Speakers List
A recurring issue at conferences and seminars is the underwhelming number of URM speakers giving talks. A commonly cited reason for this is not knowing who to invite. To that end, we’ve begun compiling a list of prominent URM researchers across every field of STEM and Medicine. We hope that conference organizers can use this list as a resource when inviting speakers. However we hope that organizers use this list conscientiously. There is a well-known, and well-documented, issue of “tokenism”, i.e. the idea that women and underrepresented minority researchers are included to give an appearance of diversity. We would like to stress that a diverse conference is not just about representation of minority speakers but also about creating an environment that is conducive to sharing ideas and collaborating. See our “Best practices” page for tips on how to create an inclusive environment.
Finally, we would like to stress that:
(i) Speakers on our list should be compensated properly for their time.
(ii) We are not the only resource out there! Check out this database for more lists of underrepresented researchers.
(iii) Our list is mainly nomination based (we then reach out to the researchers for their consent to be featured on the list). Please consider nominating yourself or others to be on the list! You can do so here or by emailing us at dscnatl@gmail.com.
NOTES ON USING OUR LIST
1) Please see here for the Speakers List in spreadsheet format (useful for more complicated searches), an explanation of all of the fields (and how to search them), and a list of sorted subfields.
2) Our website saves your previous search for future reference! If you would like to clear your search, press the “Clear” button (next to the “Submit” button).
| Field (see Notes for sorted subfields) | Preferred Name | Position | Description | Website | Tags | Date Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cellular Biology, Immunology, Molecular Biology, Virology | Dr. Peter Ramirez | Assistant Professor | The Ramirez lab investigates how retroviral gene products affect host cell pathways and immune response. | Faculty Page | retroviruses, HIV, lncRNAs, cell signaling | September 24, 2020 |
| Public Health | Dr. Rodrigo S. Reis | Associate Dean, Professor | The Reis group investigates community interventions for promoting physical activity, including looking at the built environment and active transportation. | Faculty Page | obesity, exercise, built environment, community based interventions | September 24, 2020 |
| Biostatistics | Dr. Adriana Pérez | Professor | The Pérez research team investigates dietary intake and physical activity behaviors in children and their effects on childhood obesity. Dr Pérez and her team conduct research on tobacco use in youth and young adults including their longitudinal estimation of the age of initiation. | Faculty Page | childhood obesity, nutrition, exercise, sedentary lifestyle, tobacco control, biostatistics | September 24, 2020 |
| Genetics, Plant Sciences | Dr. Natalia de Leon | Professor | The goal of Natalia’s research is to identify efficient mechanisms to better understand the genetic constitution of economically relevant traits in maize and to improve plant breeding efficiency. | Faculty Page | plant breeding, genotype by environment, genetics, maize | September 24, 2020 |
| Epidemiology, Public Health | Dr. Andrea Ramírez Varela | Assistant Professor | Global public health capacity for chronic disease prevention and physical activity promotion; and, translation research especially in Latin America. | Google Scholar | preventive medicine, non-communicable diseases, physical activity, global public health, chronic disease prevention, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, nutrition | September 24, 2020 |
| Neuroscience, Psychology | Dr. Alejandro Lleras | Professor | The Lleras lab investigates how attention works and how and when it lapses. His lab specifically focuses on visual attention and how we find objects in a scene. | Faculty Page | attention, vision, peripheral vision, parallel processing, temporal, focus | September 24, 2020 |
| Biochemistry, Neuroscience | Dr. Tameka A. Clemons | Assistant Professor | The Clemons Lab investigates the role of cell signaling molecules in the link between Type II diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. Specifically, Dr. Clemons looks at the effects of uncoupling proteins and amylin in pancreatic beta cells, neuronal cells and brain tissue. | Faculty Page | Alzheimer's disease, Type II diabetes, uncoupling proteins, amylin, cell signaling, brain, pancreatic beta cells | September 24, 2020 |
| Neuroscience, Psychology | Dr. Nicole Y.Y. Wicha | Associate Professor | The Wicha lab investigates how the brain processes language, especially in cases of bilingualism, and how language experience affects other cognitive processes, like arithmetic. | Lab Website | cognition, language, learning, child development, neurodevelopment, math cognition, bilingualism | September 24, 2020 |
| Clinical - Psychology, Gerontology/Geroscience | Dr. Tasneem Khambaty, PhD | Assistant Professor | The Khambaty research team aims to identify early vulnerabilities to cardiometabolic disease and related accelerated aging from a lifespan development perspective. Specifically, we examine (a) psychosocial and neurocognitive risk factors for cardiometabolic disease and associated health disparities to address the prevention of type 2 diabetes; and (b) relations of diabetes to cognitive function and aging, with a focus on minorities, and those of lower socioeconomic status. | Faculty Page | biopsychosocial, diabetes, prevention, aging, cognition, health equity, depression, anxiety, dementia, behavioral medicine, gerontology, geroscience | September 24, 2020 |
| Neuroscience, Psychology | Dr. Nathaniel Harnett | Post-doc | Dr. Harnett investigates the neural mechanisms that mediate susceptibility to trauma and stress related disorders such as PTSD. | Research Website | mental health, PTSD, trauma, stress | September 24, 2020 |