exemplary Psychiatrist Awards (2002 and 2020); and the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Solomon Carter Fuller and Alexandra Symonds Awards.

Mike Summer received his A.A. degree in chemistry from St. Petersburg Junior College (1978), B.S. in chemistry from the University of West Florida (1980), Ph.D. in Bioinorganic Chemistry from Emory University (1984), and was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (1984–1987) before joining the faculty at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (1987–present). In 1994 he was appointed as an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and in 2016 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He was the recipient of two NIH MERIT Awards for studies of HIV structural biology. Currently, Dr. Summers is an associate editor for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and the Journal of Molecular Biology, and is a member of the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Biomolecular NMR. Dr. Summers’ research focuses on NMR studies of proteins, RNA, and macromolecular interactions associated with HIV-1 genome packaging and virus assembly. His laboratory typically includes large numbers of students from diverse backgrounds. He has mentored more than 300 undergraduates in his lab. He has also led efforts to develop programs for retaining minority students in the sciences. He directs an NIH-funded diversity program that includes more than 100 enrolled underrepresented minority Ph.D. students. Dr. Summers is a recipient of the Ruth Kirstein Award of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; the Carl Branden Award of the Protein Society; the Emily M. Gray Mentoring Award of the Biophysical Society; the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education; the Mentor Award of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; the American Society for Microbiology Hinton

Award for Mentoring; and the White House Presidential Award for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring.

Laurie Zephyrin is vice president of advancing health equity at the Commonwealth Fund. Previously, she was vice president of delivery system reform. Her work at the Fund has included advancing health equity in delivery systems and health policy, promoting high-quality, comprehensive primary health care, and promoting equity-centered care for birthing people throughout the life-course. She combines her experience as a clinician, health policy maker, and health systems innovator to her role at the Commonwealth Fund to drive delivery system change. Dr. Zephyrin has extensive experience leading the vision, design, and delivery of innovative health-care models across national health systems. She was the first national director of the Reproductive Health Program at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), spearheading the strategic vision and leading systems change and policy to improve the health of women veterans nationwide; she served as acting assistant deputy under secretary for health for community care, and later, as acting deputy under secretary for health for community care. While directing the VA’s Community Care program, Dr. Zephyrin spearheaded efforts to implement legislation, develop internal governance structures, and address patient outcomes through systemwide transformation of care delivery. As part of the leadership team, she also represented the VA before Congress and other internal and external stakeholders. Her perspective and experience as a systems thinker and a leader provides refreshing insight on health-care delivery and advancing health equity. She has written articles and has been featured in various publications, was named a White House fellow, Young Global Leader, Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar, and Aspen Health Innovator fellow. Dr. Zephyrin earned her M.D. from the New York University School of Medicine, M.B.A. and M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University, and B.S. in biomedical sciences from the City College of New York. She is a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist and completed her residency training at Harvard’s Integrated Residency Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.

PLANNING COMMITTEE

Evelynn Hammonds (Co-Chair) is a member of the faculty in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. She was the first senior vice provost for faculty development and diversity at Harvard (2005–2008). From

2008 to 2013, she served as dean of Harvard College. She holds honorary degrees from Spelman College and Bates College. Professor Hammonds is the director of the Project on Race & Gender in Science & Medicine at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard. Prof. Hammonds earned a Ph.D. in the history of science from Harvard University, an S.M. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a B.E.E. in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a B.S. in physics from Spelman College. In 2010 she was appointed to President Barack Obama’s Board of Advisers on Historically Black Colleges and Universities and in 2014 to the President’s Commission on Excellence in Higher Education for African Americans. She has published articles on the history of disease, race, and science, African American feminism, African American women and the epidemic of HIV/AIDS, and analyses of gender and race in science and medicine. Prof. Hammonds’ current research focuses on diversity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields; the intersection of scientific, medical, and socio-political concepts of race in the United States; and genetics and society. She served two terms on the Committee on Equal Opportunity in Science and Engineering (CEOSE), the congressionally mandated oversight committee of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Prof. Hammonds was appointed to the Committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine (CWSEM) of the National Academies in 2017. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) in 2018.

Shirley Malcom (Co-Chair) is senior advisor and director of SEA Change, an institutional transformation initiative, at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). In her more than 40-year tenure at the AAAS, she has worked to improve the quality and increase access to education and careers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) for all women, BIPOC men (Black, Indigenous and People of Color), persons with disabilities and other marginalized groups, as well as to enhance public science literacy.

Dr. Malcom is a trustee of Caltech and regent of Morgan State University, an HBCU (Historically Black College and University). She is a former member of the National Science Board, the policy-making body of the U.S. National Science Foundation, and served on President Clinton’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology. She is a native of Birmingham, Alabama, and received her Ph.D. in ecology from the Pennsylvania State University, master’s in zoology from the University of California, Los

Angeles (UCLA), and bachelor’s with distinction in zoology from the University of Washington. She has been recognized for her work and service by all of these institutions, being the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Pennsylvania State University (2001), the UCLA Medal (2015), and Alumna Summa Laude Dignata of the University of Washington (1998). She is an elected fellow of the AAAS and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In addition, she holds 17 honorary degrees.

Dr. Malcom is a former high school science teacher and university faculty member. She serves on the boards of the Heinz Endowments, Public Agenda, and Digital Promise Global. She also chairs the board of NMSI, the National Math and Science Initiative. In 2003, Dr. Malcom received the Public Welfare Medal of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the highest award given by the Academy.

Vivian Pinn (Co-Chair) was the first full-time director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Research on Women’s Health, an appointment she held since 1991 and as NIH associate director for research on Women’s Health since 1994 prior to her retirement in August 2011. Since her retirement, she has been named as a senior scientist emerita at the NIH Fogarty International Center. Dr. Pinn came to NIH from Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C., where she had been professor and chair of the Department of Pathology from 1982 until 1991. Dr. Pinn had previously held teaching appointments at Harvard Medical School and Tufts University, where she was also assistant dean for student affairs. A special tribute by Senator Olympia Snowe on Dr. Pinn’s retirement was published in the Congressional Record in November 2011, commending her contributions during her NIH tenure. The Association of American Medical Colleges awarded her a Special Recognition Award for exceptional leadership over a 40-year career. She has received numerous honors and recognitions, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) in 1995. A graduate and Alumna Achievement Award recipient as well as former Trustee of Wellesley College, she earned her M.D. from the University of Virginia School of Medicine, the only woman or minority in her class. She completed her postgraduate training in pathology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Pinn has received 17 honorary degrees of science, law, and medicine, and the University of Virginia School of Medicine has named one of its four advisory medical student colleges as

“The Pinn College” in her honor. Tufts University School of Medicine in 2011 announced “The Vivian W. Pinn Office of Student Affairs,” named for her at the time her former medical students dedicated a scholarship in her name. She has held leadership positions in many professional organizations, including president of the National Medical Association (NMA) and is currently chair of the NMA Past Presidents Council. Dr. Pinn currently serves on the Board of Trustees/Advisors of Thomas Jefferson University and Tufts University School of Medicine. She was recently elected to Modern Healthcare’s Hall of Fame, the first African American woman to be so honored, and received the Outstanding Woman Leader in Healthcare Award from the University of Michigan. Dr. Pinn also holds the position of professor at the Institute for Advanced Discovery and Innovation at the University of South Florida.

Kevin Cokley’s research can be broadly categorized in the area of African American psychology, with a focus on racial and ethnic identity development, academic motivation, and academic achievement. A theme of much of his research is understanding the psychological and environmental factors that impact African American student achievement. Dr. Cokley’s research and scholarship have led him to challenge the notion that African American students are anti-intellectual, and to critically reexamine the impact of racial and ethnic identity and gender on academic achievement. Recently he has started exploring the impostor phenomenon and its relationship to mental health and academic outcomes among ethnic minority students.

Dr. Cokley’s publications have appeared in professional journals such as the Journal of Counseling Psychology, Journal of Black Psychology, Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, Individual Differences and Personality, Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, Educational and Psychological Measurement, and the Harvard Educational Review.

He has a joint appointment in the College of Education’s Department of Educational Psychology and the College of Liberal Arts’ Department of African and African Diaspora Studies. He is the past editor-in-chief of the Journal of Black Psychology and the director of the Institute for Urban Policy Research & Analysis.

Dr. Cokley has written several op-eds in major media outlets, including the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Dallas Morning News, San Antonio Express, The American Prospect, The Huffington Post, The Conversation, and The Hill on topics such as Blacks rational mistrust of police, police shootings of Blacks,

the aftermath of Ferguson, the use of school vouchers, racial disparities in school discipline, and Black students graduation rates.

Michellene Davis is a trailblazing leader and passionate voice for equity. A trial attorney by training, she spent her earliest years in public service representing disenfranchised members of the most vulnerable populations. An effective advocate and researcher, she became the first African American to serve as chief policy counsel within the New Jersey Governor’s Office.

Prior to making history in the Governor’s Office, Ms. Davis broke barriers in the New Jersey Department of the Treasury where, as the first African American woman state treasurer, she created the Treasury’s first Office of Supplier Diversity and Division of Minority and Women-Owned Businesses in order to ensure equal access to revenue-generating opportunities for women and minority-owned businesses.

Before being appointed acting state treasurer, Ms. Davis was the youngest executive director and CEO of the New Jersey Lottery, where she generated record-setting revenue numbers. As a result of her financial achievements, the state of New Jersey was able to increase its General Fund contribution to education and state-run veterans homes. She was also the first woman and first person of color to rise to the executive vice president level at one of the largest health-care systems in the country.

An internationally requested speaker, she is an inspiring orator with a natural ability to connect and communicate while simultaneously challenging audiences. Her talents are surpassed only by her personal story. Beyond being a woman of numerous career “firsts,” she has persevered through personal losses and adversity and continued to excel.

Ms. Davis has received national recognition for her professional accomplishments. In 2016, she received the Evangelina Menendez Trailblazer Award from U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, and she was also the recipient of the Corporate Sector Award from the New Jersey Women Lawyers Association. Previously, she was named the 2015 LUPE Amiga of the Year, the 2014 Business Advocate of the Year by the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and she was selected as one of The Network Journal’s 2014 Top 25 Most Influential Black Women in Business.

Ms. Davis is also active in her civic community. She serves as a member of the Board of Governors of Rowan University/Rutgers – Camden; a member of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center Women’s Board; a member of the Board of Directors of the Caucus Educational Trust; a member of the Board of Executive Women of New Jersey (EWNJ); and a trustee of the

New Jersey Women Lawyers Association and the New Jersey Legislative Black Caucus Foundation.

Ms. Davis began her legal career as a trial litigator. She is an honors graduate of Seton Hall University, and she holds a juris doctorate from Seton Hall School of Law.

Garth Graham is a leading authority on social determinants of health. President of the Aetna Foundation and vice president of Community Health for Aetna, Inc., he is also a cardiologist and public health expert. Dr. Graham oversees the community health initiatives for the Aetna Foundation and Aetna, Inc., bringing his experience as a former deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the Obama and Bush administrations, where he also ran the Office of Minority Health. He directed the development of the federal government’s first National Health Disparities Plan released under the Obama administration. Dr. Graham has been a contributor to The Hill, the Chicago Tribune, Fortune, Quartz, Health Affairs, and Ebony, and has been featured in Essence, CNN, and The New York Times, among others. His original research has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, American Journal of Public Health, Health Affairs, and other publications. Along with his role at the Aetna Foundation, Dr. Graham is a clinical associate professor of medicine at the University of Connecticut. Prior to joining the Foundation, in his role as the assistant dean for health policy at the University of Florida School of Medicine, he led several research initiatives looking at how to improve outcomes and readmission rates in cardiac patients in underserved populations. He contributes to several boards, including being named by the president to the U.S. Federal Coordinating Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research, the Institute of Medicine Board on Population Health, the American Heart Association/American Stroke Associational National Quality Oversight Committee, the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Data Standards, and many others. Dr. Graham holds a medical degree from Yale School of Medicine, a master’s in public health from Yale School of Public Health, and a bachelor of science in biology from Florida International University in Miami. He completed clinical training in cardiology and interventional cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Johns Hopkins. He holds three board certifications: internal medicine, cardiology, and interventional cardiology.

Thomas A. Vance is a counseling psychologist, scholar, and researcher with over a decade of clinical experience, specializing in interdisciplinary psychology, collaborating with unrepresented communities in using their voice through necessary skills training. He currently serves as the director of implementation social services at the Boys and Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), where he is the lead social services expert, overseeing youth outreach and intervention programs around trauma-informed practices and safety and planning. Dr. Vance is also a visiting research scholar at the Schools for Public Engagement at the New School in New York City and the clinical director of his private practice, AdVance Perspectives, providing therapeutic care in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Vance utilizes evidence-based therapies to assist clients manage anxiety, mood disorders, behavioral symptoms, as well as sexual/gender concerns. As every client’s background is unique, Dr. Vance believes in utilizing a social justice, intersectional, and multicultural framework to recognize the importance of one’s identities in psychological development.

Prior to his time at the BGCA, Dr. Vance completed his teaching postdoctoral psychology fellowship at the New School for Social Research. Dr. Vance also completed his clinical and research postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), working within the Columbia Gender Identity Program. He received his doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of Akron in 2018. Amidst other commitments, Dr. Vance serves as a member of the Presidential Task Force on Advancing Social and Emotional Development of Black Boys through Research, Advocacy, and Community Engagement, as well as the co-chair of the American Psychological Association (APA), Division 17, and Diversity Committee member of APA, Division 53.

Dr. Vance’s professional experiences have centered on uplifting social justice efforts with scientific evidence, while also ensuring scientific advancements are analyzed with multicultural considerations. His expertise lies in multivariate identity development, extensively working with individuals from marginalized backgrounds. His clinical and research-based practices examine the nature of stigmatized experiences, concentrating on their implications for psychosocial functioning—such as health and self-concept—and their intersections across axes of inequality.

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