Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine

Cato T. Laurencin

Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D. is the University Professor at the University of Connecticut (one of only two at the school). He earned his B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from Princeton, his Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology from M.I.T., and his M.D., Magna Cum Laude, from the Harvard Medical School.

In science, Dr. Laurencin is the pioneer of the field of Regenerative Engineering. He is an expert in biomaterials science, stem cell technology, nanotechnology and morphogenesis and has worked in the Convergence of these areas. The American Institute of Chemical Engineers created the Cato T. Laurencin Regenerative Engineering Founder’s Award recognizing his pioneering efforts. In receiving the Spingarn Medal, the highest honor of the NAACP, he was named the world’s foremost engineer-physician-scientist. The American Association for the Advancement of Science awarded Dr. Laurencin the Philip Hauge Abelson Prize given ‘for signal contributions to the advancement of science in the United States’. He received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the nation’s highest honor for technological achievement, in ceremonies at the White House.

Dr. Laurencin is committed to mentoring students. He is the first recipient of all the principal awards for mentoring in America: the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Mentor Award, the Beckman Award for Mentoring, and the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Math and Engineering, in ceremonies at the White House. The University of Connecticut established the Cato T. Laurencin Scholars Award, while the Society for Biomaterials established the Cato T. Laurencin Travel Fellowship Award for underrepresented and excluded students.

A champion of social justice, Dr. Laurencin received the Herbert W. Nickens Award from the American Association of Medical Colleges and is the Founding Chair of the W. Montague Cobb/NMA Health Institute, dedicated to addressing Health Disparities. He is the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. He conceived the IDEAL (Inclusion, Diversity, Anti-Racism and Learning) Path as a blueprint for a just and fair society. He received the Hoover Medal given in recognition of “great, unselfish, non-technical services by engineers to humanity” for his work in social justice.

Dr. Laurencin is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), and a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the first person to receive both the oldest/highest award of the National Academy of Engineering (the Simon Ramo Founder’s Award) and one of the oldest/highest awards of the National Academy of Medicine (the Walsh McDermott Medal). Renowned internationally, he is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences India, the Indian National Academy of Engineering, the Benin Academy of Sciences and Arts, the African Academy of Sciences, The World Academy of Sciences, and is an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering

Olujimi Ajijola

Olujimi A. Ajijola, MD., PhD is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Medicine-Cardiology, and Molecular, Cellular, & Integrative Physiology at the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA). He serves as Director of the Neurocardiology Research Program and Co-Director of the UCLA-Caltech Medical Scientist Training Program. Dr. Ajijola received his B.A. with Distinction from the University of Virginia, his medical degree from Duke University, and his Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology from UCLA. His clinical training in internal medicine and cardiovascular diseases/cardiac electrophysiology were performed at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School and at UCLA, respectively. His clinical and research interests revolve around innovative methods to control life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias by modulating the autonomic nervous system. His lab utilizes cutting edge electrical, genetic, and computational tools to examine how cardiac injury remodels the autonomic nervous system, and how this dysregulation drives arrhythmogenesis. He is also an alumnus of the National Academies’ New Voices Program, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Medical Fellows Program, a recipient of the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (DP2), and a Young Physician Scientist Award from the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He is involved in several national initiatives to diversify the medical and scientific workforce.

Gilda A. Barabino

Gilda A. Barabino, PhD is President of Olin College of Engineering. Previously, she served as the Daniel and Frances Berg Professor and Dean of Engineering at The City College of New York’s (CCNY) Grove School of Engineering. Prior to joining CCNY, she served as Associate Chair for Graduate Studies and Professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory. At Georgia Tech she also served as the inaugural Vice Provost for Academic Diversity. Prior to Georgia Tech and Emory, she rose to the rank of Full Professor of Chemical Engineering and served as Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at Northeastern University. She is a noted investigator in the areas of sickle cell disease, cellular and tissue engineering, and the role of race/ethnicity and gender in science and engineering. Her many honors include an honorary degree from Xavier University of Louisiana and the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, and she is a Fellow of several scientific societies. Dr. Barabino is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She chairs the National Academies Committee on Women in Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and is President-elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Charles R. Bridges, Jr.

Charles R. Bridges, M.D., Sc.D., is the Chief Technology Officer and Head of Cross Enterprise Innovation for the Cardiovascular/Metabolism/Retina and Pulmonary Hypertension Therapeutic Areas at Janssen Pharmaceuticals, where he leads the development of novel therapeutic and diagnostic devices and novel applications of advanced data science/analytics. His group helped develop two technologies for the early diagnosis of pulmonary arterial hypertension that are on track to achieve FDA approval in Q3 2021 and Q1 2022.

From January 2018 to June 2020, he was Global Chief Technology Officer for the Pulmonary Hypertension Therapeutic Area. From 2015 through January 2018, Dr. Bridges was Global Vice President and the Cardiovascular Therapeutic Area Expert for Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices. He served as the scientific lead for nearly $1Bn of high-profile medical device investments and acquisitions. He was the JNJ scientific lead on the acquisition of the Ireland-based neurovascular business, Neuravi in 2017- now Johnson & Johnson’s fastest growing medical device business. He spearheaded JNJ’s $40M lead investment in CVRx in 2016, leading in August 2019 to the world’s first FDA approved neuromodulation device to treat heat failure. CVRx went public in June 2021 (CVRX) and is listed on NASDAQ. He is Chief Medical Advisor, angel investor and co-inventor of foundational technology for MindMics, Inc., a wireless earbud technology that uses infrasound to monitor cardiac rhythm and hemodynamics far more precisely than any other wearable in the world, leading to an oral presentation at the Heart Rhythm Society in July 2021 in Boston.

Dr. Bridges was the first African American Full Professor of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the Bioengineering Graduate Group; Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Pennsylvania Hospital, and Professor and Chairman of the Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery at Carolina’s HealthCare System with the University of North Carolina. Dr. Bridges has received more than $10 million in continuous National Institutes of Health (NIH) RO1 funding, has over 170 peer-reviewed publications and 15 patents (issued and pending). He served as a regular member of the Bioengineering, Technology and Surgical Sciences Study Section of NIH from 2010-2014, and was past Chairman of the Cardiovascular Committee of the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy. Dr. Bridges invented “molecular cardiac surgery” arguably the most efficient method for vector mediated gene transfer to the heart of large animals. He is co-founder of CardioMyogen, LLC, an early-stage Biotech company developing novel genetic therapies for muscular dystrophy and heart failure.

Dr. Bridges received A.B. in Engineering and Applied Physics from Harvard College magna cum laude at age 19 after entering Harvard Medical School at age 18 in the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, graduating with honors for the MD degree. He received a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a Doctor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a Whittaker Health Sciences Fellow. He competed in the 2016 World (Rubik’s) Cube Association US Nationals.

Cedric Bright

Dr. Cedric M. Bright is the Associate Dean for Admissions, Professor of Internal Medicine, and the interim Associate Dean of Diversity and Inclusion at the Brody School of Medicine in Greenville NC. He served as President of the National Medical Association from 2011 to 2012, advocating in the White House for health equity, increased diversity in clinical trials, and increasing the pipeline of students of color into health careers. He is a member of AOA, the Order of the Golden Fleece and serves on the boards of the National Medical Fellowship Inc. as well as the W. Montague Cobb Health Policy Institute. He serves on the roundtable of Black Men and Women in STEM for the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine and has presented numerous grand rounds on the impact of Covid 19 on the black community.

L.D. Britt

Dr. Britt, a graduate of Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health, is the Henry Ford Professor and Edward J. Brickhouse Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Eastern Virginia Medical School. He is the author of more than 300 scientific publications and three books, including a recent edition of the highly touted Acute Care Surgery. He serves on numerous editorial boards, including the Annals of Surgery, Archives of Surgery, World Journal of Surgery, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, the American Journal of Surgery (Associate Editor), the Journal of Trauma, Shock, Journal of Surgical Education, the American Surgeon, and others. In addition, he is a reviewer for the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Britt has received numerous awards for public service. Dr. Britt is the recipient of the 2010 Colgate Darden Citizen of the Year Award and the 2011 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Community Award. Atlanta Post recently highlighted him as one of the top 21 black doctors in America. Ebony magazine recently listed him as one of the most influential African Americans in the nation. At the 2012 annual meeting of the American Surgical Association, Dr. Britt became the 132nd President of the organization. He was conferred an Honorary Doctorate from three universities. Dr. Britt was also elected to the position of Commissioner of The Joint commission (formerly JACHO). In 2012, he was conferred an Honorary Fellowship in the French Academy of Surgery, and the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa. Dr. Britt has the rare distinction of receiving the highest honor given by each of the four Royal Colleges in the United Kingdom – England, Edinburg, Ireland, and Glasgow. Dr. Britt was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2016. In addition, he was also honored by the American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators as a founding member. Also, Dr. Britt received the rare distinction by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the Board of Regents of the American College of Critical Care Medicine of being designated as a true “Master” in the discipline of critical care medicine.

Andre L. Churchwell

André L. Churchwell was named Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity & Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer for Vanderbilt University in May 2020. He previously held the offices in an interim capacity until June 2019. In order to devote more time to his Vanderbilt University diversity role, in July 2021, Dr. Churchwell stepped down from his position as Chief Diversity Officer for Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Senior Associate Dean for Diversity Affairs at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine which he held since 2014. In addition to his diversity role, Dr. Churchwell is a Professor of Medicine (Cardiology), a Professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, and a Professor of Biomedical Engineering. He has served on many medical school committees including the Admission and Promotion Committees. In 2005, he was named the Walter R. Murray Jr. Distinguished Alumnus by the Association of Vanderbilt Black Alumni for lifetime achievements in personal, professional and community arenas. And in 2015, Vanderbilt University endowed him with the Levi Watkins, Jr., M.D. Chair for achievements in the area of diversity and inclusion.

Churchwell graduated from the Vanderbilt School of Engineering magna cum laude in 1975. He won the Biomedical Engineering Student Program Award that same year. He received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1979 and later completed his internship, residency and cardiology fellowship at Emory University School of Medicine and affiliated hospitals in Atlanta. In addition, he was the first African American chief medical resident at Grady Memorial Hospital (1984–1985).
Churchwell received the J. Willis Hurst Award for Best Clinical Teacher in 1991 from Emory and in 2004 he was named the Emory University School of Medicine Resident Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award winner. For the past ten years he has been named one of the nation's top ardiologists in “The Best Doctors in America.”

In 1986, while at Emory, he was also named Most Outstanding House Officer, made an honorary Morehouse Medical School class member and he received a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Minority Medical Faculty Development Award.

In 2010, he was awarded The Distinguished Alumnus Award of Vanderbilt University School of Engineering. Along with his physician brothers Kevin and Keith, he received the 2011 Trumpet Award for Medicine.

In 2012 and 2013, The Vanderbilt University Organization of Black Graduate and Professional Students (OBGAPS) honored Dr. Churchwell with one of the organization’s first Distinguished Faculty Awards. He was also recognized with an American Registry Most Compassionate Doctor Award. From 2010-2013 on, he has been awarded the Professional Research Consultants’ Five-Star Excellence Award—Top 10% Nationally for “Excellent” Responses for Medical Specialty Services and Overall Quality.

Furthermore, he was elected in 2012 to serve as the southern representative for the Group on Diversity and Inclusion for the AAMC (American Association of Medical Colleges). In 2013, he helped create The Hurst-Logue-Wenger Cardiovascular Fellows Society (HLWCFS) of Emory University School of Medicine and was elected the first President of HLWCFS. In 2014, he was named one of the “Top 15 Most Influential African-American Health Educators” by Black Health Magazine. In addition, Vanderbilt University Medical Center has been named by BlackDoctor.org as a Top Hospital for Diversity from 2018-2020.

Dr. Churchwell served on the Board of Trustees for Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee from 2015 to 2020. In 2016, he was named to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) for his work in biomedical engineering education. And in 2017, he received the Vanderbilt University Pioneer in Diversity Award.

Dr. Churchwell has served on the editorial board of a number of peer-reviewed journals and has served as a reviewer for the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, and the Biomedical Engineering Society’s (BMES) internationally recognized Cardiovascular Engineering and Technology Journal.

Churchwell lives in Brentwood, Tenn., and is married to Doreatha Henderson Churchwell, a retired nurse educator at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. They have two children: Crystal A. Churchwell and André L. Churchwell Jr.

Theodore Corbin

Dr. Corbin is Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Drexel University College of Medicine. He also serves as the Founder and Medical Director of “Healing Hurt People,” an emergency department based, trauma-informed intervention for victims of intentional injury which has been implemented at five level one trauma centers in Philadelphia. Dr. Corbin also co-Directs the Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice at the Dornsife Drexel University School of Public Health, where he holds a joint appointment in the Department of Health Management and Policy. Dr. Corbin is Board Certified in Emergency Medicine. Dr. Corbin’s research focuses broadly on addressing the trauma in the lives of victims of violence, especially boys and men of color for whom violence is a leading cause of disability and death. He has received funding from the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Annie E. Casey Foundation to explore the impact of PTSD on violently injured youth and young adults, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention that he developed Healing Hurt People. He is also the principal investigator on a Department of Justice/Office for Victims of Crime grant to develop and test a community health worker peer training institute, designed to enhance and diversity the health care workforce. Over the past 10 years, Dr. Corbin has received in excess of $9 million in funding for his translastional work as a principal investigator. More recently, Dr. Corbin as co-investigator was the recipient of the Robert Wood Johnson Forward Promise Initiative as well as the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to support the work for boys and men of color. Dr. Corbin has received a number of honors including a Soros Physician Advocacy Fellowship from the Open Society Foundation and a Stoneleigh Foundation Fellowship to support his career development in serving the needs of vulnerable children and youth. He was also selected as one of Philadelphia’s 40 under 40 Leaders in 2006.Dr. Corbin provided expert testimony to the Defending Childhood Task Force, charged by Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney General to speak on his work in addressing adversity and violence in urban youth. Dr. Corbin has also provided practice-based evidence to the National Academy of Medicine on public health approaches to violence intervention.

George Q. Daley

Dr. Daley is Dean and Caroline Shields Walker Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is also Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology. Prior to becoming Dean, he was the Director of the Pediatric Stem Cell Transplantation Program at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Daley received his AB, magna cum laude, from Harvard (1982), a Ph.D. in biology from MIT (1989), working with Nobel laureate David Baltimore, and his MD, summa cum laude, from Harvard Medical School (1991). Daley pursued clinical training in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he served as chief resident (1994-1995), and a clinical fellowship in heme/onc at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Children’s Hospitals. He remains a staff member in Pediatric Hematology/ Oncology at Boston Children’s Hospital. Daley’s research uses mouse and human disease models to study cancer and blood disorders. Daley has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the American Association of Physicians, the American Pediatric Societies, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was an inaugural winner of the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award (2004) and has won the E. Donnall Thomas Prize of the American Society of Hematology. He was a founding executive committee member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, served as president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (2007-2008), and anchored the special task forces that produced the society’s guidelines for stem cell research and clinical translation (2006, 2008, 2016). He was on the organizing committee for both the 2015 and 2018 International Summits on Human Genome Editing and has advocated publicly for responsible international guidelines for attempts at germline genome editing.

Wayne A. Frederick

Dr. Frederick is Howard University’s 17th president. His goal is to enhance the Howard University legacy, ensure that the University maximizes its impact, and that its students receive a well-rounded educational experience. As an undergraduate student, Frederick was admitted to Howard’s rigorous B.S./M.D. dual degree program. He completed the requirements for both the B.S. and M.D. degree in 6 years, allowing him to earn both degrees by the age of 22. He also received a Master of Business Administration degree from Howard University’s School of Business in 2011. Dr. Frederick continues to
operate and lecture actively; the focal point of his medical research is to narrow the disparity in all cancer-care outcomes, with a focus on gastrointestinal cancers. A distinguished researcher and surgeon, Dr. Frederick has also received various awards honoring his scholarship and service. In January 2017, the Federal Reserve System Board of Governors elected Dr. Frederick to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s Baltimore Branch, and in May 2016, President Barack H. Obama elected Dr. Frederick to the Board of Advisors for the White House Initiative on historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). In April 2016, Dr. Frederick became a member of the American Surgical Association, known as the nation's oldest and most prestigious surgical organization.

Paula T. Hammond

Dr. Hammond is a chemical engineer recognized for her work in the assembly of macromolecules to generate nanostructured materials. She is known for her use of electrostatics and other complementary interactions to create functional systems with highly controlled architectures for electrochemical and biomedical applications. Her research in nanomedicine encompasses the development of new biomaterials to enable drug delivery from surfaces with spatio-temporal control. Dr. Hammond was born in Detroit, Michigan, and attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for her Bachelor’s degree, followed by an M.S. from the Georgia Institute of Technology and received her Ph.D. from MIT, all in Chemical Engineering. She joined the faculty at MIT in 1995 and is the David H. Koch Chair Professor of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering and a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. Professor Hammond is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Medicine, as well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Prof. Hammond’s work has encompassed the development of new biomaterials using directed and self-assembly of polymers, including drug delivery systems containing biologic protein and nucleic acid based therapeutics, and coatings to promote tissue regeneration. Areas of application have included targeted cancer nanomedicine, vaccines, drug releasing biomedical implants, and growth factor and siRNA release for wound healing and bone regeneration. Previous work has also included self-assembled materials systems for electrochemical energy devices, including photovoltaics, fuel cells, and batteries. , and has developed self-assembled materials systems for electrochemical energy devices.

Evelynn M. Hammonds

Professor Hammonds 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 2008-2013 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. Professor 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. Professor Hammonds’ current research focuses on diversity in STEM fields; the intersection of scientific, medical and socio-political concepts of race in the United States; and genetics and society. Prof. Hammonds 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.

Lynne M. Holden

Lynne M. Holden, M.D. is the co-founder and President of Mentoring in Medicine, Inc. (MIM). MIM is a national health and science youth development nonprofit organization. The mission of MIM is to expose, inspire, educate and equip students to become biomedical professionals through academic enrichment, leadership development, civic engagement and mentoring. MIM has reached nearly 52,000 students, parents and educators from elementary school through medical school and recruited 1,500 health and science volunteers. Dr. Holden provides the overall leadership, creates the organizational strategy, recruits volunteers, facilitates program development and establishes collaborative partnerships.

Dr. Holden earned her B.S. in Zoology from Howard University, graduated from Temple University School of Medicine and completed her residency in Emergency Medicine at the Jacobi/Montefiore Emergency Medicine Residency Program. She is a practicing Emergency Department Physician at Montefiore Health System in the Bronx, NY. She is a Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she has served as a Co-chair of the Admissions Committee and in various leadership positions in the Emergency Medicine Residency Program, the largest in the country. Dr. Holden serves on several national boards including the Friends of the National Library of Medicine and the CUNY School of Medicine. She is active in the National Medical Association on the local, regional and national levels. She is a Deacon at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, NY and a member of Delta Sigma Theta, Inc.

Mentoring in Medicine has earned sixty press features including JET, Essence, CNN, the New York Times and FOX News. Dr. Holden has published extensively and received numerous awards for her work, including the Maybelline NY-Essence Empowerment through Education Award (2007), Society of Academic Emergency Visionary Educator Award (2008), Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Community Health Leader (2009), Washington Post Root 100 Leader (2010), Lifetime TV Remarkable Woman (2010), American Medical Association Inspirational Physician (2016) and the United Hospital Fund Distinguished Community Service Award (2019).

Camara P. Jones

Camara Phyllis Jones, MD, MPH, PhD is the 2019-2020 Evelyn Green Davis Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and the 144th President of the American Public Health Association (2016). She is a family physician and epidemiologist whose work focuses on naming, measuring, and addressing the impacts of racism on the health and well-being of the nation. She seeks to broaden the national health debate to include not only universal access to high quality health care, but also attention to the social determinants of health (including poverty) and the social determinants of equity (including racism).

Dr. Jones is a public health leader valued for her creativity and intellectual agility. As a methodologist, she has developed new methods for comparing full distributions of data, rather than simply comparing means or proportions, in order to investigate population-level risk factors and propose population-level interventions. As a social epidemiologist, her work on "race"-associated differences in health outcomes goes beyond simply documenting those differences to vigorously investigating the structural causes of the differences. As a teacher, her allegories on "race" and racism illuminate topics that are otherwise difficult for many Americans to understand or discuss. She aims through her work to catalyze a National Campaign Against Racism that will mobilize and engage all Americans.

Dr. Jones was an Assistant Professor at the Harvard School of Public Health (1994 to 2000) before being recruited to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2000 to 2014), where she served as a Medical Officer and Research Director on Social Determinants of Health and Equity. Most recently, she was a Senior Fellow at the Satcher Health Leadership Institute and the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the Morehouse School of Medicine (2013 to 2019). She has been elected to service on many professional boards, including her current service on the Board of Directors of the DeKalb County (Georgia) Board of Health and the National Board of Public Health Examiners.

She is also actively sought as a contributor to national efforts to eliminate health disparities and achieve health equity, including as a faculty member of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s Pursuing Excellence in the Clinical Learning Environment collaborative addressing Health Care Disparities, as a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine, and as a Project Advisor and on-screen expert for the groundbreaking film series Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?

Highly valued as a mentor and teacher, she is also an Adjunct Professor at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Morehouse School of Medicine. Her honors include the Wellesley Alumnae Achievement Award (Wellesley College’s highest alumnae honor, 2018), the John Snow Award (given in recognition of “enduring contributions to public health through epidemiologic methods and practice” by the American Public Health Association’s Epidemiology Section, 2011), and awards named after luminaries David Satcher (2003), Hildrus A. Poindexter (2009), Paul Cornely (2016), Shirley Nathan Pulliam (2016), Louis Stokes (2018), Frances Borden-Hubbard (2018), and Cato T. Laurencin (2018).

Dr. Jones earned her BA in Molecular Biology from Wellesley College, her MD from the Stanford University School of Medicine, and both her Master of Public Health and her PhD in Epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. She also completed residency training in General Preventive Medicine at Johns Hopkins and in Family Practice at the Residency Program in Social Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center.

Cora B. Marrett

Dr. Marrett is the former deputy director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), a position she held from 2011 to 2014. She previously held the position of senior advisor (2009 -2011), except for six months when she served as the foundation’s acting director. She has also been a professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin, where she has held tenure since 1974; she took leave from the university in 2007 to join the NSF as assistant director for education and human resources. From 1992 to 1996 Dr. Marrett was assistant director for social, behavioral, and economic sciences at the NSF. From 1996 to 1998 she served by appointment on the Board of Governors of the Argonne National Laboratory and was a member of a peer-review oversight group for the National Institutes of Health. From 1997 to 2001, she was provost, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, and a professor of sociology and Afro-American studies at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Throughout her career, Dr. Marrett has worked to expand opportunities for minorities. she is credited with having brought scholars of color into the field of sociology and with working actively to improve conditions of inequality revealed by sociological research. Dr. Marrett earned a B.A. in sociology from Virginia Union University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees, also in sociology, from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She received an honorary doctorate from Wake Forest University in 1996 and from Virginia Union University in 2011. She was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996 and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1998. In 2008 the American Sociological Association recognized her many contributions with the Johnson-Cox-Frazier Award, and the Wisconsin Alumni Association honored her with its Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012. She is a member of the Board of Visitors of the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Letters and Science.

Valerie Montgomery Rice

Dr. Montgomery Rice, provides a valuable combination of experience at the highest levels of patient care and medical research, as well as organizational management and public health policy. Marrying her transformational leadership acumen and strategic thinking to tackle challenging management issues, she has a track record of redesigning complex organizations’ infrastructures to reflect the needs of evolving strategic environments and position the organization for success through sustainability tactics. The sixth president of Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) and the first woman to lead the freestanding medical institution., Montgomery Rice serves as both the president and dean. 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, 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, 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, and board of directors for National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, The Metro Atlanta Chamber, Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine, The Nemours Foundation, UnitedHealth Group, Westside Future Fund, Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, the Association of American Medical Colleges Council of Deans, and Horatio Alger Association. 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 Montgomery Rice as one of the 100 Most Influential Georgians. Other honors include the following: The Turknett Leadership Character Award (2018), Visions of Excellence Award, Atlanta Business League (2018), Links Incorporated Co-Founders Award (2018), Trumpet Vanguard Award (2015), The 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, Montgomery Rice holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology, a medical degree from Harvard Medical School and an honorary degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and 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. Montgomery Rice is married to her fellow Georgia Institute of Technology alumnus, Melvin Rice Jr., and they have two children: Jayne and Melvin III.

Randall C. Morgan, Jr.

Dr. Morgan is the Executive Director of the W. Montague Cobb/NMA Health Institute and an orthopedic surgeon who practices in Sarasota and Bradenton, Florida. He serves as founder and President of University Park Orthopedics in that community. He is also Clinical Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Florida State University School of Medicine. Dr. Morgan also served as the 95th President of the National medical Association during the years 1996 and 1997. He was the first board certified orthopedic surgeon to hold that position. Dr. Morgan is a true pioneer in his profession and was among the first surgeons to perform total joint replacement surgery at Northwestern University. Dr. Morgan has practiced medicine in Evanston, IL, as well as in his hometown of Gary, IN, for more than 30 years prior to his relocation to Sarasota. With the assistance of his father, Mr. Randall C. Morgan, Sr., he founded the Orthopedic Centers of Northwest Indiana and served as its president from 1975 to 1999. The center was once the largest minority-owned orthopedic practice in the United States. He is a Diplomat of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery and the American Board of Managed Care Medicine. He is also a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Elizabeth O. Ofili

Dr. Ofili is Professor of Medicine in Cardiology at the Morehouse School of Medicine and Chief Medical Officer of the Morehouse Choice Accountable Care Organization. She is a national and internationally recognized clinician scientist with particular focus on cardiovascular disparities and women’s health. Dr. Ofili has been continuously funded by the NIH and industry/foundations since 1994, with a track record in clinical trials that impact health disparities. In 2002, as president of the Association of Black Cardiologists, she led the initiative to implement the landmark African American Heart Failure Trial, whose findings led to a change in practice guidelines for the treatment of heart failure in African Americans. Over the past 17 years, she has led the growth of the clinical research infrastructure and training programs at Morehouse School of Medicine with awards totaling over $150 million, including serving as the founding director of the U54 center of clinical research excellence, the community physicians network, the U54 Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Center of Excellence for Clinical and Translational Research, and the R25 clinical research education and career development program. Dr. Ofili has mentored over 30 M.D. and Ph.D. clinical and translational science investigators, many of who remain at MSM. She has mentored over 25 underrepresented minority STEM undergraduates and high school students through funding from NASA and the Minority Biomedical Research Students program. She is the senior co-PI of the Atlanta Clinical and Translational Science Institute (ACTSI), a citywide collaborative Clinical and Translational Science Awards program at Emory University, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Georgia Institute of Technology, along with their partnering health systems and statewide research organizations. Since 2007, ACTSI has engaged over 673 investigators, and 134 postdoctoral and predoctoral trainees in discovery science, training, and community engagement. Dr. Ofili has led successful multi-institutional collaborations through the ACTSI and the RCMI Translational Research Network of 18 historically Black, Hispanic, and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) across the nation, and was lead author of a publication on models of partnerships between HBCUs/MSIs and research intensive institutions. Dr. Ofili holds a patent for "A system and method for chronic illness care," and is the recipient of over 20 national and international awards, including the 2003 National Library of Medicine's “Changing the Face of Medicine, the Rise of America's Women,” the Daniel Savage Memorial Science Award from the Association of Black Cardiologists, America's Top Doctors by Black Enterprise Magazine and 100 Most influential health care leaders by Atlanta Business Chronicle. She has delivered over 600 scientific presentations and published over 130 scientific papers in national and international journals. As an AAMC 2007 Council of Dean Fellow, Dr. Ofili led a project on best practices to sustaining the biomedical and physician workforce. She has advised the NIH on diversity in the biomedical research workforce, and currently serves on the Advisory Board of the National Clinical Center (NIH), and on the AAMC advisory panel on research. She is an elected member of the Association of University Cardiologists, and is on the board of directors of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute.

Vivian W. Pinn

Dr. Pinn was the first full-time Director of the 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 “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, Institute for Advanced Discovery and Innovation at the University of South Florida.

Joan Y. Reede

Dr. Reede is the Dean for Diversity and Community Partnership and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS). Dr. Reede also holds appointments as Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and is an Assistant in Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Reede is responsible for the development and management of a comprehensive program that provides leadership, guidance, and support to promote the increased recruitment, retention, and advancement of underrepresented minority, women, LGBT, and faculty with disabilities at HMS. This charge includes oversight of all diversity activities at HMS as they relate to faculty, trainees, students, and staff. Dr. Reede also serves as the director of the Minority Faculty Development Program; program director of the Faculty Diversity Program of the Harvard Catalyst/The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center, and chair of the HMS Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion. Dr. Reede has served on a number of boards and committees including the Secretary’s Advisory Committee to the Director of the National Institutes of Health; the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce; the National Children’s Study Advisory Committee of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the Advisory Committee to the Deputy Director for Intramural Research of the National Institutes of Health. Some of her past affiliations include the Steering Committee and Task Force for the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS); past co-chair of the Bias Review Committee of the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director’s Working Group on Diversity; the Association of American Medical Colleges Careers in Medicine Committee (AAMC); past chair of the AAMC Group on Diversity and Inclusion (GDI). Dr. Reede served on the editorial board of the American Journal of Public Health, and she was the guest editor for the AAMC 2012 special issue, “Diversity and Inclusion in Academic Medicine” of Academic Medicine. She is a past chair of the National Academy of Medicine’s Interest Group 08 on Health of Populations/Health Disparities. In 2018, Dr. Reede was appointed to the National Advisory Council on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NACMHD). Dr. Reede is an authority in the area of workforce development and diversity. Her colleagues and mentees have recognized her with a number of awards that include the Herbert W. Nickens Award from AAMC and the Society of General Medicine in 2005; election to the National Academy of Medicine in 2009; the 2011 Diversity Award from the Association of University Professors; and in 2012 she was the recipient of an Elizabeth Hurlock Beckman Trust Award. In 2013 she received an Exemplar STEM Award from the Urban Education Institute at North Carolina A & T University in Greensboro, North Carolina, and in 2015, she was the Distinguished Woman Scientist and Scholar ADVANCE Lecturer at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. Dr. Reede was recognized by her medical school classmates as a recipient of The Mount Sinai Alumni Association and Icahn School of Medicine 2015 Jacobi Medallion for extraordinary leaders in health care, and in 2017 she was nominated by her peers, and received a Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health Alumni Award.

Louis W. Sullivan

Louis W. Sullivan, M.D., is chairman of the Washington, D.C.-based Sullivan Alliance to Transform America’s Health Professions. He served as chair of the President’s Commission on Historically Black Colleges and Universities from 2002-2009 and was co-chair of the President’s Commission on HIV and AIDS from 2001-2006. As secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) from 1989 to 1993, he released Healthy People 2000 (a blueprint for health promotion/disease prevention), waged a vigorous campaign against tobacco use, urged increased seat belt use in vehicles, and improved FDA food labels. In 1975 Dr. Sullivan was the founding dean and president of Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) serving for more than two decades. He is now President Emeritus.

A native of Atlanta, Dr. Sullivan graduated magna cum laude from Morehouse College and earned his medical degree, cum laude, from Boston University School of Medicine. His postgraduate training included internship and residency in internal medicine at New York Hospital – Cornell Medical Center (1958-60), a clinical fellowship in pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital (1960-61), and a research fellowship in hematology at the Thorndike Memorial Laboratory of Harvard Medical School, Boston City Hospital (1961-63). He is certified in internal medicine and hematology.

He has served on the faculties of Harvard Medical School, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and Boston University School of Medicine. He is the author (with Marybeth Gasman) of (a) The Morehouse Mystique: Becoming a Doctor at the Nation’s Newest African American Medical School, published in 2012 by the Johns Hopkins University Press and his autobiography (b) Breaking Ground: My Life in Medicine (with David Chanoff), published in 2014 by the University of Georgia Press.

He and his wife, attorney E. Ginger Sullivan, have three children: Paul Sullivan, MD, a radiologist on the faculty of the University of Texas-Southwestern School of Medicine (Dallas); Shanta Sullivan, an actress (Los Angeles) and Halsted Sullivan, Executive Producer of Central Park, an animated movie on Apple-TV (Los Angeles).

Hannah A. Valantine

Dr. Valantine received her M.B.B.S. degree (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery; the United Kingdom’s equivalent to an M.D.) from St. George’s Hospital, London University in 1978. After that, she moved to the University of Hong Kong Medical School for specialty training in elective surgery before returning to the U.K. She was awarded a diploma of membership by the Royal College of Physicians (M.R.C.P.) in 1981. In addition, she completed postgraduate training and numerous fellowships, serving as senior house officer in Cardiology at Brompton Hospital and Registrar in Cardiology and General Medicine at Hammersmith Hospital. In 1985, Dr. Valantine moved to the United States for postdoctoral training in cardiology at Stanford University, and in 1988, she received a Doctor of Science (DSc), Medicine, from London University. Dr. Valantine became a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Cardiology Division at Stanford and rose through the academic ranks to become a full Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Director of Heart Transplantation Research. She came to the NHLBI in 2014 to continue her research while also serving as the first NIH Chief Officer of Scientific Workforce Diversity. Dr. Valantine has received numerous awards throughout her career including a Best Doctor in America honor in 2002. She has authored more than 160 primary research articles and reviews and previously served on the editorial boards of the journals Graft and Ethnicity & Disease. Dr. Valantine is a member of the American College of Cardiology, the American Society of Transplant Physicians, and the American Heart Association, and past President of the American Heart Association Western States Affiliate.

Clyde W. Yancy

Dr. Yancy is a cardiologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the chief of Cardiology Medicine and the Magerstadt Professor of Medicine and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Yancy has received recognition for clinical and research expertise in the field of heart failure and has additional interests in cardiomyopathy, heart valve diseases, hypertension and prevention. He is an active member of the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, American College of Physicians and the Heart Failure Society of America. His bibliography includes: over 250 peer-reviewed manuscripts,
numerous book chapters, editorials and review articles, consultations for the FDA, NIH, AHRQ, and PCORI. He has also received numerous Best Physician and Best Teaching Awards.

Mark Alexander

Dr. Alexander is a retired research scientist at the Division of Research (DOR) Kaiser Permanente Northern California. He is the former Assistant Director of the Medical Effectiveness Research Center for Diverse Populations, University of California at San Francisco.Dr. Alexander is an epidemiologist who is committed to improving health outcomes of marginalized communities. The effects of racism and social class on health are of particular interest to Dr. Alexander. He is the National Secretary of 100 Black Men of America, Inc., and is a leader of the organization’s Health and Wellness Committee. He is also an advisor to numerous community organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area. Dr. Alexander has published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, the American Heart Journal, and other peer reviewed journals. Dr. Alexander’s research interests include: cardiovascular disease, geriatric epidemiology and child health. He is currently the Executive Director of Youth Movement, a community based initiative dedicated to improving the health, fitness and well being of Black children. Education: Bachelors Degree, University of California, Santa Cruz, Biology. Masters in Public Health, University of California, Berkeley. PhD, University of California, Berkeley, Epidemiology. Dr. Alexander lives in Oakland, California with his wife Olivia.

Marie A. Bernard

Marie A. Bernard, MD is the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity (COSWD). As COSWD, she leads NIH thought regarding the science of scientific workforce diversity, assuring that the full range of talent is accessed to promote scientific creativity and innovation, both intramurally and extramurally. Dr. Bernard also co-leads NIH’s newly announced 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 (NIA). As NIA’s senior geriatrician, she served as the principal advisor to the NIA director. She also led a broad range of activities, including co-chairing two Department of Health and Human Services Healthy People 2020/2030 objectives – 1) Older Adults, and 2) Dementias, including Alzheimer’s disease. She co-led the NIH-wide Inclusion Governance Committee that ensures appropriate inclusion of individuals in clinical studies, including by sex/gender, race/ethnicity, and inclusion of children and older adults. She also led the Women of Color Committee of the NIH-wide Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers. Her national leadership in geriatrics research, teaching, and clinical practice has been recognized by the Clark Tibbits award from the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education (2013), and the Donald P Kent award from the Gerontological Society of America (2014). Her work within NIH has been recognized with NIH Director’s awards (2018 and 2019), including the NIH Director’s award for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in 2020.

Dr. Bernard completed her undergraduate education at Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and received her M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. She trained in internal medicine at Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia, where she also served as chief resident. She received additional training through the Association of American Medical Colleges Health Services Research Institute, the Geriatric Education Center of Pennsylvania, and the Wharton School Executive Development program.

Garth N. Graham

Dr. 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 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, Garth 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.

Ian Henry

Dr. Henry is a section head in R&D at Procter & Gamble. A native of Marion, IN, Ian earned his B.A. in chemistry from Earlham College in 2001 and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Purdue University in 2008, where he studied under Dr. M. Daniel Raftery. Currently, Ian leads the Analytical group for P&G’s global Feminine Care business. Prior to Feminine Care, Ian led the Qualitative Mass Spectrometry group in the Trace Analysis Capability and the Analytical Digital Platforms group in corporate R&D. An analytical chemist with a background in bioanalytical NMR Spectroscopy, Ian started his P&G journey in the Beauty business, supporting innovation programs for brands such as Olay, Safeguard, Pantene and Head & Shoulders. During his tenure in Beauty, he was an original member of the Centric Team, a grassroots-led group of black Ph.D. scientists who led fundamental hair studies and value proposition creation that resulted in the startup of focused product initiatives for Consumers of African-Ancestry, most notably Pantene Gold Series, H&S Royal Oils and, more recently, the My Black Is Beautiful brand. The team’s work earned both CTO Pathfinder and P&G Diversity and Inclusion Award honors. In 2016, Ian was selected as a Great Leader Under 40 by LEAD Cincinnati. Beyond work, Ian is the Vice President of the Cincinnati Chapter of NOBCChE and active in the local Cincinnati Section of the ACS, where he is involved in STEM outreach throughout the greater Cincinnati region. Since 2012, Ian has been a member of the Board of Trustees at Earlham College, where he leads the Diversity Committee. He is also a mentor in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, serving since 2010.

John R. Lumpkin

Dr. Lumpkin is President of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation, a position he has held since April 2019. The Foundation seeks to improve the health and well-being of all North Carolinians through a focus on: transforming the health care system (including oral health), expanding access to healthy food, supporting a healthy start in life for children, improving the physical conditions where people live, and strengthening the ability of communities to improve health. Lumpkin most recently served as Senior Vice President, Programs for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). At RWJF, Lumpkin was responsible for the Foundation’s efforts aimed at transforming health and health care systems, ensuring that everyone has access to stable and affordable health care coverage, building leadership, and engaging business toward building a Culture of Health in the United States. These efforts helped to catalyze fundamental changes in health and health care systems to achieve measurably better outcomes for all by maintaining high-quality, effective, and value-laden health care, public health, and population health services. Before joining RWJF in April 2003, Lumpkin served as director of the Illinois Department of Public Health for 12?years. During his more than 17 years with the department, he served as acting director and prior to that as associate director. Lumpkin has participated directly in the health and health care system, first practicing emergency medicine and teaching medical students and residents at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. He is the past chairman of the board of directors of the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, the major teaching hospital of Rutgers University in New Brunswick. After earning his MPH in 1985, he began caring for the more than 12 million people of Illinois as the first African-American director of the state public health agency with more than 1,300 employees in seven regional offices, three laboratories, and locations in Springfield and Chicago. He led improvements to programs dealing with women's and men's health, information and technology, emergency and bioterrorism preparedness, infectious disease prevention and control, immunization, local health department coverage, and the state's laboratory services. Lumpkin is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, American College of Emergency Physicians and the American College of Medical Informatics. He has been chairman of the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics, and served on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Council on Maternal, Infant and Fetal Nutrition, the advisory committee to the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institute of Medicine's Committee on Assuring the Health of the Public in the 21st Century. He has served on the boards of directors for the Public Health Foundation and National Quality Forum, as president of the Illinois College of Emergency Physicians and the Society of Teachers of Emergency Medicine, and as speaker and board of director’s member of the American College of Emergency Physicians. He has received the Arthur McCormack Excellence and Dedication in Public Health Award from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), the Jonas Salk Health Leadership Award, and the Leadership in Public Health Award from the Illinois Public Health Association. Lumpkin also has been the recipient of the Bill B. Smiley Award, Alan Donaldson Award, African American History Maker, and Public Health Worker of the Year of the Illinois Public Health Association. He is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters. Lumpkin earned his MD and BMS degrees from Northwestern University Medical School and his MPH from the University Of Illinois School Of Public Health. He was the first African-American trained in emergency medicine in the country after completing his residency at the University of Chicago. He has served on the faculty of the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and University of Illinois at Chicago.

Shirley M. Malcom

Dr. Malcom is Head of Education and Human Resources Programs of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The directorate includes AAAS programs in education, activities for underrepresented groups, and public understanding of science and technology. Dr. Malcom was head of the AAAS Office of Opportunities in Science from 1979 to 1989. Between 1977 and 1979, she served as program officer in the Science Education Directorate of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Prior to this, she held the rank of assistant professor of biology, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and for two years was a high school science teacher. Dr. Malcom serves on several boards, including the Howard Heinz Endowment. She is an honorary trustee of the American Museum of Natural History, a Regent of Morgan State University, and a trustee of Caltech. She has chaired a number of national committees addressing education reform and access to scientific and technical education, careers and literacy. Dr. Malcom is a former trustee of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and a fellow of the AAAS and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2003, she received the Public Welfare Medal of the National Academy of Sciences, the highest award bestowed by the Academy.

Alfred Mays

Mr. Mays is a program officer at the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. Mr. Mays is responsible for managing grant competitions in science education and diversity of science. He also works closely with the North Carolina (NC) Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education Center. Prior to Alfred assuming this role, he served as an independent consultant with a service delivery that included strategic planning, project incubation, design, and implementation of a number initiatives within education agencies and organizations. Mr. Mays was the founder of EdSync Strategies, Inc., an education contract service that provided assistanceto NC eLearning Commission, NC STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) Learning Network, rural NC public school systems, and the Public School Forum. From 2007 to 2011, he served as the assistant director of the Collaborative Project, an initiative that “sought to strengthen participating school systems serving low-income students in rural areas of the state.” Mr. Mays has also worked with the University of North Carolina General Administration, serving as the director of information resources and director of special projects. Mr. Mays received his B.S. from Wilmington College and M.S. in Administration from Central Michigan University. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1984 to 1994, providing information system and data management support for various Air Force missions.

Lamont R. Terrell

Dr. Terrell graduated salutatorian from Texas Southern University as a Fredrick Douglas honor scholar earning a B.S degree in chemistry in 1995. While at TSU, his life as a research scientist began doing undergraduate research focusing on the synthesis of inorganic compounds with environmental applications. He earned his Ph.D. in 2001 in organic chemistry from Michigan State University under the direction and guidance of Professor Robert Maleczka. His graduate studies consisted of the total synthesis of the antiluekemic natural product amphidinolide A and the development of catalytic tin hydride reactions. Upon completion of his graduate studies at MSU, he continued his synthetic training with a two-year postdoctoral stint with Professor Barry Trost at Stanford University. The focus of his postdoctoral studies was the development of a catalytic dinuclear zinc asymmetric Mannich reaction. He began his career in drug discovery as a medicinal chemist at GlaxoSmithKline in 2003 in their cardiovascular medicinal chemistry group. He spent 11 years doing small molecule lead optimization primarily focusing on cardiovascular disease targets Outside of leading science, Lamont is passionately involved with community and outreach efforts. He has been involved with the recruitment of scientists at all levels into the chemistry community. He leads the GSK chemistry recruitment team for minority conferences and serves as the lead for the African American Alliance employee resource group in the Delaware Valley. He is a leader in GSK’s inclusion and diversity efforts and a member of the R&D Inclusion council. In 2017, he decided to step away from doing science to lead the US R&D Early Talent Programs and head GSK’s diversity recruitment initiative for the US Pharma R&D business.

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Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine

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Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine

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