LGBTQ+ in STEM Webinar
For Pride Month in June, STEM Potential hosted a 2-day, live webinar series, with more than 25 LGBTQ+ people in STEM over seven sessions, including M.D.s, Ph.D.s, and students at various stages of their career. This was an opportunity for panelists to share their journeys and provide advice, and attendees were able to ask questions and see representation in fields that are sorely lacking.
Panelist Biographies
Allied Health Professionals and Nurses, June 26th, 2021, 11:45 AM - 12:45 PM EST
Enzo’s role at the King of Prussia hospital is to support and guide his areas in order to better take care of his patients and the community. As a leader, his goal is to ensure his team has the tools, equipment, and resources to do their job. He leads by example and demonstrates the ICARE values every day. He is coming to KOPH with 19 years of healthcare experience, 15 years as a Licensed MRI Technologist, and 12 years in a leadership role. His passion is people and process improvement. His background in LEAN and Six-Sigma have helped him learn workflows that increase efficiency and reduce waste. His biggest professional accomplishment is obtaining his current role. He is very grateful for this opportunity and what the future holds. When he is not devoting his time to work, he is going on walks and cuddling his 9 year old Boxer, named Gracie Lou (“Gracie”). He also enjoys being in or near the water when he can. Being from California, he enjoys surfing, fishing, SUP boarding, kayaking, and soaking up the sun.
Kyla Cannon is a BSN Registered Nurse with seven years of Pediatric ICU experience and three years of Pediatric Critical Care transport. She is a Certified Pediatric Critical Care RN (CCRN-P), Certified Flight RN (CFRN), and PA Pre-Hospital RN (PHRN). She currently works at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in both the PICU and Transport teams. Kyla has helped develop training programs for immersion in the two specializations along with Chairing the Trauma Committee and teaching classes on dialysis and CCRN preparation. She has been a member of the Fire Response Team for 5 years and served as a Lead Nurse in the COVID unit in 2020. In her free time, Kyla enjoys rock climbing, traveling, and hiking with her dog. Kyla lives in Philadelphia with her wife, dog, and two cats.
Ph.D., Masters, and Bachelors: June 26th, 2021, 1:00-2:00 PM EST
A native of Jamaica, André moved to the US to attend the College of the Holy Cross where he received his B.A. in Chemistry in 2005. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 2011 where he focused on the design and synthesis of novel steroid-derived inhibitors of Hedgehog-signaling, based on the alkaloid cyclopamine. He worked as a post-doctoral researcher with Professor Richmond Sarpong at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2012, Andre accepted a tenure-track position at the College of the Holy Cross. In 2018, Andre was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure. In addition to teaching courses in Organic Chemistry, Andre conducts research utilizing copper-mediated organic transformations. He is one of the co-founding members of Outfront - the college's LGBTQ faculty and staff alliance and serves as faculty advisor to a number of student groups.
Robert earned a B.A. in Earth and Planetary Science from Harvard University, an M.A. in Education from Saint Peter’s College, and an M.A. in Chemistry Education from Illinois State University. Robert spent fifteen years as a classroom instructor for Advanced Placement Chemistry, Advanced Placement Physics, and International Baccalaureate Physics. Currently, Robert tutors students in academic chemistry, physics, and math, and helps students to prepare for the SSAT, ISEE, SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT, MCAT, and standardized tests in chemistry in physics through Advantage Testing in New York. In his spare time, he likes to travel, read, ski, stargaze, and play poker. He also enjoys fine dinners with friends and hanging out with his nieces and nephews, and he has been happily married to his husband, Mike, for the past five years.
Jillian is a Mechanical Engineer who has spent eight years in manufacturing and construction. She has worked in various roles in Engineering, Continuous Improvement, and Production. She currently works at DuPont as an Area Manager in the Slurry business, which supports the manufacturing of semiconductors. She manages a team of 30 Operations and Laboratory staff in a 24/7 business unit. Through her career Jillian has had success leading kaizen events, designing and implementing training programs, and creating strategies around cycle time reduction. In her free time, Jillian enjoys rock climbing, mountain biking, and reading. She lives in Philadelphia with her wife, dog, and two cats.
Alex is currently working towards his dream of becoming a full-time Fisheries Biologist. He started his career in Marin County, CA, conducting population assessments for juvenile Coho Salmon and Steelhead Trout. He then spent six months studying River Otters in and around Marin County, before beginning his first of two terms with the Watershed Stewards Program. His first term with WSP was spent studying coho and steelhead again. He then moved to Santa Cruz, CA, where he spent a second year with the Watershed Stewards Program learning about riparian and wetland ecosystems. He currently works full time in Water Conservation in San Jose, but spent the winter collecting data on Coho Salmon in a remote stream in Marin for his masters research. He'll continue collecting data this winter, with the hopes of having his thesis ready by Spring 2023.
Physicians: June 26th, 2021, 2:15-3:15 PM EST
Dr. Andrew Gotlin is a retired primary care physician who practiced internal medicine for over 25 years in a variety of practice settings. After receiving his undergraduate degree at Columbia University, he completed his medical degree and internal medicine residency at Mount Sinai Medical Center. He has worked as an Attending Physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center, as the Medical Director of the Ryan/Chelsea-Clinton Community Health Center in New York, and as the director of primary care development at Lenox Hill Hospital. His most recent position was with Yale University as the Chief of Student Health and Athletic Medicine, while maintaining a clinical appointment at the Yale School of Medicine. In addition to providing direct primary care, he has enjoyed leadership roles in medical administration, medical education and medical mentorship. Dr. Gotlin currently lives in Connecticut with his husband Neal and their canine daughter Molly. He enjoys volunteering at a local animal shelter, traveling the world and learning new languages.
Dr. Luisa C. Cueto is a board-certified doctor with the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She specializes in obstetrics and gynecology at MyDoc Women's Health Specialists in Boca Raton and Boynton Beach, Florida and is also affiliated with West Boca Medical Center. Dr. Cueto received her medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. She received her Florida medical license in 1996 and her Louisiana medical license in 1993, after completing her residency at Tulane University Hospital and Clinics. She is recognized as a Fellow with American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (FACOG). In addition to women’s health services and OBGYN, Dr. Cueto offers comprehensive, holistic, primary care for her patients needing guidance with any health issue. She is a native speaker of Spanish and English. Dr. Cueto lives in Boca Raton with her wife, Shelley, and their children Chase and Mia.
Dr. Mark A. Schuster is recognized as an international leader in research on child, adolescent, and family health, concentrating on topics such as quality of care, health disparities, family leave, obesity prevention, sexual and gender minority health, and bullying. Dr. Schuster has written two books and more than 250 journal articles, as well as numerous research briefs and reports. He had continuous federal research funding, until moving to the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine. Dr. Schuster has precepted in primary and urgent care, developed and taught a course on community-based participatory health research, taught classes in multiple disciplines, and served as a mentor to students, residents, and faculty. He has held various leadership roles, including service as President of the Academic Pediatrics Association and Director of the Harvard Catalyst Health Disparities Program. An elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, Dr. Schuster is the recipient of the St. Geme Leadership Award from the Federation of Pediatric Organizations, the Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award from Harvard Medical School, and the Richardson Award for lifetime achievement from the Society for Pediatric Research. Dr. Schuster was named among Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare for 2018 and 2019 and their 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives in 2019. He was appointed Founding Dean and CEO of the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine in 2017.
Dr. Christopher Kelly is a board-certified Urology Specialist in New York City and has over 27 years of experience. Dr. Kelly has more experience with urinary conditions than other specialists in his area. He graduated from Columbia University/College of Physicians And Surgeons medical school in 1994. He then completed his surgical residency and his urology residency at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Kelly further specialized in female urology and neurourology at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He has received several esteemed recognitions, including being named one of the Top Doctors in New York’s metro area for 6 consecutive years and one of the Top Doctors in New York magazine in 2021. He is currently affiliated with Bellevue Hospital Center and NYU Langone Health Tisch Hospital.
Science Ph.D./Masters Students: June 27th, 2021, 11:45 AM-12:45 PM EST
Ms. Ellis is experienced in environmental science through protecting the watersheds of her hometown, Mobile, Alabama, while also representing her city as a NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador over the last six years. She has worked on undergraduate research in Geology, with a paper titled An Experiment to Assess Petrographic and Physical Changes Induced by Thermally Treating Lithic Artifacts. Currently, she is working on Pacific Spaceflight, a private think-tank providing low-cost commercialization of flight suits, as a geological consultant and flight ops data manager on their Mars EVA spacesuit. Additionally, she and her team have been featured in the Discovery channel for the remarkable work of Dr. Cameron Smith (the founder of PSF). She embarked on making space science communications a quirky enjoyment through her TikTok @NyxBellatrix. She shares her passion for space science through all upcoming missions, science news, and recently including content for her enormous interest in Astrophysics. There are many hats Ms. Ellis wears through her non-traditional way into the field of aerospace.
Marilù Casini obtained her M.S. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technologies at the University of Florence (Italy) in 2019. During her master’s internship, she performed an electrophysiological characterisation of human-induced pluripotent stem cells differentiated into cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) derived from healthy donor and patients with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. To further deepen her knowledge in this field, she decided to pursue an Erasmus+ internship at the University of Göttingen (Germany), where she worked with human tissue engineered models from hiPSC-CMs. During these years she also grown an interest in science communication to maximise the social impact of the research and promote scientific vocations. Currently, Marilù is working at the Health Research Institute Hospital La Fe (IIS La Fe) in Valencia (Spain) as part of the PersonalizeAF network researching patient biomarkers that can predict drug response and plan a personalized atrial fibrillation therapy.
Karissa Jade Muñoz is a 5th-year Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Irvine. She is interested in infectious diseases and studies infections with Chlamydia, an obligate intracellular bacterium and the most reported cause of human infection in the U.S. Chlamydia grows within a vacuole inside the host cell cytosol and depends on nutrients from the host to complete its developmental cycle. Karissa is using pharmacological and cellular approaches to determine how these bacteria acquire nutrients from their host cell and how trafficking pathways influence the chlamydial developmental cycle. The ultimate goal of Karissa’s studies is to identify novel molecular targets for treatment and disease prevention. Karissa’s work is also supported by an NSF graduate research fellowship.
Jordan is a first year Ph.D. student at the California Institute of Technology in chemistry. He specializes in the total synthesis of natural products in synthetic organic chemistry. Growing up in Canada, he knew from a young age he enjoyed math and the sciences. After completing high school chemistry, he helped start a non-profit, raising $40,000 for aquaponics systems to increase sustainable farming in his hometown. After graduating high school, he moved to the Bay Area in California to attend UC Berkeley, majoring in chemistry and researching in an organic chemistry lab. There, he worked on completing the synthesis of (+)-6-epi-Ophiobolin in approximately 3 times the synthetic efficiency as previous attempts while also playing on the Cal Ice Hockey Team. He now works under Professor Sarah Reisman at Caltech as a first year PhD student hoping to synthesize a brand new grayannane natural product for the first time. Achieving such a feat could provide could allow biologists to elucidate the molecule’s biological activity and mode of action with the long-term goal of providing a medicinally relevant therapeutic to society.
Paul Ian Cross is a scientist, researcher, writer and video maker from London, UK. Paul works in clinical research across multiple disciplines with a focus on early phase research, pharmacovigilance and vaccine trials. Paul’s Ph.D. investigated the benefit-risk assessment of medicines, and how patients and the public can be more involved in their treatment decisions. In 2020, Paul developed learning materials for the clinical research workforce as part of the UK's research response to COVID-19. In addition to his research career, Paul has a passion for introducing children to STEM subjects, particularly reluctant readers. By introducing science creatively, he aims to spark their interest, allowing them to gain confidence with their reading. Paul is also a science communicator and author. His first nonfiction book, How To Vanquish A Virus, was published by Welbeck in 2021. In 2021, Paul was named as a ‘Luminarie’ at the G7’s Vaccine Confidence Summit, in recognition for his science communication work on social media.
Physics, Technology, and Math Ph.D./Masters Students: June 27th, 2021, 1:00-2:00 PM EST
Lauren Bouchereau is a graduate student at Claremont Graduate University. She is pursuing an MBA as well as an M.S. in Mathematics. After graduating with her degree in Liberal Arts from St. John's College, she created a nonprofit (Beyond Numbers Interactive Education) which focuses on making complex math and physics more accessible for students. They focus on game-based learning and their current project focuses on the Maxwell Electromagnetic Equations.
Emily grew up in Ann Arbor, MI, and she graduated from Carnegie Mellon in 2019 with a B.S. in Computer Science and Robotics. She’s been working at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a software engineer since August 2019. At JPL she worked on the Entry/Descent/Landing Telemetry Visualization which made use of spacecraft telemetry to show Perseverance landing on Mars in real time. She was on site for the landing to monitor the visualization server and respond to any issues that could have occurred. She is also in training to be a Rover Planner for Curiosity, the other rover currently active on Mars. Rover planners are the people who create the sequence of commands that Curiosity will carry out each day - essentially, they drive the rover. Emily’s hobbies include puzzle hunts, video games, and being incredibly bad at League of Legends.
Karen Macías Cárdenas is an M.S. Student in Astroparticle Physics at Queen’s University in Canada. Their current research focuses on dark matter and neutrino phenomenology. In 2020, she obtained her B.S. in Physics from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California in Mexico. She did a research internship at the Niels Bohr Institute and DARK Cosmology Centre in Copenhagen on the topic of astrophysical sources of high energy neutrinos as a result of winning the John N. Bahcall Physics Award in 2019. As a Mexican, bisexual, non-binary woman with ADHD, Karen is an advocate for changing the climate in physics for it to be a safe place where all minorities in the field can succeed. She is a current member of GEnder MINorities in Physics (GEMINI-P) at the Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy at Queen's.
Florian Baer is a current Masters in Science student at Simon Fraser University, studying Physics with a focus in Condensed Matter Theory. Florian grew up in Germany and moved to Canada around 2014. He completed his undergraduate degree at Simon Fraser University, with a Bachelor’s of Science in Physics and is now working in the Kennett research group for his masters. The Kennett research group focuses on problems in quantum condensed matter, including disordered and out-of-equilibrium systems, especially those where interactions between particles are important. In his project, Florian is studying the dynamical properties of many interacting quantum particles theoretically. Insights from this work will help inform development of next generation materials that may be relevant for future electronic devices and quantum computation.
Medical Students and Residents: June 27th, 2021, 2:15-3:15 PM EST
Matthew Cosciello grew up in Connecticut and graduated from Hofstra University in 2019 with a Bachelor's of Science in Biology. He started medical school in Fall 2019 and is now a rising 3rd year medical student. He is also President of the LGBTQ+ Spectrum Health Alliance Club at his school, where they organize fundraisers for the community and host talks that raise awareness on LGBTQ+ health.
Tyler Degener just graduated from his Internal Medicine residency at LA County Hospital / University of Southern California and is now relocating to Denver, Colorado for his Infectious Diseases Fellowship at the University of Colorado. Tyler grew up in upstate New York (Albany) and finished his B.S. in Biology at Binghamton University. He then attended Drexel University College of Medicine for his MD degree before moving across the country to LA to complete his internal medicine training. Tyler's dedicated interest in the field of HIV medicine has fueled his passions to give back to the LGBTQ community as well. During his residency, Tyler led the LGBTQ Affinity Group in periodical meetings to form a welcoming community for other residents within the LGBTQ community. Training at a "county" hospital during residency has given Tyler the unique perspective and experience to work for the indigent, low-income, and at-risk health populations. Tyler's future goals are to be a teaching attending at a major university medical center, heavily involved in the medical education curriculum-building, with a focus on HIV medicine. Tyler enjoys mentoring and guiding medical professionals throughout various levels of their medical training and especially acting as a role-model for young LGBTQ health professionals.
Samuel Thomas Hinkes is a 3rd year M.D./MPH student at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He grew up in South Florida and went to college at the University of Florida. He took a gap year there to work in a health disparities research lab and tutor part time. In his first 2 years of medical school, he became involved in a student run free clinic for people who inject drugs and developed a passion for harm reduction and substance use disorders. He also became closely involved in admissions and curriculum. Currently, he is most interested in specializing in obstetrics and gynecology. He does some work in HPV, transgender medicine, and urogynecology. When he is not working on school work, he loves to cook, run, Peloton, kayak, and be by the water. He loves exploring new restaurants and trying craft beer. He is excited to be here and is looking forward to everyone’s questions!
Donovan Dowers is a medical student, business owner, and gay AF! His career interests include adolescent health, LGBTQ+ health, mental health and wellness, burnout prevention in the medical field, medical leadership and healthcare administration. He also is continually working to expand my math and science tutoring business, ChemCoach LLC! His astrology signs are Virgo sun, Capricorn moon, and Capricorn rising (#earthy!). Outside of school and his business Donovan enjoys taking care of his two cats and two dogs, cooking, eating, working out from home on his Pelotón, charcuterie board creation, thrifting, and audiobooks.
Medical Students Session 2: June 27th, 2021, 3:30-4:30 PM EST
Lexie Rizzo is a current MS3 in the St. Luke's program at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. Outside of the lovely world of medicine, she dabbles in writing/performing spoken word, pyrography, and cross fit. She is currently leaning towards emergency medicine but is keeping an open mind as she rotates through specialties. While in medical school, Lexie’s research has been centered around COVID-19. Over the summer she was part of a group that created a large database of COVID patients which was used for a variety of projects. Her research investigated the effects of ACEs and ARBs on COVID-19 readmissions.
Joel Bervell is a third year Ghanaian-American medical student at Washington State University, Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. At Washington State University, Joel served as Medical Student Council President and the co-founder and president of a chapter of the Student National Medical Association. He is committed to fighting health disparities in medicine through education. Joel regularly shares topics about racial disparities/ biases in healthcare and other industries on his TikTok and Instagram (@joelbervell) where his platforms have over 200,000+ combined followers and 12,000,000+ impressions. He has been invited to speak on panels at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Clinton Foundation, Verizon, Open Society Foundations, Bank of America, General Electric and Coca-Cola. He has spoken on local and national media outlets including NPR, and has published work in prestigious academic journals such as the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. He is the recipient of the National Medical Association Emerging Scholar Award, the highest academic honor presented to a student by the National Medical Association. Joel has served in an advisory role on the boards of multiple organizations including VisualDx, the National Student Response Network, Hope in A Box, and the Ron Brown Leaders Network Council.
Megan Patton is an MS3 at Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. A Chicago native, she attended the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) where she graduated with a BS in Molecular and Cellular Biology, earning Highest Distinction for her undergraduate thesis. It was during a college internship with the Mount Sinai Hospital (Chicago) HIV program that Meg realized her experiences with chronic illness were a powerful foundation for being an empathetic clinician. Prior to medical school, she worked at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she led multiple prospective studies related to psychophysical and psychosocial factors in the development of acute and chronic post-surgical pain. Now, Meg is an organizer of a new backpack-based outreach program serving housing-insecure patients in North Philadelphia. She also works with the Social Emergency Medicine group, researching the factors that contribute to disparities in Emergency Room triage. Meg also sits on the Student Diversity Council, a student task force aimed at identifying and addressing issues of diversity and inclusion in medical education. Whatever specialty Meg chooses, she wants to continue prioritizing and advocating for vulnerable patient populations.