ACCESS Founding Societies and Steering Committee Members

Deborah L. Neely-Fisher

Reynolds Community College

Professor at Reynolds Community College
Richmond, VA

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Deborah Neely-Fisher supports initiatives that seek to increase the participation of underserved students in STEM with both the K-12 student-teacher populations and with students in higher education. She has been the PI of a NIH Bridges Program between J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College and Virginia Commonwealth University, as well as helped secure funding for additional community activities to support equity and equality in the STEM classroom. She is currently serving as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Faculty Fellow at Virginia Commonwealth University for the Institute on Inclusive Teaching in STEM. This is part of a larger project which seeks to develop a working relationship between community college and four-year STEM Faculty through the implementation of a Faculty Learning Community to broaden awareness concerning implicit bias, inclusive teaching, and universal design, as well as improve academic outcomes for STEM transfer students at Virginia Commonwealth University. She has administrative experience through volunteering in STEM organizations and has been very active at the state level in the Virginia Academy of Science, serving in all executive positions. Additionally, she serves on the Virginia Mathematics and Science Coalition, and the Minority Affairs Committee for the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Sonia Flores, PH.D.

University of Colorado

Vice Chair for Diversity and Justice
Denver, CO

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Sonia Flores, PhD is a professor in the Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine, and was the program director of an NIGMS-funded Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity; she has been the Program Director of the NHLBI-funded GEMS (Graduate Experiences for Multicultural Students) program for the past 16 years. Dr. Flores is committed to increasing diversity among housestaff, fellows and faculty by incorporating social science theories and focusing on cultural competence.

Stephanie Paxson

ASBMB

Diversity and Undergraduate Education Coordinator

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Stephanie Paxson is the diversity and undergraduate education coordinator at the ASBMB. She is enthusiastic about growing a more diverse and inclusive scientific community through science outreach and communication. Paxson's passion for science and understanding how things work led her to earn a B.S. in biology from George Mason University. While in school, she had the opportunity to snorkel in Belize in order to study the flora and fauna of the country. When she’s not indulged in science, Paxson likes to spend time outdoors or bake in her tiny kitchen in Washington, D.C.

Ashanti Edwards

ASCB

Director of Professional Development

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Ashanti Edwards has managed and administered multiple federally funded programs, such as NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates, NIH T-32s, and an NCI U01. She is responsible for the professional development and diversity and inclusion programs at the Society. She is the program administrator for the ASCB IPERT and FRED grants, both of which focus on career development, but from different angles. Each grant recruits and focuses on members of URGs, providing professional skills necessary for career success. Ms. Edwards also serves as the liaison to multiple committees at ASCB, including Minority Affairs Committee, Women in Cell Biology, the Committee for Postdocs and Students, and the LGBTQ+ Task Force. She is experienced in the recruitment, professional development, and support of individuals from URGs in science. Ms. Edwards has a strong track record of promoting diversity in science.

Leticia Vega, PH.D.

Barry University

Professor at Barry University
Miami Shores, FL

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Leticia R. Vega, Ph.D. is a Professor of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences at Barry University, a minority serving and Hispanic serving institution in Miami Shores, Florida. Leticia received a B.S. in Biology from Florida International University (92), and a Ph.D. in Biology from MIT (99). Her postdoctoral work was in Molecular Biology at Princeton University, where she examined telomeres and telomere binding proteins. In her laboratory at Barry University, she uses S. cerevisiae as a model system to examine cell division at the genetic, molecular and cell biological level with undergraduate students. More recently, her lab has initiated studies to examine biofilms in clinically relevant Staphylococcus sp. Dr. Vega is currently the Chair of the Barry University Faculty Senate and has served as the Chair of the Promotion and Retention committee. She is currently serving as an ex‐officio member of the Minority Affairs Committee of the American Society for Cell Biology where her efforts are on developing the undergraduate programming at the Annual Meeting.

Veronica A. Segarra, PH.D.

High Point University

Co-Principal Investigator for ACCESS
Assistant Professor of Biology at High Point University
High Point, NC

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Veronica Segarra, Ph.D. completed her PhD in Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale and her BS in Biochemistry at the University of Miami. Her contributions to science have come in the form of research breakthroughs in the study of several yeast proteins that coordinate vesicular trafficking pathways, including clathrin, auxilin, and Atg27. Her lab at High Point University is not only the home base for her research program, but a place where undergraduate students receive one‐on‐one mentoring as they strive to develop their identity in science and research. Dr. Segarra is the co-PI on the NSF grant that funded the creation of ACCESS. She hopes that the ACCESS will facilitate the exchange of information to enable scientific society professional development programs to be iteratively optimized using outcome data.

Catherine Fry, PH.D.

ASPET

Director of Education

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Catherine Fry, Ph.D. is currently the Director of Education for the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET). Three things Dr. Fry would like to achieve in terms of improving identified problems in STEM workforce equity are: diversity and inclusion as strategic priorities for STEM associations, policies and practices for mitigating bias, and moving beyond diversity as a “numbers” problem to achieving real inclusion.

Susan Ingram, PH.D.

Oregon Health and Science University

Professor at Oregon Health and Science University

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Susan Ingram, Ph.D. is currently Professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at Oregon Health & Science University. She is a member of the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET). Three things she would like to achieve in terms of improving identified problems in STEM workforce equity include:
1) Develop a useful resource for ideas and activities that improve STEM that can be used as benchmarks for programs across the country.
2) Evaluate effectiveness of current ASPET Mentoring Program based on benchmarks developed by ACCESS.
3) Develop an effective strategy for monitoring STEM progress.

Elizabeth Vuong

BPS

Director of Marketing, Communications & Outreach

Laura Phelan

BPS

Communications and Content Manager

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Laura Phelan is the Communications and Content Manager for the Biophysical Society (BPS), a global member organization leading the development and dissemination of knowledge in biophysics. In addition to her communications role, Laura supports the efforts of the BPS committees for Inclusion and Diversity and Professional Opportunities for Women.

Marina Ramirez-Alvarado, PH.D.

Mayo Clinic

Principal Investigator for ACCESS and
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

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Marina Ramirez-Alvarado is a Mexican-born Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Mayo Clinic. She received her undergrad and master degrees from the National and Autonomous University of Mexico. She conducted her PhD research at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany. She was a Human Frontiers Science Program Foundation postdoctoral fellow at Yale University. She has been leading a team of scientist conducting state- of-the-art research at the Mayo Clinic for 17 years. Marina’s focus includes Protein Biophysics, Protein Biochemistry, Protein Misfolding research, Wellness and Wellbeing, and Biophysics graduate education. She is currently the co-chair of the Mayo Amyloid Interest Group. She is considered a world leader in the study of Molecular Determinants of light chain amyloidosis, a rare protein misfolding disease. Her research is currently funded by NIH and NSF. She is a Council member and chair of the Committee for Inclusion and Diversity (CID), Biophysical Society. She is an advocate for graduate students and faculty and for a diverse and inclusive STEM workforce. Marina is a co-PI and co-leader of ACCESS (together with Dr. Veronica Segarra). Marina was part of the project awarded to Dr. Rick McGee from the Director's Pathfinder Award to Promote Diversity in the Scientific Workforce Biomedical Research Community from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health. She has also received recognition with the Rising Star Award by the American Chemical Society, as well as Teacher of the Year by the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

Kirsta Suggs

ES

Associate Director of Professional Development

Michael Burton, PH.D.

University of Texas at Dallas

Assistant Professor at The University of Texas at Dallas

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Dr. Burton is an Assistant Professor in the Neuroscience Department at The University of Texas at Dallas. His research focuses on how the immune system modulates peripheral sensory neurons to regulate pain and energy homeostasis. He has been recognized as an early career award winner by the Endocrine Society, the American Pain Society, the American Society for Cell Biology, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and the Rita Allen Foundation. He believes in order to traverse the gap between basic research and clinical application to patients, we must realize and appreciate pre-clinical research. He is excited at the notion to play a role in this process and help humankind through his research in pain development, obesity, and metabolic disorders that we deal with every day. His long-term goal is to develop a leading research program and dedicate his career to studying neuroimmune interactions, as well as mentor highly motivated undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral trainees.

Rick McGee, PH.D.

Northwestern University
Feinberg School of Medicine

Associate Dean for Faculty Recruitment
and Professional Development
Associate Professor of Medical Education

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Rick McGee, Ph.D. is currently Associate Dean for Professional Development, and Professor of Medical Education, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL. He is a member of ACCESS in an advisory role, having worked with many scientific societies over his career. For example, right now, he works closely with ASPET and their Mentoring Network which he helped them create. His professional interests focus on the professional development for young scientists, from PhD students through faculty, research training in general, design of interventions to promote diversity in STEM, qualitative research methods, and teaching skills of mentoring and grant writing. He believes that many of the scientific societies have played critical roles in promoting and advancing diversity in the sciences and that these efforts can be expanded and amplified if all of the societies can learn from each other and work together. He considers ACCESS an important step to promoting collaboration among those already highly engaged in diversity efforts and enabling those who are less engaged to join in.

Stephanie Valtierra, PH.D.

Northwestern University
Feinberg School of Medicine

Assistant Director of Collaborative Learning
and Integrated Mentoring in the Biosciences

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Stephanie Valtierra, Ph.D. is the Assistant Director of the Collaborative Learning and Integrated Mentoring in the Biosciences (CLIMB), a professional development program for a diverse group of bioscience PhD students at Northwestern University. She received a B.A. in Biology from Lake Forest College and PhD from the Northwestern University Interdepartmental Neuroscience (NUIN) Program. While in graduate school, Stephanie was part of NUIN’s Committee for Underrepresented Minority Affairs and was actively involved in the recruitment at Northwestern, with at least 3 of these efforts being geared towards the recruitment of underrepresented minorities in the sciences. Since then she has worked with both undergraduate and graduate students to provide both mentorship and career and professional development guidance.