WEBINAR SERIES—Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI): Creating an Inclusive Lab and Work Environment

APS Members: Watch On-demand

This event will focus on ways to create an inclusive lab and work environment at all educational levels. We will discuss the steps for promoting an inclusive lab and work environment through recruitment, selection and retention.

The goals of the webinar include answering the following questions:

• How do we facilitate inclusiveness as an educator, mentor or manager?
• What are the skills needed for inclusivity in research or education?
• How important are the emotional connections in inclusivity?

Moderator

Anna K. Leal, PhD, is an assistant professor of biology at Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport. Leal earned a PhD in biomedical engineering from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Heart & Vascular Institute at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. She has taught undergraduate courses including anatomy and physiology and exercise physiology. Leal’s research focuses on gender differences concerning physical activity in elementary school students. One of her goals is to increase and promote diversity in biology education. She is a member of the APS Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Committee.

Panelists

Carmen Hinojosa-Laborde, PhD, is a research physiologist for the Tactical Combat Casualty Care Research Unit for the U.S Army Institute of Surgical Research in San Antonio. She earned her PhD in pharmacology at UT Health San Antonio. Hinojosa-Laborde trained as an integrative physiologist during her postdoctoral fellowship. Her current research as a military scientist focuses on increasing survival of combat casualties on the battlefield and the effects of analgesics on the compensatory responses to hemorrhage.
 
 

Adrienne Amador Oddi, MS, is a dean of admissions and financial aid at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. She brings both breadth and depth to her role at Trinity, is widely regarded as an ethical leader with a deep passion advocating for students and is known for her work in creating more diverse and inclusive college communities. Oddi earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, and a master’s degree in educational measurement and statistics from The Ohio State University. The daughter of a Filipino immigrant and a first-generation college student, Oddi believes in the power of education to effect positive change.

Carlos Aizenman, PhD, was born and raised in Mexico City. His interest in neuroscience began as an undergraduate at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he worked in visual cortical synaptic plasticity in the laboratory of Mark Bear, PhD. As a PhD student at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Aizenman studied plasticity of inhibitory inputs and of intrinsic excitability of deep-cerebellar nuclear neurons. During his postdoctoral research, he combined his interest in the visual system with his interest in the regulation of neural excitability, and continues that work today. Aizenman’s lab focuses on the optic tectum of Xenopus laevis tadpoles.