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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Psychology | Dr. Cynthia Crawford | Professor | The Crawford Lab investigates the underlying mechanisms of drug addiction and developmental differences in drug responsivity. | Faculty Page | drug addiction, neuropsychopharmacology, developmental psychopharmacology |
| Cancer Biology, Pharmacology | Dr. Tamaro Hudson | Assistant Professor | The Hudson Lab evaluates biomarkers as a way to investigate the potential uses of conventional and natural compounds as cancer therapeutics, specifically looking at the effects to muscadine grape skin extract on prostate cancer. | Faculty Page | Prostate cancer, cancer therapeutics, androgens, heat shock proteins (HSP), phospholipids, protease Inhibitors |
| Microbiology | Dr. Karl Thompson | Assistant Professor | The Thompson Lab investigates bacterial response to stress, particularly looking into chemical modifications of RNA and its effect on gene expression regulation. | ResearchGate Profile | stress response, bacteriology, gene regulation, RNA expression |
| Genetics | Dr. Tiffany Oliver | Associate Professor | The Oliver Lab investigates recombination, meiosis nondisjunction and aneuploidy. Specifically, Dr. Oliver looks at the effects of these events on birth defects, pregnancy loss, etc. | Faculty Page | Recombination, meiosis, nondisjunction (NDJ), aneuploidy, chromosomal instability (CIN), Down Syndrome, Trisomy 21 |
| Epidemiology, Genetics | Dr. Candace Middlebrooks | Post-doc | Dr. Middlebrooks harnesses whole exome sequencing data to investigate the genetic underpinnings of leg ulcer development in sickle cell patients. Dr. Middlebrooks is a postdoctoral fellow in the Bailey Wilson Lab. | Lab Page | sickle cell, ulcers, whole exome sequencing, microbiome, computational biology, statistical genomics, epidemiology, genetics |
| Ecology, Microbiology | Dr. Adriana Romero-Olivares | Post-doc | Dr. Romero-Olivares investigates how changes in the ecosystem (especially those pertaining to global climate change) affect microbial adaptation and evolution. | Website | climate change, global warming, microbiomes, fungi |
| Genetics, Statistical Genetics | Dr. Timothy Thornton | Associate Professor | The Thornton lab develops and applies statistical methods and software for the analysis of large-scale genetic data to gain a better understanding of the genetic contributions to human health and diseases. His research largely focuses on genetic analyses in ancestrally diverse populations, and particularly U.S. minority populations who often bear a disproportionate burden for many diseases, including African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indian and Alaska Native populations. | Faculty Page | statistics, genetics, relatedness, ancestry admixture, population structure |
| Genetics | Dr. Athena Starlard-Davenport | Assistant Professor | The Davenport lab investigates the mechanisms behind breast cancer and possible therapeutics for Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Her lab also looks at how potential differences (i.e. in the microbiome, environment, immune system) between African American women and non-Hispanic white women may affect their cancer outcomes. | Faculty Page | environment, epigenetics, Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC), cancer disparities, obesity, immunology, microbiome, miRNA, sickle cell disease |
| Probability, Stochastics | Dr. Moustapha Pemy | Professor | The Pemy Lab applies principles of stochastics, including Lévy processes and Markovian modeling, to financial analysis to optimize trading strategies. | Faculty Page | Markov modeling, financial analysis, applied mathematics, stochastics, Lévy processes |
| Combinatorics, Group Theory | Dr. Lindsey-Kay Lauderdale | Assistant Professor | Dr. Lauderdale's research lies in an intersection of the areas of combinators and group theory. In particular, her research can be summarized by finding solutions to the following question. How can a given finite group be associated to the structure of a combinatorial object? | Faculty Page | group theory, automorphisms, permutations |