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LATEST NEWS
June 2010
My book is now available!
My book, Mentoring and Diversity: Tips for Students and Professionals for Developing and Maintaining a Diverse Scientific Community(Springer) is available for purchase. The book will not only serve as a guidebook and resource for minority scientists, both students and faculty alike, but also be a source of information regarding issues surrounding the under representation of minorities in science.
During Spring 2010, I continued to present FASEB MARC Career Development Seminars at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) around the country. These included Wiberforce University and Central State University (OH), Claflin University (SC), Harry S. Truman College (IL), Virginia State University (VA) and Oakwood University (AL).
I also was a workshop speaker at the Annual Conference of the Association of Minority Health Profession Schools (AMHPS) held in Birmingham, AL. This conference highlights minority high school science students from across the nation.
All of these activities were in addition to my teaching responsibilities at CSUDH, which included the courses of Endocrinology, Minority Health Disparities, Human Biology and Biology Senior Project as well as my assignment as CSUDH Pre-health Advisor.
In April I attended the annual Experimental Biology conference in Anaheim of which my scientific society (ASBMB) was part. Then in June, I attended the National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions (NAAHP) Conference in Atlanta.
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Who am I - an educator, an academician, a scientist, a reproductive endocrinologist, a change agent, an activist? Actually, all of these describe who I am. As a result, my professional career has been devoted to two areas;
- Research in reproductive endocrinology, specifically the regulation of the female sexual cycle
- Commitment to the advancement of minorities in the pursuit of higher education, particularly in the sciences
These efforts have resulted in my recognition in the scientific community, e.g. tenure, grants, and publications as well as in the community dedicated to addressing the under representation of minorities, e.g. national advisory boards and positions in national societies that are committed to this goal (see CV).
More importantly, I am now at a stage where I provide valuable mentoring, advising and counseling to minority students interested in pursuing careers in the biomedical sciences, whether it be a PhD, MD, MD/PHD, DVM, PharmD, Physician Assistant, Nurse, etc..
The focus of this mentoring usually involves choices regarding careers, selection of schools, preparation of applications, organization of personal statements, and all else that is required for preparing for their career, and is done in person, when possible through campus visits and national conferences/meetings, but via email as well. Furthermore, this mentoring is at all stages of the "pipeline', i.e. K-12, community college, college, graduate and professional school as well as at different stages of the individual's career. I have seen this aspect of education, particularly for minority students in the sciences, to be one that is most needed and, at times, made least available.
As a result, for the past several years, I have been focusing a major component of my activities on this, primarily through visits to minority institutions where I spend 1-3 days making presentations regarding mentoring.
These include tips on preparation for careers, entry into graduate/ professional school, interviewing, choices of schools and personal statements. In addition, lectures regarding endocrinology, reproduction and health disparities are also included. During these visits, interactions occur with classes, groups (e.g. pre-health society), individual students as well as with faculty and administrators.
Contact and exchanges continue long after the visit through both email and various national conferences. I plan to continue these efforts and, in fact, have listed on this site, the presentations that I provide. Mechanisms for supporting these visits have included The Endocrine Society Short Course program and the FASEB MARC program.
In addition, I am developing a mechanism for accomplishing this independently (more to come). For anyone interested, please contact me through the contact address on this site.
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