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Bruce Alberts, PhD, is a respected biochemist with a strong commitment to the improvement of science and mathematics education. He has returned to the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco, after serving two six-year terms as the president of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). In 2008, Dr. Alberts was appointed the editor-in-chief of the journal Science. He has long been committed to the improvement of science education, dedicating much of his time to educational projects such as City Science, a program seeking to improve science teaching in San Francisco elementary schools.
Teaster Baird, PhD, is Professor of Biochemistry at San Francisco State University where his research involves the relationship between the structures of metallo-enzymes and proteases and their functions. Dr. Baird received the NSF's most prestigious award for tenure-track professors, The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant in 2007. A strong believer in the importance of bringing along the next generation of underrepresented minority scientists, Dr. Baird works with science teachers at a local high school to provide equipment and expertise to enhance the school's curriculum and to introduce basic biochemistry experiments, like DNA analysis, into the mix. He also designed a paid summer internship program at SFSU that allows high school students to conduct research with SF State undergraduate and graduate students on campus.
Lisel Blash, MS, MPA, is a Scientist at the Public Research Institute, San Francisco State University, where she is currently working together with Monique Nakagawa (see below) to evaluate the UCSF/SFSU IRACDA ISIS program. Blash’s background includes training in Public Administration and additional coursework in city and regional planning at UC Berkeley. She has more than twelve years of experience with all aspects of social science research project management from research design, data collection, and data analysis through final report.
Jennifer Breckler, PhD, is Professor of Biology at San Francisco State University, where she regularly teaches courses in physiology, pharmacology, histology and introductory biology. She also conducts the postdoctoral fellow teaching workshops for the joint UCSF/SFSU IRACDA/ISIS program. Dr. Breckler conducted retinal cell biology research in her lab for almost twenty years. Her current research centers on science education and on student learning styles and career choice. Dr. Breckler has a bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley and a doctorate in physiology from UCLA.
Esteban González Burchard, MD, MPH, is an Associate Professor of Biopharmaceutical Sciences and Medicine at UCSF, Director of the UCSF DNA Bank and Asthma Genetics Core Facility, and an attending physicial in pulmonary and critical care medicine at San Francisco General Hospital. His research focuses on the role of genetic and environmental risk factors for asthma and drug response among racially/ethnically diverse populations. Dr. González Burchard received his MD from Stanford and his MPH degree in epidemiology from UC Berkeley.
Patricia Calarco, PhD, is the Graduate Dean at University of California, San Francisco. Previously a professor in the Department of Anatomy at UCSF, her successful research program focused on the development and differentiation of the early mammalian embryo, oocytes, and stem cells. As Dean she is responsible for the administrative oversight of graduate degree programs, graduate admissions, student support programs, and academic review of graduate programs. She also has administrative responsibility for postdoctoral scholars. Dr. Calarco is dedicated to increasing diversity among the UCSF graduate population and has implemented numerous programs to acheive it, including the IRACDA Scholars in Science (ISIS) Program at UCSF.
Karen Crow-Sanchez, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolution at San Francisco State University. Dr. Crow-Sanchez's research focuses on molecular approaches to understanding the evolutionary forces that generate biological diversity, novelty, and reproductive isolation in fishes. Dr. Crow-Sanchez is an active member of the California State University Council on Ocean Affairs, Science and Technology (COAST), which was established in 2008 to promote marine science research and education throughout the system. COAST integrates system-wide resources and promotes interdisciplinary multi-campus collaborations to advance our knowledge of California’s natural coastal and marine resources and the processes that affect them. Dr. Crow-Sanchez did her PhD work at UC Santa Cruz and joined the SFSU faculty in Fall 2007.
Barbara Gross Davis, PhD, is Assistant Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion at UC Berkeley, where she oversees a broad range of programs that address the student experience inside and outside of the classroom. Her interests relate to teaching, learning, and evaluation; and she has written about these topics widely. Her book, Tools for Teaching, is considered by many to be a "must read" for anyone teaching in higher education. The second edition was released in February 2009. Dr. Davis holds a PhD in Educational Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Christine Des Jarlais, EdD, is the Assistant Dean for Postdoctoral Affairs and Graduate Outreach at UCSF, where she coordinates all employment-related matters for postdoctoral scholars and provides advice and counseling to postdocs, faculty, and administrators in regard to postdoc issues. Dr. Des Jarlais helped to develop UC's 10-campus postdoc policy and continues to work to improve the quality of training and academic life for UCSF's 1,200-plus postdocs. She directs several programs aimed at increasing diversity among postdocs and graduate students, including the IRACDA/ISIS Program and conducts the annual AGEP Postdoc Bootcamp.
Tejal Desai, PhD, is Professor of Physiology in the Division of Bioengineering, and the head of the Therapeutic Micro and Nantechnology Laboratory at UCSF. She was formally an associate professor at Boston University and an assistant professor at the University of Illiniois, Chicago. Dr. Desai is a highly regarded researcher and has received the Eurand Grand Prize Award for Innovative Approaches to Drug Delivery and the Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award from UC Berkeley. Dr. Desai received her BS in biomedical engineering from Brown University and her PhD through a joint degree program with UCSF and UC Berkeley in bioengineering. She will be mentor to a new IRACDA Fellow in her lab in August 2009. Dr. Desai is married and has three children under five.
Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH, a physician, pioneering cancer researcher and biotechnology industry executive who served as president of product development for Genentech, was very recently (May 7) named chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco campus by the University of California Board of Regents. She will be assuming the role of UCSF Chancellor in August 2009 for outgoing Chancellor, Dr. J. Michael Bishop. Dr. Desmond-Hellmann is board-certified in internal medicine and medical oncology, and completed her clinical training at UCSF following completion of a bachelor of science degree in premedicine and a medical degree at University of Nevada, Reno. She also holds a master’s degree in public health from University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining Genentech, Dr. Desmond-Hellmann was associate director of clinical cancer research at Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute. She also has served as associate adjunct professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at UCSF. During her tenure at UCSF, Dr. Desmond-Hellmann spent two years as visiting faculty at the Uganda Cancer Institute, studying AIDS and cancer. She also spent two years in private practice before returning to clinical research.
Cynthia Fuhrmann-Kelch, PhD, is the Program Director for Academic Career Development in the Office of Career and Professional Development at UCSF. Dr. Fuhrmann founded and leads UCSF’s Preparing Future Faculty program, co-directs the Teaching Assistant training program, and coordinates a variety of other programs aimed to help graduate students and postdocs explore academic career options and develop the skills they need to succeed. She teaches workshops at UCSF and nationally, including presentations at FASEB’s annual Experimental Biology conference career workshops.
Jennifer Grant, PhD, is currently an IRACDA postdoctoral scholar for the Claflin/MUSC program, but has just accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Dr. Grant has applied her expertise in biochemistry to develop quantitative mass spectrometric approaches to understand the proteomics changes associated with cardiac and neurological pathophysiology. She received her bachelor’s degree from the Oberlin College chemistry department, and her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She maintains active interests in leadership issues affecting students, scientists and scholars, and served as the Founding President for the MUSC Postdoctoral Association.
Tuajuanda Jordan, PhD, is currently the senior program officer for science education at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Jordan earned her undergraduate degree in chemistry at Fisk University in Nashville. After earning her PhD in biochemistry at Purdue University, she became a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans. There she led the effort to update the biochemistry curriculum and was later named Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs. Dr. Jordan has devoted much of her professional career to mentoring students and working with programs designed to retain underrepresented minorities in the STEM disciplines. She is a member of the NIH MORE division's Minority Access to Research Careers subcommittee, an ad hoc member of the National Human Genome Research Initiative's Minority Action Plan review panel, and has served as the chair of NIH's Minority Biomedical Research Support program and on numerous NIH and NSF scientific review panels.
Deneb Karentz, PhD, is Professor and Chair of Biology and Environmental Science at the University of San Francisco. Dr. Karentz received her PhD degree from the University of Rhode Island, and her MS from the Oregon State University. Dr. Karentz studies the UV-photobiology of Antarctic organisms relative to the biological effects of Antarctic ozone depletion. She was a post-doctoral researcher at UCSF and currently coordinates hiring of part time USF faculty in conjunction with the UCSF Preparing Future Faculty Program (Office of Career and Professional Development).
Kevin Kelly, MA, is the Online Teaching and Learning Coordinator for Academic Technology at San Francisco State University and lectures about instructional design and distance education at SF State and Santa Clara University. Kelly previously worked as the assistant director of the SF State faculty development center and as Co-Director of a PT3 grant. Kelly received an Master's Degree in Education with a Concentration in Instructional Media and Technology from San Francisco State University in 1999, and he is currently persuing a Doctoral Degree in Organization and Leadership at the University of San Francisco. Kelly has expertise in instructional design theory, instructional multimedia development, integrating technology into curriculum, and grant writing.
Beth Kochly, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Mills College, a small, highly respected liberal arts college for women in Oakland, CA. Trained as a physical organic chemist, she received her PhD from the University of Notre Dame. She began her position at Mills in the fall of 2008. As she finishes up her first year of teaching, Beth is eager to get her undergraduate research lab up and running. She has two undergraduate students working with her this summer to investigate mechanistic aspects and potential synthetic uses of novel organic reactions in ionic liquids.
Marieke Kruidering-Hall, PhD, is Assistant Adjunct Professor of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology (CMP) at UCSF. Dr. Kruidering-Hall is dedicated full-time to teaching and facilitation of teaching Pharmacology to students in the Schools of Medicine, Pharmacy, and Dentistry at UCSF, and she gives lectures and is course director for all three schools. The UCSF School of Medicine implements a significant amount of small group learning, which inspired a program that CMP runs together with the Department of Biochemistry — the Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowship. CMP oversees the recruitment of postdocs as small group leaders, provides training in small group teaching, and gives feedback after the teaching sessions. Besides teaching basic pharmacology, Dr. Kruidering-Hall keeps up with her interest in apoptosis by writing commentaries in Drug Discovery Today and elswhere.
Bill Lindstaedt, MS, is the Director of the Office of Career and Professional Development at UCSF, where he asssists graduate-level trainees and postdoctoral research scientists with career and professional development issues. He has developed particular expertise in helping postdocs negotiate the compensation and start-up parameters of their first faculty positions. Lindstaedt has written career-related articles for the Boston Globe, Indianapolis Star, and Science's Next Wave, and his insights have been featured in job market articles in the New York Times, Science, the San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, and Newsweek.
Leticia Márquez-Magaña, PhD, is Professor of Biology at San Francisco State University. In addition to being an accomplished research scientist, Dr. Márquez-Magaña has consistently established herself as an oustanding mentor dedicated to the success of her graduate and undergraduate students. In 2002, she received the American Association for the Advancement of Science Mentor Award, which honors individuals who demonstrate extraordinary leadership in increasing the participation of underrepresented groups in science and engineering. Dr. Márquez-Magaña received her PhD in biochemistry from UC Berkeley and was a postdoc at Stanford.
Tracy McKnight, PhD, Tracy Richmond McKnight is Assistant Professor of Radiology at UCSF. She also serves as the Supervisor of the Tissue Culture Laboratory at UCSF’s Center for Molecular and Functional Imaging. The primary goal of Dr. McKnight's current research program is to investigate the mechanisms associated with the malignant progression of brain tumors using techniques that can be incorporated into clinical diagnostic and patient management strategies. Dr. McKnight got her BS degree in physics at Spelman College in Atlanta, and went on to receive a Master’s in physics from Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, NY. Her PhD in Biomedical Engineering is from UC Davis. McKnight served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at UCSF in the Magnetic Resonance Sciences Center before joining the faculty there.
Monique Nakagawa, MA, is a Research Associate at Public Research Institute, San Francisco State University, which conducts research and evaluation that promotes the public’s interest using the perspectives and tools of social and behavioral science. Ms. Nakagawa's work in applied social research has employed both qualitative and quantitative methods, including interviews, observations, surveys, and secondary datasets. She is a co-evaluator, with Lisel Blash, of the UCSF IRACDA Scholars in Science (ISIS) Program.
J. Renee Navarro, PharmD, MD, is the Director of Academic Diversity at UCSF, as well as Clinical Professor of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the UCSF School of Medicine. Dr. Navarro implements initiatives to nurture and enhance diversity among faculty and trainees, who include students, residents and postdoctoral scholars. Dr. Navarro is the first person to hold this position, a post created as part of 10 key outcomes outlined in UCSF’s diversity initiative, which was unveiled in February 2007. Nurturing diversity is an important priority in the UCSF Strategic Plan, a blueprint to guide the University’s direction and development over the next two decades. Navarro first joined the UCSF faculty in 1990 as an assistant professor in residence in the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care. She became acting chief of anesthesia during just her second year on the faculty.
Sam Pleasure, MD, PhD, is Associate Professor and Vice Chairman of Neurology at UCSF. The light-hearted greeting on Dr. Pleasure's lab's website says, "The Pleasure Lab: A group of people working together united by their glee at answering the phone, 'Hello, Pleasure Lab.'" Evidently the glee among lab workers there extends to working with Dr. Pleasure in general — he was voted the Postdoc Mentor of the Year Award by UCSF's postdoc community in 2008. Dr. Pleasure's research focuses on several distinct aspects of the regulation of neuronal cell fate, migration and axon guidance using the developing hippocampus as the model system. His MD and PhD degrees are both from University of Pennsylvania.
Clifton Poodry, PhD, is the Director of the Minority Opportunities in Research Division at the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, where he oversees the administration of grants (including the IRACDA program) designed to increase the number and capabilities of underrepresented minorities in the biomedical scientists. A native of the Tonawanda Seneca Indian Reservation in western New York, Dr. Poodry has a particular interest in science education and issues pertaining to American Indian participation in genetics research.
Richard Reis, PhD, is the author of Tomorrow's Professor, a book widely recommended by career offices at universities across the country. Dr. Reis is Executive Director of the Alliance for Innovative Manufacturing (AIM) at Stanford and Co-Executive Director of the Stanford Research Communication Program. He has also served as the Associate Dean for Professional Development in the Stanford School of Engineering (1987-89). Prior to coming to Stanford, he was the editor of Mercury for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, a professor of science education at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada, and a high school physics teacher in Los Angeles. Dr. Reis' PhD in science education (physics) is from Stanford University.
Philip Sabes, PhD, is Associate Professor of Physiology, part of the Keck Center for Integrative Neurobiology at UCSF, and a faculty member in the UCSF Neuroscience Graduate Program and the UC Berkeley/UCSF Graduate Group in Bioengineering. Dr. Sabes' research interests focus on sensory-motor integration and learning. His laboratory combines behavioral, neuropysiological, and computational approaches to understanding how the brain is able to use sensory information in a flexible manner to guide movement and how the brain allows us to learn from recent experience.
Diara Spain, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Biology and Vice Chair of the Department of Natural Sciences and Math at Dominican University in San Rafael, California, where she joined the faculty in 2002. Her current research focuses on functional morphology and locomotion of invertebrates. Her PhD is from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a member of several professional organizations, including the National Council of Undergraduate Research and the American Assocition for the Advancement of Science, and she has published widely. Dr. Spain was an especially great pick for the "Fine Balance" panel as she somehow manages to read fiction, practice Middle Eastern and Latin dancing, go snorkeling, and travel in addition to teaching and doing her research.
Kimberly Tanner, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Biology and Founding Director of the Science Education Partnership and Assessment Laboratory (SEPAL) at San Francisco State University. Trained as a neuroscientist, Dr. Tanner received her doctoral degree from UCSF for her work investigating changes in sensory neuron physiology and temporal coding following nerve injury. At UCSF, Dr. Tanner was also actively involved in science teaching and learning as a participant in partnerships with local K-12 educators through the UCSF Science & Health Education Partnership (SEP). In collaboration with the UCSF/SEP, the Stanford School of Education, and the San Francisco Public Schools, Dr. Tanner studied the impact of scientist-teacher partnerships as a mechanism of K-20+ science education reform, studies which continue in her laboratory today. Under Dr. Tanner's direction, SEPAL works to increase collaborative efforts between SFSU and SFUSD and to improve and articulate science education.
Zena Vexler, PhD, is Associate Professor in Residence in the Department of Neurology at UCSF. Dr. Vexler's lab was the first to create a model clinically relevant to arterial stroke in term babies, a focal transient middle cerebral artery occlusion model in the postnatal day 7 rat. Using this model and a similar model in adult rodents, the lab has obtained evidence that immaturity affects several aspects of brain injury by identifying major differences between adults and neonates in the post-ischemic status of the blood-brain barrier and leukocyte behavior. Dr. Vexler is interested in understanding the mechanisms of injury and recovery after neonatal stroke and develop strategies for enhancement of the repair process.
Lauren Weiss, PhD, is Assistant Professor in both the Department of Psychiatry and the Institute for Human Genetics at UCSF, where she joined the faculty in October 2008. At UCSF Lauren directs a research laboratory that investigates the genetic mechanisms controlling neuropsychiatric disorders, such as autism spectrum disorders. Her long-term goal is the genetic and molecular dissection of the social and communication deficits underlying autism in order to improve understanding, prevention, and treatment. Dr. Weiss did her doctoral research at University of Chicago. Her remarkable finding of deletion/duplications on chromosome 16p associated with autism, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, has already been translated into clinical practice in terms of screening for autism.
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