Curious and investigative by nature, Sarah has always been a lover of all things science. Sarah received her B.S. in biology from Ga Tech and her PhD in microbiology and immunobiology from Harvard University. Sarah is one of the founders and the board chairman of the Journal of Emerging Investigators. She is also an assistant professor of biology at Oxford College of Emory University where she shares her thrill and passion for science with her students. Both in her professional and personal life Sarah advocates for effective and clear communication of science with the public.

Nadia P. Williams has dedicated her career to supporting education. She started as a middle school English teacher before becoming the district-wide Digital Learning Coordinator for the Cobb County School District, located in the Metropolitan Atlanta area. She brings her expertise in instruction and education through a variety of media to her service at JEI. Nadia has had the honor of serving as a speaker and panelist at conferences such as SXSWedu, the Hawaii International Conference on Education, as well as the Georgia Educational Technology Conference (GaETC) on the various ways student instruction, teacher efficacy, and technology intersect. Nadia also volunteers throughout her community through her work with the Junior League. She currently works in the private sector, supporting the growth of teacher impact and efficacy.

Gavin Smith is an educator, and Assistant Principal in Boston Public Schools. He is the former runner up for Teacher of the Year in Massachusetts where he taught Biology for 7 years. Gavin is of Jamaican origin spending the majority of his childhood between Jamaica, West Indies and Long Island, New York. He has worked at a variety of schools in Boston including alternative high schools, charter high schools, and exam schools. Gavin is a firm believer in education being a means of social change, and an advocate for children as a member of the mentoring group Minds Matter Boston. He is the co-founder of YMOC (Young Men of Color), a group designed to create safe space for intergenerational conversation and community building amongst men of color in the Boston area. One of his biggest goals is to diversify the workforce particularly within the STEM field. Gavin holds degrees from Northeastern University, Simmons University, and Boston College. He is an avid runner, Knicks fan and lover of all things black.

Lauren Sutton, is passionate about enabling the next generation of researchers. Currently she is a Senior Director of Product Management at Flatiron Health. In this role, she is responsible for both crafting the product vision and strategy to accelerate the execution of clinical research and working with technical teams to build solutions that bring new therapies to patients faster. Prior to working at Flatiron, Lauren worked as a Clinical Research Associate at Quintiles Transnational where she focused on enabling study operations.

Dr. Thierry Auperin joined Alnylam in 2019 in the Global Medical Affairs organization. He oversees all scientific communications activities for R&D at Alnylam.

With nineteen years of pharmaceutical industry experience in both pre-commercial and commercial companies, Thierry has a wealth of medical and operational expertise, having built and led successful teams, dedicating his career to supporting the education of the healthcare community. Starting as a Medical Science Liaison, he held various increasing leadership positions within Medical Affairs, supporting US and global organizations, leading Scientific and Medical Communications and Publications, as well as building Medical Affairs organizations and capabilities. Over the years, Thierry has worked in several organizations, from larger pharmaceutical companies such as Sanofi Genzyme and Abbott Laboratories, to small pre-IPO company, with most of his career within mid-sized biotech at Vertex, Biogen, Bioverativ, and now Alnylam.

Thierry received a Bachelor of Science (cum laude) in Marine Biology & Biochemistry from the University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France, and his PhD (summa cum laude) in Biophysics & Pharmacology from the University of Pharmacy, Montpellier, France in collaboration with Harvard Medical School, Boston.

Thierry enjoys spending time with his two daughters, cooking, and is an avid cyclist, participating to many fundraising races to support the MS society and other important causes.

Roberta Rincon, is the Associate Director of Research for the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). In this role, she oversees SWE’s research activities on gender equity in STEM, from grade school through college and career. Roberta advocates for an inclusive and welcoming culture in STEM through the application of research-based initiatives and collaborations focused on promoting systemic changes in STEM education and the workforce.

Prior to joining SWE, Roberta worked as a civil engineer before moving into higher education administration, where she analyzed policies and managed programs involving facilities management, research investments, teaching excellence, and student success. She has B.S. in Civil Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin, an MS in Information Management and MBA from Arizona State University, and a PhD in Educational Policy & Planning from The University of Texas at Austin.

Mayank Chugh, PhD, (he/him) is a transitioning postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School, Boston. He is an early-career advisor at eLife Sciences Publications. He is also the former chair of the Harvard Medical Postdoc Association. Chugh is fascinated about how organisms are designed and constructed from a single cell and approaches this in the context of inner ear formation in zebrafish. During his biology postdoc, he pivoted his research direction to empirically investigate how social inequity dimensions (race, gender, citizenship, and socioeconomic status) shape STEM higher education workforce and innovation. His published research and policy recommendations on cost-of-living adjusted postdoc compensation gathered national attention. He is currently leading research on citizenship privilege and visas to facilitate global knowledge equity. Chugh aims to create unchartered bridges between social sciences and STEM disciplines to inform equitable policies and practices in academic institutions and beyond that dissolve global knowledge divides.

I currently serve as a Staff Scientist at Princeton University. In my research, I leverage the Caenorhabditis elegans (worm) model system to investigate the intricacies of neuronal communication, signal propagation, and decision-making processes. My work spans both cellular and behavioral scales, offering insights into fundamental biological phenomena in brain. In addition to my research endeavors, I actively engage in scientific outreach and advocacy efforts, particularly in promoting open science and research reproducibility. Recently, I co-hosted a workshop titled "Reproducibility for Everyone" at The Allied Genetics Conference (TAGC24), March 2nd, 2024. As recognition of my commitment, I was awarded a starter culture microgrant by GSA to train 20 BIPOC, women, LGBTQ2S+, and scientists with disabilities to facilitate similar workshops in Fall 2024.

Ruchika Bajaj is scientifically trained as a membrane protein biologist. Her research is focused on understanding structure-functional relationships in membrane proteins and their interactions in the context of physiological processes and diseases. She loves to connect with different areas of research with critical understanding.

At this time we are not currently accepting applications for our Student Advisory Board.

Please keep an eye on our website and newsletters as we will announce the future of the Student Advisory Board there.