Dear Colleagues, 

I am pleased to include another issue of RFS Briefings with some timely and encouraging updates on women in science.

Please continue to share important news and opportunities with us so that we may share it with you and others who are committed to supporting the careers of exceptional women in science.

Stay safe and sound,

Karla Signature

Karla Shepard Rubinger
Executive Director
Rosalind Franklin Society
www.rosalindfranklinsociety.org

Teens who discovered new way to prove Pythagoras’s theorem uncover even more proofs.

Two college freshmen who, during their final year of high school, found a new way to prove Pythagoras’s theorem by using trigonometry – which mathematicians for generations thought was impossible – have since uncovered multiple more such proofs. Read more. (Image: Ne’Kiya Jackson and Calcea Johnson on CBS’s 60 Minutes. Photograph: CBS's 60 Minutes)

ARPA-H, led by RFS speaker Renee Wegrzyn, goes international! 
ARPA-H seeks to invest in innovations and technologies that will transform the future of health. “We are completely open for global funding. One of the reasons the UK is our first visit is the incredible innovation happening and multidisciplinary nature of the work, and the assets here such as national health data, so there’s really an advantage for us to collaborate,” says Dr. Wegrzyn. Read more. See her presentation here.

Join Keystone Symposia for Eight Upcoming Meetings on Genetics, Genomics, and RNA Research.
Keystone Symposia (a member of our Council of Academic Institutions led by Deborah L. Johnson, PhD, President and CEO) convenes dynamic, open, and engaging conferences on the frontiers of life science research and innovation. Whether you are a geneticist, immunologist, student, full professor, clinician-scientist, industry researcher, from the government non-profit sector, or any other life science investigator, Keystone Symposia provides a valuable and memorable experience across sectors and career stages. Read more.

Patricia LoRusso Elected President of American Association for Cancer Research.

Since 2014, Dr. LoRusso has held numerous faculty, research, and leadership positions with the Smilow Cancer Hospital and the Yale University School of Medicine. She currently serves as the Amy and Joseph Perella Professor of Medicine, chief of experimental therapeutics, and associate director of the Yale Cancer Center. Read more. Image: Yale School of Medicine.

Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation 2024 Research Fellow Award.
Apply today for the 2024 MMRF Research Fellows Award Program, supporting early-career researchers at the post-doctorate, medical fellow, or junior faculty levels interested in multiple myeloma research. Read more.

Nominations are now open for the Research!America 2025 Advocacy Awards.
The awards recognize individuals and organizations whose commitment to advocacy for research and innovation has advanced medical and public health progress in profoundly important ways. The deadline for nominations is Friday, May 31, 2024. Read more.

Measuring Bias: Kate Zernike Shares How Exceptional Women Are Not the Exception.
Past RFS speaker Kate Zernike talks about her book “The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins and the Fight for Women in Science” and the key role of RFS board member Nancy Hopkins at MIT. Check out her RFS presentation here. Read more.

American Society of Clinical Oncology Recognizes Jennifer Pietenpol for Contributions to Cancer Research.

Jennifer Pietenpol, executive vice president for research and chief scientific and strategy officer at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, has been awarded the 2024 Science of Oncology Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The award is presented annually to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to cancer research. Read more. Image: Jennifer Pietenpol PhD Momentum Magazine. Photo by Joe Howell.

Walder Foundation announces 2024 Biota awardees. 
The Walder Foundation in Chicago has announced the five recipients of its $1.5 million Biota Awards. This year’s recipients include Liza Lehrer, assistant director of the Urban Wildlife Institute at the Lincoln Park Zoo and Gabriela Nunez-Mir, assistant professor at the University of Illinois Chicago. Read more.

Prebys Foundation announces first all-women cohort of research heroes.
The San Diego-based Conrad Prebys Foundation has announced grants totaling $7 million to its inaugural all-women cohort of 14 Prebys Research Heroes. “Scientific progress is driven by the courage to explore the unknown and ask new questions,” said Prebys Foundation CEO Grant Oliphant. “Through this initiative, we’re not just funding research, we’re investing in a future where diverse perspectives lead to discoveries that benefit all of humanity.” Read more.

8th Annual Vivian W. Pinn Symposium.

The Vivian W. Pinn Symposium honors the first full-time director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH), Vivian Pinn, M.D., and is held every year during National Women’s Health Week. The title of this year’s symposium is “Synergy in Science: Innovations in Autoimmune Disease Research and Care.” This symposium is a convergence of cutting-edge insights and collaborative efforts in the realm of autoimmune diseases. Providing the keynote address, “Understanding the Immunome: Past, Present, and Future,” is Jane Buckner, M.D., President of Benaroya Research InstituteRead more. Image via NIH.

Eppendorf & Science Prize for Neurobiology.
The International Eppendorf & Science Prize for Neurobiology is awarded annually to one young scientist who is not older than 35 years for the most outstanding neurobiological research based on methods of molecular, cellular, systems, or organismic biology conducted during the past three years. Apply by June 15, 2024. Read more.

GE Aerospace commits $22 million for engineering, workforce, disasters.
GE Aerospace has announced the launch of its GE Aerospace Foundation, which has committed $22 million in support of the Next Engineers Engineering Academy, as well as workforce development and disaster relief initiatives.“This impact is felt not just in the programs we fund but in the time our employees devote to local efforts year in and year out, whether volunteering their expertise or just lending a hand,” said GE Aerospace Foundation president Meghan Thurlow. Read more.

'We're meeting people where they are': Graphic novels can help boost diversity in STEM, says MIT's Ritu Raman.

Live Science spoke to MIT professor Ritu Raman, one of the lead science advisors on The Curie Society series, about how graphic novels can help promote STEM education, why diversity is so important, and what it's like to be immortalized in comic book form. (Image credit: MIT Press (left) and L'Oreal USA (right). Read more. Check out her presentation at the Rosalind Franklin Society 2019 year end meeting.

The Beacon Award for Women Leaders in Oncology.
The nomination deadline for the 2024 AIM-HI Beacon Award for Women Leaders in Oncology is approaching! Don't miss the opportunity to honor a trailblazing woman leader. Submit an online nomination no later than Friday, May 31. Read more.

Scoop: Women in Global Health launches investigation, man to lead board.
A man has been appointed as board chair of Women in Global Health, and the organization is under investigation. Members of the global organization are outraged. Read more.

NFCR CEO Dr. Sujuan Ba Honored at AAPI Women’s Gala 2024.

This 8th year’s gala, themed “Resilience and Perseverance,” honored Dr. Sujuan Ba for her exemplary leadership at The National Foundation for Cancer Research and other organizations she is part of and her pivotal role in advancing cancer research. Read more.

RCSA Welcomes 2024 Class of Cottrell Scholars.

Research Corporation for Science Advancement has named 19 early career scholars in chemistry, physics, and astronomy as recipients of its 2024 Cottrell Scholar Awards. Each awardee receives $120,000. Read more. (Image: Top row: Carlos Argüelles Delgado, Bernadette Broderick, Lía Corrales, Katherine de Kleer, Meagan Elinski, Jacob Gayles. 2nd row: Leslie Hamachi, Farnaz Heidar-Zadeh, Tova Holmes, Fang Liu, Anne Medling, Maren Mossman, Johanna Nagy. Third row: Denise Okafor, Rebecca Rapf, Paul Robustelli, Timothy Su, Jessica Swanson, Michael Welsh.)

AHN, Innovation Works AlphaLab Health Joint Venture Receives $10 Million Grant to Create Revolving Investment Fund.
AlphaLab Health, an accelerator program developed by Innovation Works and Allegheny Health Network for life-sciences startups in the Pittsburgh region, has received a $10 million grant from an anonymous donor to create an evergreen fund. Read more.

In Memoriam: Carole Falcon-Chandler, 1939-2024.
Carole Falcon-Chandler, long-time president of Aaniiih Nakoda College, a tribal college located on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana, passed away on April 23. She was 85 years old. Read more.

 

We are pleased to welcome the first members of our new Council of Corporate Leadership!


            

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