Briefings

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

 

Interview with Immunologist Akiko Iwasaki: ‘We are not done with Covid, not even close’

One of the scientists leading the race to try to unravel the complexities of long Covid is Akiko Iwasaki, an immunology professor at Yale School of Medicine. Iwasaki has been at the forefront of numerous research breakthroughs throughout the course of the pandemic. Most recently, Iwasaki has been awarded the prestigious Else Kröner Fresenius Prize for Medical Research, worth €2.5m, in part due to her ongoing work on long Covid. She also spoke at RFS Year-End meeting. Listen here. Read more. Image: Yale School of Medicine.

2024 Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science. 
The Vilcek Foundation will award three Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise of $50,000 each to young, immigrant biomedical scientists who demonstrate outstanding early achievement. Applications will close TODAY, June 12, 2023. Read more.

Women in tech statistics: The hard truths of an uphill battle.
Despite national conversations about gender diversity in tech, numbers show that women are still underrepresented, underpaid, and often discriminated against in the tech industry. Read more.

9 Novels Honoring Women’s Unseen Contributions to Science.
Although there is still a long way to go, modern historians, writers, and crowd-sourced efforts like Wikipedia Edit-a-Thons have made considerable progress in finally recognizing the women scientists whose work has long been overlooked. Read more.

France A. Córdova awarded honorary Doctor of Science degree.

Congratulations to Dr. France A. Córdova for being recognized by Yale University with an honorary Doctor of Science degree. The Honorable France A. Córdova was appointed by President Barack Obama to lead the National Science Foundation (NSF), a post she held for a six-year term from 2014 to 2020. Read more. Image: Wikipedia (NSF/Stephen Voss)

Rude comments and bottom slaps: The things female doctors put up with.
“The reason women are leaving medicine is multifactorial, and it’s not, as some might suggest, due to women not wanting to work full-time,” Arghavan Salles said. The list of reasons, she says, is long: microaggressions, sexual harassment, undermining of our work and lack of support for families in the workplace. Read more.

The Women in Medicine Legacy Foundation honors cardiovascular champion.
Nanette Wenger, MD, MACC, MACP, FAHA, a pioneer and visionary in the field of cardiology, is the 2023 recipient of the Alma Dea Morani, MD Renaissance Woman award, the highest honor bestowed by the Women in Medicine Legacy Foundation. Read more.

Hidden Voices: Dr. Joanne Chory is Changing the World — One Seed at a Time.

What if plants could save the world? Dr. Joanne Chory, a plant geneticist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, California, thinks that maybe they can. Chory is a widely respected scientist: she has received many top awards and honors throughout her career—including being elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and receiving the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, among others. Read more. Image Credit: Salk Institute.

Does Artificial Intelligence Help or Hurt Gender Diversity? Evidence from Two Field Experiments on Recruitment in Tech.
The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recruitment is rapidly increasing and drastically changing how people apply to jobs and how applications are reviewed. In this paper, researchers use two field experiments to study how AI recruitment tools can impact gender diversity in the male-dominated technology sector, both overall and separately for labor supply and demand. Read more.

New Center for Ocean Education and Innovation Coming in 2025.
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences announced a $30 million expansion to its East Boothbay laboratory. “Research to understand the foundation of global ocean health will always be at the core of our work,” said Deborah Bronk, president and CEO. Read more.

Dr. Katalin Karikó recognized with honorary Doctor of Science degrees.

Congrats to Dr. Katalin Karikó, who was recognized by Princeton University with an honorary Doctor of Science degree just five days after being presented with one from Harvard! Watch the GEN/RosalindFranklinSociety webinar with Katalin Karikó on her pioneering research on mRNA.

Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Awardees, American Philosophical Society Members, and More.
Andrea Califano, Clyde '56 and Helen Wu Professor of Chemical Biology (in Systems Biology), was awarded $6,909,000 over seven years from the National Cancer Institute. Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic was recognized in the Top 50 Academic Life Science Entrepreneurs by BIOS and won the Annual award for the best paper by a woman in science by the Mary Ann Liebert Inc. and Rosalind Franklin Society. Read more.

Discover the laureates of the 25th L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awards.
The L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awards honors five distinguished women scientists each year for the excellence of their work and their outstanding careers – one for each of the following five regions: Africa and the Arab States; Asia and the Pacific; Europe; Latin America and the Caribbean; and North America. The 2024 Call for nominations for the International Awards in Life and Environmental sciences is now open. An award of €100,000 will be given to each of the five laureates selected by a jury of internationally renowned experts. One of this year’s winners is Professor Aviv Regev, awarded for her pioneering work in single cell genomics (the study of individual cells). Read more about her impressive work. Professor Aviv Regev was an RFS speaker two years ago, she joined the panel "Awards: The Window or Just Window Dressing?" Watch it now.

SciGirls Stories: Black Women in STEM.
Meet five Black women scientists who are innovators, problem-solvers and STEM superstars who honor their racial identity and cultures. In this show, they share their strategies for overcoming challenges and finding success and joy in jobs where Black women are often underrepresented. They also inspire Black girls to pursue all kinds of interests and career paths through their individual stories. Read more.

Reimagining treatment for brain diseases to improve the lives of patients and their families: Ana Raquel Santa Maria.

Ana Raquel Santa Maria is inspired to Reimagine the World with better understanding, prevention, and treatment of brain diseases after seeing her grandparents suffer as they age, especially her grandmother who has dementia. Read more. Image Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University.

White House set to tap Obama veteran Mandy Cohen to lead CDC.
Former North Carolina health secretary Mandy Cohen, an Obama-era health official well known in Democratic policy circles, would replace outgoing CDC chief Rochelle Walensky, who is slated to leave the agency at the end of the month. Read more.

Genspace Executive Director.
Genspace is seeking a dynamic and passionate Executive Director (ED) to lead Genspace into its next chapter. The ED will oversee all aspects of strategy, programs, operations, community relations, fundraising, and financial management. Read more.

Global health advocate Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi wins Vilcek-Gold Award.

The Vilcek Foundation and The Arnold P. Gold Foundation have announced they will bestow the 2023 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare on Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) meeting in Seattle on November 4, 2023. Bottazzi will receive the Vilcek-Gold Award for her leadership in the development of a patent-free open-source vaccine for COVID-19, and for her career-long work to support healthcare education and access in vulnerable populations globally. Read more. Image: Texas Children’s Hospital.

Elizabeth R. Cantwell Named 17th USU President.
The Utah Board of Higher Education selected Elizabeth “Betsy” R. Cantwell as the 17th president of Utah State University on Friday, following an extensive national search. "Elizabeth Cantwell will be an innovative new president for Utah State University building on the already strong research excellence and statewide service model,” said Lisa-Michele Church, Utah Board of Higher Education chair. Read more.

Research: Women and non-white people have not fared well among Lasker Award recipients from 1946 to 2022.
The number of women and non-white people in academic medicine and biomedical research continues to increase, yet the proportion of women among Lasker Award recipients has not changed in more than 70 years. Read more.

Subscribe to our newsletter (RFS Briefings) at https://womeninscience.substack.com/  


Written by Marianna Limas, Social Media Manager
Nilda Rivera, Partnership and Events Manager

 
 

 

 
 

Dear Colleagues, 

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

Rosalind Franklin Society Medal

Submission deadline: Extended to May 31st
Submit Nomination Now!                                    

The Genome Writers Guild (GWG) and Rosalind Franklin Society have joined forces again to recognize amazing scientists by awarding the Rosalind Franklin Medal.

This award marries together GWG’s core objectives of facilitating genome writing conversation, collaboration, and exposure with the Rosalind Franklin Society’s goals of enabling more women to achieve higher recognition, visibility, appointments, and success in industry, academia, or government. The recipient of this award will embody the missions of both organizations. 

The Rosalind Franklin Medal will not only recognize the outstanding body of research of a woman in the field of genome engineering and nucleic acids research, it also offers a platform to share that work with members and colleagues worldwide of both organizations. The recipient will be an invited speaker at the Genome Writers Guild annual conference this summer and annual Rosalind Franklin Board Meeting and Colloquium later this year. We invite the nominations of women working in the fields of genome engineering and synthetic biology. The researcher should be in an early stage of their career, including graduate students, post-docs and assistant professors. Nominees from all walks of genomics and nucleic acid research, including academia, industry, and government are welcome. Criteria used to identify the winner will include: scientific Impact; contribution to the fields of genome editing or nucleic acid research; contributions to equity, diversity, and inclusion; community outreach; and overall strength of support letter(s).

To nominate (or self-nominate):

  • Send name

  • CV and/or Biosketch

  • Brief statement of support/ justification for review context

Contact us for questions
Erin Nolan: [email protected]
Dr.Shondra Pruett-Miller: [email protected]

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

Novel Innovations for Tissue Regeneration in Osteoarthritis.
ARPA-H, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, has launched a new program. The goal of NITRO (Novel Innovations for Tissue Regeneration in Osteoarthritis) is to find ways for the human body to repair its own joints. Osteoarthritis affects more than 32 million Americans, is the third most common type of disability, and has an estimated economic burden of more than $136 billion per year. A Proposers' Day for research teams interested in NITRO is scheduled for June 15 – learn more and register.

Research!America Calls for Entries for Discovery | Innovation | Health Prize.
Research!America’s 2023 Discovery | Innovation | Health Prize will recognize and provide support for a researcher or clinician with a bold vision for progress against pandemic threats. Applications are open through June 15 for the $200,000 prize. Read more.

Charting an Equity-Centered Public Health Data System.
Building a public health data system rooted in health equity is key to building a Culture of Health, where everyone has a fair and just opportunity to live a long and healthy life. This special publication, Charting an Equity-Centered Public Health Data System, highlights what can be done to create a modern public health data system that advances equity. Read more.

OMRF’s Montgomery to lead Center for Biomedical Data Sciences.


The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation has named Courtney Montgomery, Ph.D., as the founding director of its Center for Biomedical Data Sciences. “Data science plays an enormous role in biomedical research,” she said. “A single experiment can generate enough data to fill 75 laptops. Our scientists need extensive computing resources and skilled mathematicians and computer scientists to make discoveries from that much information.” Read more. Image: The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.

Also at OMRF,  EVP Dr. Judith James selected for induction to Oklahoma Hall of Fame.  

OMRF Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Judith James, M.D., Ph.D., has been named a member of the 2023 class of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. Considered among the highest honors in the state, James is the first woman from OMRF and just the third scientist in the foundation’s 76-year history to be selected for induction into the hall of fame. OMRF is a member of our Council of Academic Institutions. Read more. Image: OMRF.

Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists.
Recent PhD? Boost your career by applying to the Science and SciLifeLab’s Prize for young scientists, an annual prize awarded to early-career scientists, this year celebrating its 10th anniversary. As a winner, you will have your essay published by Science, receive up to 30,000 USD and be invited to Sweden where you receive your award, present your research and meet with leading scientists in your field. Read more.

Baszucki Group Partners with Stony Brook University on Neuroblox Platform to Revolutionize Treatments for Brain Disorders.

Stony Brook University announced a philanthropic gift to develop Neuroblox, a software platform developed by biomedical engineer and neuroscientist Lilianne “Lily” Mujica-Parodi that will model brain circuits to treat brain disorders. The gift was made possible by David Baszucki, founder and chief executive officer of Roblox, and his wife, bestselling author Jan Ellison Baszucki. Read more. Image: Lilianne R. Mujica-Parodi, Stony Brook University.

Dr. Edna Adan Ismail Receives 2023 Templeton Prize.

The winner of the 2023 Templeton Prize is Dr. Edna Adan Ismail, a nurse-midwife, hospital founder, and healthcare advocate who has worked courageously to change cultural, religious, and medical norms surrounding women’s health in East Africa, improving the lives of thousands of women and girls in the region and beyond. Read more. Image: 2023 Templeton Prize Winner Edna Adan Ismail photographed in London by Tim Cole for the Templeton Prize. 

Bernadine Strik, Whose Insights Helped Blueberries Thrive, Dies at 60.
Bernadine Strik, a horticulture professor at Oregon State University whose innovative cultivation strategies shook up the American blueberry industry, died on April 14 at a hospital in Corvallis, Ore. She was 60. Dr. Strik helped organic growers maximize their yields by planting on raised beds instead of flat ground, a technique that also benefited conventional farms. She persuaded many berry producers, in Oregon and beyond, to accept her research and adopt her measures, writes Daniel E. Slotnik for The New York Times. Read more.

The Female Turn: How Evolutionary Science Shifted Perceptions About Females.
Evolutionary biology has historically rendered female animals as passive recipients of sexual selection, but that view has shifted as researchers have begun to focus more on female anatomy and behavior. This week on the Science podcast, Malin Ah-King describes how new research is revealing the active sexual strategies used by females across the animal kingdom. Read more.

Women (probably) make for better astronauts. So should the first crew to Mars be all-female?
A recent study by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) medical team concluded that “there may be a number of operational advantages to all-female crews [for future long-duration missions]”. But as Angela Saini, a journalist and author who has researched the impacts of sex-based research says: “There is actually no real-life 'default' male – every man is different from the next, just like every woman is. "While it's great that women have been studied, the more important takeaway is that individual astronauts should obviously be considered.” Read more.

Subscribe to our newsletter (RFS Briefings) at https://womeninscience.substack.com/  


Written by Marianna Limas, Social Media Manager
Nilda Rivera, Partnership and Events Manager

 

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

Akiko Iwasaki is awarded the Else Kröner Fresenius Prize for Medical Research 2023 for her research on long COVID.


Immunologist Professor Akiko Iwasaki from the Yale School of Medicine is being awarded one of the world’s most highly endowed prizes for research in the field of medicine: the Else Kröner Fresenius Prize for Medical Research. EKFS is honoring Iwasaki’s groundbreaking contributions in the area of “Diseases of worldwide significance,” focused on immune responses to viral infections. Please listen to  her presentation from RFS Virtual Meeting 2019:  Labs, Leaders, Critical Connections: RFS Virtual Meeting 2019  Read more. Image: Yale School of Medicine.

CDC director Rochelle Walensky is leaving her post.
Rochelle Walensky, who led the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through some of the grimmest phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, announced that she will leave the agency at the end of June.“Dr. Walensky has saved lives with her steadfast and unwavering focus on the health of every American,” President Biden said in a statement. Read more.

Personal Perspective on a Life in Science.


The Kavli Foundation President, Cynthia Friend, shares her take on the dynamic frontier of science in a personal perspective published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry. “Through a few stories, she highlights some of the opportunities and challenges over the last several decades and expresses her deep gratitude and privilege for a multi-faceted career, rich in ideas and full of friends and colleagues.” Read more. Image: Kavli Foundation.

Pamela Silver elected to National Academy of Sciences.

 

Pamela Silver, Ph.D., founding Core Faculty member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, and the Elliot T. and Onie H. Adams Professor of Biochemistry and Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School (HMS) is joining the ranks of the National Academy of Sciences. Read more.Image: Wyss Institute. 

First deaf, Black woman receives her PhD in a STEM discipline.

Graduate student Amie Fornah Sankoh recently stood in front of 150 colleagues, family and friends at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center to defend her thesis. Upon her successful defense, Dr. Amie Sankoh became the first Deaf, Black woman to receive a PhD in any STEM discipline. Read more. Image: Dr. Tessa Burch-Smith and Dr. Amie Fornah Sankoh work on plants in the lab. Credit: Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.  

Health Equity Special Issue: Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Health.
This special issue is a collection of short reports, research articles, perspectives, and editorials on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander health disparities. The articles touch on the challenges to AANHPI health, the underlying factors, and the diversity within the AANHPI. Read more.

The 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners. 
Meet the 2023 Goldman Prize winners, six ordinary people who took extraordinary actions to protect their environments and communities: Diane Wilson from the United States, Alessandra Korap Munduruku from Brazil, Chilekwa Mumba from Zambia, Tero Mustonen from Finland, Zafer Kizilkaya from Turkey, and Delima Silalahi from Indonesia. Read more.

Women’s health: end the disparity in funding.
The past 30 years has in many ways changed the landscape for women’s-health research. But in other respects, time has stood still, according to an editorial in Nature. Female participation rates in some studies remain low, as affirmed by a report published in March and commissioned by the Women’s Brain Project, a non-profit body based in Guntershausen, Switzerland. Read more.

What it’s like to be in the minority at a conference.
Nature spoke to four scientists about their experiences as members of under-represented groups at conferences — and how researchers can protect themselves and others from inappropriate behavior, abuse and harassment. “Being in the minority at conferences is worse than in other professional situations because they are so important. As a researcher, you need to know what others in your field are doing, find out about interesting projects and be part of networks,” says Pas Garcia Martinez, Optics researcher at the University of Valencia in Spain and general secretary of the Spanish Association of Female Researchers and Technologists. Read more.

 Early Career Summit.
Registration is open for Reaching the Peak: A Science & Technology Early Career Summit Series. Throughout these events, you will have the opportunity to explore an array of career paths, network with fellow researchers and career professionals, participate in professional development workshops, and engage in meaningful discussions around issues critical to the success of the R&D ecosystem. Read more.

Women’s representation as authors of retracted papers in the biomedical sciences
“Women are under-represented among authors of scientific papers. Although the number of retractions has been rising over the past few decades, gender differences among authors of retracted papers remain poorly understood. Therefore, this study investigated gender differences in authorship of retracted papers in biomedical sciences available on RetractionWatch,” according to the authors of the study in PLoS One. Read more.

The Beacon Award for Women Leaders in Oncology. 
The AIM-HI Beacon Award for Women Leaders in Oncology recognizes outstanding women leaders in all sectors of the health and life sciences industry who have made a significant impact on advancing cancer treatment, detection, and diagnosis for patients worldwide. The Nomination Deadline for the 2023 Beacon Award is Wednesday, May 31, at 11:55 PM Eastern time. Read more.

The Ross Prize in Molecular Medicine.

Drs. Helen Hobbs (an RFS Board Member) and Jonathan Cohen are being awarded the 2023 Ross Prize in Molecular Medicine for their pioneering and collaborative work in defining the genetic risk factors for dyslipidemias and metabolic liver disease that have led to the rational design of new therapies. Read more. Image: Helen H. Hobbs, M.D., is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a Professor of Internal Medicine and Molecular Genetics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. 

SENS Research Foundation Grand Opening.
On Friday, June 23rd at 4 pm PT, SENS Research Foundation’s expanded Research Center (a member of our Council of Academic Institutions) is all set to open its doors for a Grand Opening event that you cannot miss. Get ready to mingle, network, and meet fellow supporters of healthy longevity and rub shoulders with innovators from the Bay Area's most exciting biotech and longevity companies! Read more.

Subscribe to our newsletter (RFS Briefings) at https://womeninscience.substack.com/  


Written by Marianna Limas, Social Media Manager
Nilda Rivera, Partnership and Events Manager

 

Dear Colleagues, 

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

In case you missed it, The Genome Writers Guild (GWG) and Rosalind Franklin Society have joined forces again to recognize amazing scientists by awarding the Rosalind Franklin Medal. This award marries together GWG’s core objectives of facilitating genome writing conversation, collaboration, and exposure with the Rosalind Franklin Society’s goals of enabling more women to achieve higher recognition, visibility, appointments, and success in industry, academia, or government. The recipient of this award will embody the missions of both organizations. Submission deadline: May 15th.

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

Celebrating DNA: Matthew Cobb’s Reflections on the Double Helix.
To celebrate DNA Day on April 25, GEN is highlighting this conversation with biologist and author Matthew Cobb, who reflected on the double helix's platinum anniversary. He talks to GEN about the discovery of the double helix, the legacy of Francis Crick, the role that Rosalind Franklin played in the process, and his most recent book, As Gods, which looks to the future—and the potential perils—of genetic engineering. Read more. Check out his RFS presentation here.

What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure.
Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player, according to Matthew Cobb and Nathaniel Comfort. “Getting Franklin’s story right is crucial, because she has become a role model for women going into science. She was up against not just the routine sexism of the day, but also more subtle forms embedded in science — some of which are still present today.” Read more.

Meet 10 Amazing Women Telling the Stories of Synthetic Biology.

These 10 women are helping tell the fascinating, mind-bending, inspirational – and sometimes bizarre – stories of synthetic biology. And through those stories, they inspire us to try new things, change our behaviors as consumers, and help us imagine a world built with biology. We're proud of the recognition of Julianna LeMieux, Deputy Editor-in-Chief at GEN. Read more.

The British physicist making women scientists visible online.
By day, Jessica Wade spends her time in a laboratory at Imperial College London surrounded by spectrometers, oscilloscopes—and men. At night, she writes biographies on Wikipedia about women researchers like her who don't have an online presence. Read more.

The Beacon Award for Women Leaders in Oncology.
The AIM-HI Beacon Award for Women Leaders in Oncology recognizes outstanding women leaders in all sectors of the health and life sciences industry who have made a significant impact on advancing cancer treatment, detection, and diagnosis for patients worldwide through the development and commercialization of novel technologies and/or implementation of public policy. The Nomination Deadline for the 2023 Beacon Award is Wednesday, May 31, at 11:55 PM Eastern time. Read more.

Medical Student Honored with Public Health Service Award. 

Precious Akanyirige, a fourth-year student in the MD/MPH degree program, has been awarded the 2023 Excellence in Public Health Award, given by the U.S. Public Health Service. This national award is given to medical students who have made significant contributions to the U.S. Public Health Service’s mission to “protect, promote and advance the health and safety of our nation,” and who help address public health issues in their community. Read more. Photo: Northwestern University.

Recently named cancer institute director may become head of NIH.

As a relative NIH newcomer, Monica Bertagnolli should bring a fresh perspective to an agency some critics have called staid. The physician-scientist would be only the second woman to lead the agency; she came to NCI after stints at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Dana-Farber Cancer Center, and Harvard Medical School. Read more.  Check out her  RFS year-end presentation here. Image: Monica M. Bertagnolli, M.D. Brigham and Women’s Hospital/NIH.

How I fused passions for art and medicine into a medical illustration career. 

Hillary Wilson works as a freelance illustrator, specializing in creating patient education materials using digital and physical drawing tools. She depicts diverse groups of people, aiming to address racial and ethnic disparities in health care. Nature spoke to Wilson about how she found this career path, and why medicine and medical research need a more diverse pool of illustrators. Read more. Image credit: Hillary D. Wilson.

JoAnne Hewett Named Director of Brookhaven National Laboratory.

JoAnne Hewett comes to Brookhaven from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, where she most recently served as associate lab director (ALD) for fundamental physics and chief research officer. Hewett is a theoretical physicist. Her research probes the fundamental nature of space, matter, and energy. She is best known for her work on physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics and how that might relate to experiments. Read more. Image: JoAnne Hewett (Photo courtesy of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

Overlooked No More: Elizabeth Wagner Reed, Who Resurrected Legacies of Women in Science
Reed made several discoveries in genetics and dedicated her career toward supporting women scientists. Yet she herself fell into obscurity. This article is part of Overlooked, a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times. Read more.

She Redefined Trauma. Then Trauma Redefined Her.
Dr. Judith Herman, a psychiatrist and pioneering researcher of trauma, has returned to publishing after a long, mysterious ordeal. She had her career on hold for two decades as she navigated her own chronic pain and several surgeries after an accident. Read more.

The CRISPR Journal.
Although the path to the clinic of CRISPR-based technologies has focused primarily on therapeutics, the road to most consumers is much more likely to be in the realm of diagnostics. CRISPR Journal presents a special issue dedicated to CRISPR Diagnostics. Read more.


Subscribe to our newsletter (RFS Briefings) at https://womeninscience.substack.com/  


Written by Marianna Limas, Social Media Manager
Nilda Rivera, Partnership and Events Manager

 

Dear Colleagues, 

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

Make sure to review the Genome Writers Guild "call for nominations" here and on our homepage. Due date: May 15th!

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


Professor Yasmine Belkaid appointed Institut Pasteur President.

"Photo copyright: © DidierRouget"

A French Algerian born in Algiers in 1968, Professor Yasmine Belkaid is an internationally renowned scientist who has focused her research on the relationship between microbes and the immune system. She began her scientific journey with training in infectious diseases at the Institut Pasteur, and her career has since encompassed a wide variety of fields including parasitology, microbiology, medical entomology and virology, as well as tissue immunity, the microbiome and human immunology. Read more.

Biochemist Jennifer Doudna receives Kimberly Prize for role in CRISPR studies.

Biochemist Jennifer Doudna received the inaugural Kimberly Prize in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center. The prize will be awarded annually to a scientist who has made “outstanding research contributions into the molecular basis of life with a direct demonstrated link of their discovery into clinic for the betterment of humankind.” Make sure to watch our earlier RFS interviews:  A Conversation with Jennifer Doudna, 2020 Nobel Laureate and The State of Biotech with Dr. Doudna. Read more. Image by Christopher Michel (Wikipedia)

Interview: HIV scientist Kundai Chinyenze: ‘I looked at Mum’s hospital bed and swore: I’m going to become a doctor’ 

Kundai Chinyenze lost both her parents to Aids as a teenager in Zimbabwe. Nearly three decades later, the medical researcher leads a mission to find a vaccine. “If there’s anything we’ve learned, [it’s that] we are faster, and get to solutions faster, when we remove barriers. Science can never be in a vacuum. [We need] scientists to challenge, and feed off each other to come up with the best solutions and find answers to our problems.” Read more. Image: IAVI

Overlooked No More: Alice Ball, Chemist Who Created a Treatment for Leprosy.
Alice Augusta Ball. Image credit: Wikipedia.

Alice Ball was a Black chemist who developed a method for the treatment of leprosy that was widely used in the pre-antibiotic years of the 1920s and ’30s. Modified chaulmoogra oil, based on the Ball Method, was distributed worldwide and helped free countless people from isolated leper colonies. Read more.

Virginia Norwood, ‘Mother’ of Satellite Imaging Systems, Dies at 96.

Virginia Norwood, an aerospace pioneer who invented the scanner that has been used to map and study the earth from space for more than 50 years, has died at her home in Topanga, Calif. She was 96. Ms. Norwood, a physicist, was the person primarily responsible for designing and championing the scanner that made the Landsat satellites possible. NASA has called her “the mother of Landsat.” Read more. Image: Wikipedia.

University of Groningen faces growing calls to reinstate sacked gender-equality researcher.

In 2018, Susanne Täuber made an official complaint that she had been passed over for promotion, arguing that she had as many published papers and research grants as colleagues who had been promoted above her. In March, a court ruled that the University of Groningen in the Netherlands could sack her, after it found that there was a “permanently disturbed employment relationship” between the two parties. Read more. Image: RUG

Chemistry’s history through the feminist lens.
Looking back on women’s history month, Vanessa Seifert has been thinking of the multifaceted ways that this commemoration can promote the equality of women, especially within chemistry. Bringing forward the stories of women like Tappūtī-bēlat-ekalle (‘history’s first chemist’) helps illuminate the fact that female chemists have been persistently neglected. Read more.

Subscribe to our newsletter (RFS Briefings) at https://womeninscience.substack.com/  


Written by Marianna Limas, Social Media Manager
Nilda Rivera, Partnership and Events Manager 

 
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