Speakers

Aqila Ahmed started her research journey at Wayne State University, where she got her master’s and Ph.D. studying DNA repair and premature aging. She went on to do my postdoc at the University of Michigan studying prostate cancer and bone metastasis. Before leaving Michigan, she was in a lab working on drug development of small molecules.

Lilian Lamech earned her B.S. in biochemistry from Denison University and her Ph.D. in microbiology at University of Texas at Austin where she used structural and biochemical techniques to study RNA splicing chaperones. She then moved on to a cell biology a postdoctoral fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where she explored nutrient recycling and scavenging pathways important for cancer cell survival, and in neurodegenerative and metabolic disease. She transitioned to industry and joined a Brooklyn-based startup working on the development of rapid colorimetric diagnostics for traumatic brain injury and other disease biomarkers. She recently moved to the Research Triangle in North Carolina where she is a scientist at Life Edit Therapeutics, working on novel gene therapy tools.

LaShonda Brenson is the senior researcher at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. Prior to her current role, she served as a Civil Rights Analyst at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. At the commission, Brenson organized national briefings and wrote reports on municipal fines and fees and their impact on minority communities, minority voting rights, and women in prison. Previously, she was the Research Director at Project Vote, a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded on the belief that an organized, diverse electorate is the key to a better America.

Brenson earned her bachelor’s degree in mathematics and political cience from the University of Rochester, and her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan. Using qualitative interviews with congressional staffers and quantitative methods, her dissertation research provides evidence that the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), as institutions, matter. One way she demonstrates the added value of the CBC and CHC is by illustrating that when caucus members serve as caucus leaders, they introduce more bills because of their additional staff capacity.

Mike Shriberg is the Great Lakes regional executive director of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and a lecturer in earth and environmental sciences at the University of Michigan. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in resource policy and behavior from the University of Michigan. He earned his undergraduate degree in biology and society with a concentration in environment and business from Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Shriberg came to NWF in 2015 from the University of Michigan, where he served as the education director at the Graham Sustainability Institute and as a lecturer in the Program in the Environment. Prior to the University of Michigan, Shriberg was the policy director at the Ecology Center and the director of Environment Michigan. He also previously served as the Environmental Studies Program director and an assistant professor at Chatham University. Shriberg’s research interests focus on campus sustainability leadership and organizational change, and his professional expertise is in climate policy, water policy, and environmental education.

Chris Gonzalez Clarke works in the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education (VPGE) at Stanford. His duties include directing the Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education (EDGE) Doctoral Fellowship Program, leading a university-wide initiative to increase graduate diversity, and other projects. Clarke began his career at the VPGE as a postdoc after earning a Ph.D. in higher education as well as M.A. degrees in sociology and education from Stanford. His expertise covers key issues related to diversity in American higher education, including the impact of racial diversity, the organization of diversity, and the social-psychological processes that affect student performance.

Ishita Das is a science policy project manager at Ripple Effect, a small women-owned management consulting firm. She leads multiple teams to spearhead a variety of science and health policy initiatives for a wide range of clients including federal agencies (HHS and NIH), non-profit organizations, and public-private partnerships. Das received her bachelor’s from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and her Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology from the University of Michigan in 2015.

For over 20 years, Portia Rae Hemphill has led efforts to strengthen the cradle to career pipeline for underserved youth. After earning a joint doctorate in political science and public policy at the University Michigan in 2015, Hemphill became a Presidential Management Fellow. She’s impacted efforts to streamline research and inter-agency coordination for several highly visible community development initiatives at The White House, HUD, and the Department of Education. She is recognized for her work on several HUD projects concerning data analyses and process restructuring.

Lieutenant Commander Neali Lucas is a director of team biologics staff with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the Office of Regulatory Affairs, Office of Biological Products Operations. She oversees a team of highly-specialized staff and a program responsible for regulatory oversight of domestic and international establishments that manufacture biological products such as vaccines, cell and gene therapy products, and retroviral diagnostic products. During her tenure with FDA she has held various roles including consumer safety officer (investigator), and supervisory investigator in the biologics program. LCDR Lucas received her Ph.D. in molecular and cellular pathology from University of Michigan in 2007 and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Krista Kernodle is currently a data engineer with TetraScience, focusing on cloud data and scientific instrument integration. Her hands-on experience includes client consulting, development of python pipelines, and intermediate data schema development. In October 2021, she received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Michigan. Her dissertation focused on identifying the clinical relevance of a mouse model of dystonia through behavioral assays.

Suresh Subramanian is a partner and strategic advisor at Synerthink Solutions, a company he co-founded to deliver trusted data solutions for the connected world. He leads the company’s international business, and plays a key role in growth strategy, global sales, and business development. He prides himself in helping companies create value with integrity, and is respected for continuous attention to the human side of business, placing a premium on customer relationships, personnel management, and career planning to enable individual and team success. Prior to his current role, Subramanian was an entrepreneur in residence with GE Ventures, and a senior vice president at iconectiv (part of Ericsson). Subramanian has Ph.D. and master’s degree in computer science and engineering from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.