WEBINAR SERIES—Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI): Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

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In the first half of this webinar, Larissa Shimoda, PhD, will provide an update on the APS diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that have occurred within the Society over the last year, including the development of this webinar series, Porter Fellow leadership interactions, and about the American Physiological Society’s initiatives on diversity, equity and inclusion.

The second part of the program will celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. APS members will share their perspectives and how their personal experiences shaped their path to a career in physiology.

Moderator

Larissa A. Shimoda, MS, PhD, is a professor of medicine and director of bench research in the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Division at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. Shimoda received her undergraduate and graduate degrees in biomedical engineering from Marquette University in Milwaukee. She has served as chair of the APS Respiration Section and is a member of APS Council. Shimoda is also a past chair of the Nominating and Planning committees of the Pulmonary Circulation Assembly of the American Thoracic Society. She has been a permanent member of study sections for the American Heart Association and National Institute of Health.

Speakers

Ronaldo Ferraris, MS, PhD, FAPS, is professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Ferraris received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in biology from Xavier University in the Philippines and zoology from the University of Hawaii. He worked briefly for international development agencies serving Southeast Asia. Political upheaval in his native Philippines forced an early career shift, and he joined Professor Jared Diamond's laboratory at UCLA to study the intestinal epithelium and identify the cell types that can perceive luminal signals that ultimately determine site density of sugar transporters. This early research sparked a lifelong interest in studying integrative regulatory processes involving nutrient transport and metabolism, and recently, gut microbiota. Ferraris was elected a Fellow of the American Physiological Society in 2019.

Catherine Uyehara, PhD, is director of research for the U.S. Army Regional Health Command-Pacific-Hawaii and the chief of the Department of Clinical Investigation at the Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii. She earned a BS from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, a doctorate in physiology from the University of Hawaii and a postdoctoral fellowship at SmithKline Beecham Labs in Philadelphia. Uyehara coordinates collaborative opportunities for military medical research and works with strategic groups to address concerns in the Pacific region. Uyehara is responsible for supporting graduate medical education and also conducts K–12 science outreach.