Dr. Ben McDonald is a postdoctoral scholar in the Swager group at MIT, utilizing synthetic chemistry to develop new functional organic materials for chemical-warfare agent responsive surfaces and dynamic biphasic emulsions. Dr. McDonald earned his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina Asheville in 2012 and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Northwestern University in 2018. There, as a NIH predoctoral fellow he explored the total synthesis of polyphenol natural products and the development of new chemical methods for small molecule synthesis. Ben is an aspiring academic who beyond his scientific work, seeks to normalize intellectual inquiry in young students of color. In his free time, he enjoys biking, rock climbing, and woodworking.

Bri Christophers (she) is an aspiring physician-scientist interested in bringing social justice to the lab bench and hospital bedside.Born and raised in Miami, Bri found herself moving to New Jersey to attend Princeton University, where she fell in love with developmental biology while staring at fish hearts down a microscope in the lab of Rebecca Burdine, PhD. Much of her advocacy work as an undergraduate focused on amplifying the voices of Latinx, BIPOC*, and first-generation/low-income students through organizations like Princeton Latinos y Amigos, the Latinx Collective and initiatives like Project Welcome Mat: A Guide for First-Generation Students. Her work was recognized with the Frederick Douglass Service Award given during graduation ceremonies, the Spirit of Princeton Award, and the Santos-Dumont Award for Innovation.She continued her journey in developmental biology by working in the lab of Robert Heuckeroth, MD, PhD at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, moving from the heart to the enteric nervous system. Now as an MD-PhD student at Weill Cornell/Rockefeller/Sloan Kettering Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program, she is pursuing graduate training with Mary Baylies, PhD, studying muscle development. Briana has continued to bring together her passion for scientific discovery and advocacy, serving as diversity representative on the Weill Cornell Medical Student Executive Committee, co-running the Association of Diverse Physician-Scientists in Training (ADePT), and developing the Mini Lessons by Medical Scientists video series aimed at introducing children and adolescents to physician-scientists.More recently, Bri has turned to writing as a way of communicating science and advancing social causes. Her works have been published in Academic Medicine, the Journal of Clinical Investigation, The Lancet Global Health, Pediatric Research, Scientific American, and in-Training magazine. She co-authored and was lead editor of “The Free Guide to Medical School Admissions,” an e-book in its second-edition available at tiny.cc/MedAppGuide.You can follow her reflections on being a Latina growing into a pediatrician-scientist on Twitter, where she is also the co-leader of @LatinasInMed and @MedStudentChat.

Ralph White III, a native of Stone Mountain, Georgia, is a 4th year PhD candidate in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Minnesota Medical School. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry with a concentration in Biochemistry from Furman University in 2017, where he studied the thermodynamics of the inhibition of High Mobility Group A proteins bound to AT rich DNA with Netropsin . Currently, his research is focused on evaluating the synergy and corresponding biological mechanisms of combination therapy involving select kinase inhibitors and the standard of care for treating Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer. In addition to his research, Ralph is involved in STEM outreach within the Twin Cities community, engaging all with his love of science through demonstration and discussion. His long-term career goal is to become an independent investigator, with a focus on understanding cancer physiology to improve upon current therapeutics, all the while teaching the next generation of scientists

Dr. Valeria Valbuena is a General Surgery resident at the University of Michigan. Originally from Colombia, she completed her undergraduate education starting in her local community college, the State College of Florida. She obtained a B.A in Biochemistry from the New College of Florida and her medical degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago where she was an active member and leader of the Latino Medical Student Association. Valeria's research interests include workforce diversity with a focus on medicine and surgery, healthcare disparities, community-based intervention to increase access to safe surgery, and organ donation and transplantation in minority populations. She was selected as part of the 2020-2022 cohort of the National Clinician Scholars Program where she will be completing her Academic Development Time while pursuing a Master's Degree in Health & Healthcare ResearchDr. Valbuena is the program lead for the LEAGUES Fellowship, a pipeline program designed for medical students interested in the intersection of racial and gender equity and surgery. As the Resident Life Director of Recruitment at Michigan Surgery, she hopes to redesign the surgical residency selection process focusing on holistic review of applications with the goal of making surgical training accessible to candidates of all backgrounds.

Dr. Utibe Essien is a  board-certified generalist internist,   Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and a health disparities researcher in the VA Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion. He received his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and my Masters of Public Health degree from the Harvard School of Public Health. He completed residency and a research fellowship in Internal Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on racial and ethnic disparities in the use of novel therapeutics and technologies in the management of cardiovascular diseases.  He has applied this research framework to the disproportionate toll COVID-19 pandemic is taking on minority communties. He is also the Director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Career Education and Enhancement for Healthcare Research Diversity (CEED) medical student scholars program and was a 2019 National Minority Quality Forum 40 under 40 Leaders in Minority Health awardee. Outside of work, he enjoy srunning (marathoner x 2) traveling abroad, visiting new restaurants, and loudly singing show tunes from the award-winning musical "Hamilton."

Dr. Chase T. M. Anderson, MD, MS is currently a child psychiatry fellow at University of California at San Francisco and recently graduated from adult psychiatry residency at The Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital. He completed his undergraduate education in Chemistry at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his master’s in Biological Engineering at MIT as well, and is a graduate of The Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. In his free time, he enjoys going for long walks, listening to K-pop, reading fantasy books, playing soccer, writing, and planning dinners with friends.

Anny Reyes is a doctoral candidate in neuropsychology at University of California, San Diego. She received her undergraduate degree from State University of Albany and her Masters Degree from New York University. She is passionate about epilepsy research, social justice and advocacy. She has over 30 publications and is an avid educator and mentor of LatinX and Black minorities in STEM.

Alyasah “Ali” Sewell (they/them/their) is Associate Professor of Sociology at Emory University and Founder and Director of The Race and Policing Project. Advancing quantitative approaches to racism studies, they assess empirical links between the political economy of race and racial health(care) disparities using policing and housing policy data. Published in a wide array of sociological and interdisciplinary outlets, their research garnered support and recognition from the National Institutes of Health, the Ford Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Society for the Study of Social Problems, the Baden-Württemberg Foundation, and the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research. Planned Parenthood named them, “The Future: Innovator and Visionary Who Will Transform Black Communities”. They received their Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from Indiana University with a minor in Social Science Research Methods and their B.A. summa cum laude in Sociology from the University of Florida with a minor in Women’s Studies.

Dr. Eseosa Ighodaro is a native of Kentucky where she was the 1st African American female to complete the combined MD/PhD program at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine.  During her training, she has published over 15+ articles in the areas of hippocampal sclerosis of aging, cerebral small-vessel disease, and neurological health disparities in African Americans.  In addition, she has received numerous awards for her activism work on campus and within the community. Currently, she is a neurology resident (PGY-2) and neuroscientist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. After residency, she plans to matriculate into a stroke or behavioral neurology fellowship. Her research interests focus on understanding the role of racism in neurological health disparities. In her spare time, she mentors students at various training levels interested in medicine and research. She also creates educational videos related to neuroscience for the general public. You can find her educational material on Facebook (@Dr.Ighodaro), Youtube (Dr. Eseosa Ighodaro, MD, PhD), and Twitter (@Dr_Ighodaro).

Dr Gifty Kwakye, MD is a Clinical Assistant Professor for Surgery in the Division of Colorectal Surgery at the University of Michigan. She graduated from Yale University with a BSc degree in both Biology and Psychology. She received her medical degree from Yale University in 2010 and holds a Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins. She completed her general surgery residency at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School in 2017 and colorectal surgery fellowship at the University of Minnesota in 2018. Dr Kwakye joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in 2018.As a resident she received multiple awards including the Robert T. Osteen and the Partners Health System Medical Education awards for excellence in teaching. Her passion for global health was also recognized with a Global Health Scholarship award from Johns Hopkins during her public health training.Along with her many academic publications, she is also a NYTs contributor.