It was terrific!
If you were able to attend the recent RFS Board Meeting and Colloquium at the Wistar Institute you know this is not an exaggeration. It was both substantive and practical. The 1½-day event featured senior scientists as well as young researchers and leaders of promise. And more…
Important highlights included:
- McNulty Foundation, with significant investments in women’s leadership including support for a major initiative with the Aspen Institute, and several key universities
- NAS Science & Entertainment Exchange
- NAS Action Collaborative in Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education
- AAAS featuring Shirley Malcolm and her leadership with SEA Change, Athena Project,
IF/THEN, L’Oréal Women in Science, and more!
In addition to some successful VCs and founders, we heard from renowned research leadership including:
- Susan Hockfield, MIT, with her new book The Age of Living Machines
- Margaret Foti, American Association for Cancer Research
- Rachel Green, Johns Hopkins
- Tracy Richmond McKnight, Valerion Therapeutics, now at UCSF
- Erin O’Shea, leading HHMI
- Susan Solomon, Founder and CEO, New York Stem Cell Foundation
- George Thibault, Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation
- And award winners - Reshma Shetty, Ritu Raman, Ellen Foxman, and Virginia Man-Yee Lee.
The meeting also included an evening reception and presentation of the Wistar Women in Science Program, featuring Kathrin Jansen PhD, Sr. Vice President at Pfizer, a leader in the development of the HPV vaccine, and Iona Munjal, M.D., Director of Clinical Research & Development at Pfizer, interviewed by Maiken Scott of WHYY Public Broadcasting. Videos of the presentations will be available here shortly. And we welcome your reactions, comments, and suggestions.
Background
The Rosalind Franklin Society, the only organization of its kind, was established to honor the achievements of Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958), a British pioneer in the discovery of the structure of DNA, whose work was not fully acknowledged in her lifetime or posthumously. With a Board and Advisory Board of foremost men and women in research and education, and industry leaders in biomedical science, including five Nobel Laureates, theSociety is poised to substantially influence the sheer numbers, accomplishments, and influence of women scientists.
Our work with the prestigious institutions represented on our Board and on the Council of Academic Institutions as well as with the federal government and other partners, is even more important as we experience changes of leadership in Washington and worldwide. We are thrilled that Francis Collins continues to lead NIH but we must continue to be there to stand with him to protect science funding and advocate for the young women and minorities who rely on this support. His recent statement to the NIH Director’s Advisory Committee underscores his keen leadership, announcing that he will no longer speak on scientific panels if they don’t include women ("manels").
We need your voice and support more than ever!
The Rosalind Franklin Society recognizes and celebrates the contributions of outstanding women in the life sciences and affiliated disciplines, promotes broadened opportunities for women in the sciences, and through its many activities motivates new generations of women to this calling. The Society honors the achievements of Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958), a British x-ray crystallographer whose extraordinary work, though largely overlooked and under-appreciated at the time, was crucial to the discovery of DNA’s structure by James Watson and Francis Crick. The powerful symbolism of her remarkable story drives the Society’s agenda.
The Rosalind Franklin Society is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3).
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