What prior experience do you bring that you believe will help to accomplish or address the Society’s current goals and issues?
Accomplishments as Co-Chair/Chair of the Diversity Subcommittee and DEI Committee include 1) transitioning the Subcommittee to the full committee status, 2) updating DEI charges and goals, 3) providing URM members with speaker/moderator opportunities, 4) nominating URM and Asian scientists for Volunteer Leaders and for Esteemed Awards, 5) compiling anti-racism resources, 6) hosting four Listening Sessions on racial violence, injustice, and LGBTQ+ -related matters, 7) co-writing the Diversity and Inclusion Statement of Principles, 8) initiating the Member Spotlight Series, 9) organizing a webinar on URM funding mechanisms, 10) moderating three Diversity sessions, 11) developing two ASBMR programs (i.e., the URM Mentorship Award and the Underrepresented Scientist Proposal Support Program), 12) speaking on ASBMR Diversity initiatives at the NMRI virtual conference, 13) the PI on a Multi-PI (Drs. Mary Bouxsein and Christopher Hernandez) NIH NIDDK R25 grant to increase diversity in the workforce, and 14) Program Director for THRIVE by ASBMR. Additionally, I have served the ASBMR in other capacities (i.e., abstract reviewer, journal reviewer, ad hoc committee member, Editor-in-Chief search committee member, and Program Advisory committee member).
What would you like to accomplish during your tenure as a volunteer leader?
Continue to serve as the Program Director of THRIVE by ASBMR, a NIDDK funded award designed to enhance scientific diversity in the bone mineral and musculoskeletal field. As a secondary goal, I am interested in initiating a Bone Vascular interest group within ASBMR to provide collaborative and interactive opportunities to current and future investigators in the topic.
What are one or two ideas that you would like to implement to address issues facing our membership and the Society?
While Chair of the DEI Committee, I initiated several programs that provided professional development opportunities to diverse members. In addition, the ASBMR seeks to augment membership of URM. Currently, the goals and initiatives center around the recruitment of trainees and junior faculty. While targeting these career stages is essential to the future of the ASBMR, it does not address other current needs, i.e., the lack of mid-career and senior URM scientists. An idea to increase membership at these stages would be to have targeted recruitment of these individuals. Accomplishment of this idea may serve a dual purpose: 1) bring established researchers into the society to fill the void of URM members at these career stages, and 2) indirectly recruit diverse trainees that these mid-career and senior level URM may bring with them into the ASBMR. Indirectly, these activities would aid in fulfilling the goals of THRIVE by ASBMR.
Biographical Information:
I was born and raised in Ohio and received a BA from Hiram College, a master’s degree in Exercise Science from Kent State University and a doctorate in Exercise Physiology from the Department of Kinesiology at Louisiana State University. After completing post-doctoral fellowships in vascular physiology/microcirculation (Texas A&M University and West Virginia University School of Medicine) and bone biology (Université Jean Monnet [Université de Lyon] Faculté de Médecine, Saint Etienne, France), I established the Bone Vascular and Microcirculation Laboratory in 2009. In the lab, we investigate the interaction between the vascular system and bone biology. For example, how vascular pathology contributes to bone diseases such as osteoporosis. More specifically, I investigate the mechanisms related to endothelial and vascular smooth muscle function in bone blood vessels following intermittent parathyroid hormone administration, administration of pro-inflammatory antagonists, and following surgical interventions, mostly under the paradigm of advancing age. More recently, I discovered bone marrow blood vessel ossification (i.e., several mineralization and calcification) of the marrow vasculature and circulating ossified particles (i.e., particles that are bone-like in nature). My work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, the National Science Foundation, and private industry. I am a Fellow of the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research and the American Physiological Society. To date, my research and service efforts have been acknowledged by the ASBMR and other professional societies as well as several media outlets. In 2023, I was awarded the Shirley Hohl Service Award by the ASBMR. Among other accolades, I was recently inducted into the University of Texas at Arlington’s Academy of Distinguished Scholars, garnering the title of Distinguished University Professor.
I became a member of ASBMR in 2008 and have attended the annual conference since then, i.e., for 16 years. I served on the ASBMR Diversity Subcommittee in 2018 and co-chaired the committee in 2019. As Co-Chair, I aided in the transition of the subcommittee to full status in 2020 as the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee. During my tenure, I began and participated for several programs and initiatives (e.g., the Member Spotlight Series, the Underrepresented Minority Mentorship Award, and the Underrepresented Scientist Grant Proposal Support Program, etc.) to enhance diversity within the ASBMR and provide educational and professional development opportunities to all members, particularly those from underrepresented groups. In May 2023, the ASBMR received a 5-year grant entitled “Enhancing Workforce Diversity in the Bone, Mineral and Musculoskeletal Field from the National Institutes of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Alongside Drs. Mary Bouxsein and Christopher Hernandez, I serve as the PI and the Program Director. Additionally, I have served the ASBMR in other capacities (i.e., abstract reviewer, journal reviewer, ad hoc committee member, Editor-in-Chief search committee member, and Program Advisory committee member). The ASBMR has been my primary scientific home for 16 years. If elected to Council, I look forward to continuing these types and other initiatives.