Women in Physiology Networking Event Agenda

Women in Physiology Networking Breakfast

Agenda

Table 1

Serving on the Women in Physiology Committee 
Kedra Wallace, PhD 
Kedra Wallace, PhD, attended Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, where she received a Bachelor of Science in biology in 2001. She went on to receive a Master of Science in pharmacology and toxicology in 2006 and a Doctor of Philosophy in neuroscience in 2009 from the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC). She is a second level dean at UMMC and chair of the Women in Physiology Committee. 

Table 2

Opportunities at the APS Section and Council Level
Gina Yosten, PhD  
Gina Yosten, PhD, is an associate professor of pharmacological and physiological science at St. Louis University School of Medicine. She is editor in chief of the American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology and an APS Council member.

Table 3

Opportunities for Women in APS Publications and How to Become Active within APS Journals
Sue Bodine, PhD, FAPS  
Sue Bodine, PhD, FAPS, is a neuromuscular physiologist and professor in the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation’s Aging and Metabolism Research Program. She has been an APS member since 1989 and received Fellow of the APS (FAPS) status in 2017. Bodine has served as an associate editor for the American Journal of Physiology- Endocrinology and Metabolism and the American Journal of Physiology- Cell Physiology and is a former associate editor and editor in chief of the Journal of Applied Physiology. She serves on the editorial board of Physiological Reviews. Bodine has served as an APS Councilor and Environmental & Exercise Physiology Section Councilor.

Table 4

Service to APS: Taking the Long View
Irene Solomon, PhD, FAPS  
Irene C. Solomon, PhD, FAPS, is a professor of physiology and biophysics at Stony Brook University. She earned her PhD in physiology from the University of California, Davis, followed by postdoctoral training in respiratory neurophysiology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (UMDNJ-RWJMS). Solomon’s research focuses on neural control of breathing, autonomic (cardiovascular), and lower urinary tract function in health and disease. Within APS, she has served on various society, section and interest group committees, including leadership roles as an APS Councilor and current chair of the Fellows Committee.

Table 5

The Importance of Applying for Scientific Awards
Jackie Limberg, PhD  
Jackie Limberg, PhD, completed her PhD at the University of Wisconsin - Madison in exercise physiology and postdoctoral training in human integrative physiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She is an assistant professor of exercise physiology at the University of Missouri. Limberg is a current member of the Awards Committee and was the 2021 recipient of the Beverly Petterson Bishop Award for Excellence in Neuroscience.

Table 6

Being Strategic in your Service Commitments and Learning to Say “No”
Caroline Rickards, PhD, FAPS  
Caroline Rickards, PhD, FAPS, is an associate professor in the Department of Physiology & Anatomy at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth. She has a strong track record of service to APS as past chair of the Women in Physiology Committee, membership on the Exercise & Environmental Physiology (EEP) Section Steering Committee the EEP representative on the Committee on Committees, and the Physiology Summit Program Working Group. Rickards is also chair of the Cerebrovascular Research Network.

Table 7

International Involvement with APS
Julia Shanks, DPhil  
Julia Shanks is a Sir Charles Hercus Research Fellow at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She gained her PhD from the University of Oxford, in the U.K. before undertaking postdoctoral studies at the University of Oxford, and the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Shanks has been a member of APS since she was a postgraduate student and been involved with the Cardiovascular Section, a member of the Communications and Women in Physiology committees and a member of the Neural Control & Autonomic Regulation Section Steering Committee.

Table 8

Leadership at R2 Research Institution
Clintoria Williams, PhD  
Clintoria Williams, PhD, is a tenured associate professor at Wright State University. As the principal investigator of the Kidney PathoPhysiology Research Group, Williams leads a dynamic team of high school, undergraduate and graduate students. Their paradigm-shifting research has identified cellular and molecular mechanisms driving the pathogenesis of kidney disease in the settings of zinc deficiency and chronic calcineurin inhibitor treatment.

Table 9

Chairing a Department
Usha Raj, MD, FAPS  
J. Usha Raj, MD, FAPS, is the Anjuli S. Nayak Professor of Pediatrics, and a professor of physiology and biophysics, pharmacology and anatomy and cell biology at the University of Illinois Chicago. She served as the head of the Department of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital University of Illinois from 2008 to 2015. Raj has been an active researcher and scientist since 1980 and is nationally and internationally known for her research on the mechanisms involved in the development of a lethal disease, pulmonary hypertension. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1985. Raj has received numerous awards from international and national scientific societies. She received an honorary doctorate from the University of Lausanne in 2016. Raj is active in Global Health Projects in Africa, Mongolia and Cuba. She serves on the boards of not-for-profit organizations A Safe Haven, WorldChicago and Wham Global.

Table 10

Opportunities to Mentor APS Trainees
Evangeline Motley-Johnson, PhD, FAPS  
Evangeline Motley-Johnson, PhD, FAPS, is the senior associate dean of the School of Graduate Studies, and Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Physiology at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. Motley-Johnson received her PhD from Howard University and pursued her postdoctoral training at the University of Cincinnati. She has served on National Institutes of Health review panels and on committees for the American Physiological Society, the American Heart Association and the Endocrine Society.

Table 11

The Importance of Mentors and Sponsors
Nina Stachenfeld, PhD, FAPS  
Nina Stachenfeld, PhD, FAPS, is a senior research scientist in obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at Yale University. She is the director of the Laboratory for Metabolic Testing and Performance, and a Fellow in The John B. Pierce Laboratory.

Table 12

Getting Involved in Science Policy at APS
Katherine Wilkinson, PhD  
Katie Wilkinson, PhD, is a professor of biological sciences at San José State University and the current chair of the Science Policy Committee. She received her PhD in biomedical sciences from the University of California, San Diego and completed an Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Awards (IRACDA) teaching and research postdoctoral fellowship at Emory University. Wilkinson’s lab studies muscle sensory neurons involved in motor control and proprioception.

Table 13

Achieving Tenure at an R1 Research Institution
Amanda Jo LeBlanc, PhD  
Amanda Jo LeBlanc, PhD, is a tenured professor and chief of the Division of Research in the Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery and interim associate dean of research at the University of Louisville. She directs a research program focusing on cellular therapies for coronary microvascular disease. LeBlanc has achieved national funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), American Heart Association (AHA) and Department of Defense. She serves as chair for numerous NIH special emphasis panels and AHA study sections each year.

Table 14

Getting Involved with Industry
Kristiina Aasa, PhD  
Kristiina Aasa, PhD, is a product marketing manager at FUJIFILM VisualSonics. After receiving an MSc in anatomy at Queen’s University, she stayed to pursue a PhD in anatomy, studying the cardiovascular effects of pregnancy complications in mouse and rat models. During her studies, Aasa was heavily reliant on high frequency ultrasound technology. Before moving into her current role, she was a scientific applications specialist at FUJIFILM VisualSonics.

Table 15

Navigating NIH Funding
Christine Maric-Bilkan, PhD  
Christine Maric-Bilkan, PhD is a program officer in the Division of Kidney, Urologic and Hematologic Diseases at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease (NIDDK), where she oversees a portfolio of grants related to research on sex and gender differences in renal diseases; diabetic and polycystic kidney disease; and early-career training in kidney and urology research. In addition, Maric-Bilkan serves as an advisor to the NIDDK institute director on scientific direction, stewardship and oversight of research related to the health of women.