The Rho Tau chapter was founded in 2009 in the Research Triangle Park of NC and serves the entire state of North Carolina. Our members represent the past, present and future of women in all sciences. We are striving for bi-monthly events, including networking, wine tasting, outside speakers, and lively discussions.
We urge you to attend a meeting, talk to an officer, and learn more about what GWIS can do for you and your career as a woman scientist.
Please follow this link in order to become a member, get all the benefits, and help support our new chapter!
The Rho Tau Chapter is also on LinkedIn.
Meet the GWIS Rho Tau Officers !
Dr. Kelly Mercier
President
Email: MercierKA@niehs.nih.gov
Kelly grew up in Phoenix, AZ, and attended Lake Forest College in IL, earning her BA in chemistry. She had internships in Illinois, Rhode Island, and Tennessee before working for Roche in CA and then attending graduate school at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, NE. Her research was focused on structural biology and functional annotation by NMR spectroscopy, earning a Ph.D in chemistry in 2008 and a GWIS Eloise Gerry fellowship in 2006. She currently holds a postdoctoral fellowship position at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, continuing her work in structural biology. Kelly’s husband is currently serving with the NC National guard in Iraq, and they have a 3-year old son, who frequently attends GWIS functions and professes his love for big, big magnets.
Dr. Erica Allen
Vice-President
Email: ericaall@earthlink.net
Erica completed her undergraduate degree in Microbiology at University of Maryland, College Park before going on to study polycystic kidney disease and complete her Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. She then spent 2 years as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Anton Jetten at NIEHS, studying the role of Glis proteins in placental and kidney development. After her postdoctoral fellowship, she joined Constella Group/SRA International as a clinical research scientist where she worked as a medical writer and regulatory affairs specialist. She is currently employed by Impact Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. as a clinical research scientist, continuing her career in medical writing and regulatory affairs.
Dr. Darshini Trivedi
Secretary
Email: carolinagal@mac.com
RhoTauGWIS@gmail.com
Darshini obtained a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Kentucky, where her dissertation research focused on the roles of the cyclooxygenase enzymes and their products in the development of congenital cardiovascular defects. After finishing her PhD, she focused her research on adult cardiovascular disease at the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied effects of anti-platelet drugs on athersoclerosis in mice. She currently holds a post-doctoral research position at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in the Laboratory of Pharmacology, where she is continuing her work on cardiovascular disease, using mouse models of abdominal aortic aneurysms and atherosclerosis. Darshini has been the Secretary for the Rho Tau Chapter of the Graduate Women in Science since January 2010.
Ms. Rachel Mazer
Treasurer
Email: Rachel.Mazer@pfizer.com
Rachel Mazer graduated from the University of Connecticut with a Bachelor of Science in Pathobiology and Veterinary Medicine. She gained a huge appreciation for multiple different facets of diagnostics testing for animals by gaining experience in necropsy, serology, histology and microbiology. She pursued veterinary microbiology as a technician for nearly 2 years in Massachusetts and then moved to North Carolina to work for Pfizer Poultry Health (formerly Embrex) as a Research Associate studying in vitro and in vivo techniques to aid in the development of a in ovo poultry coccidial vaccination. In November of 2008 she took a position as a Research Associate in the Biodevice group to develop a gender differentiation device and process for use in the poultry industry. Rachel has been a member of the Graduate Women in Science (GWIS) since January of 2009. She helped compile GWIS fellowship application reviews for 2009. Rachel is looking forward to a successful second year in the Rho Tau chapter and networking with new and interesting women in all aspects of the sciences.
Dr. Jennifer Ingram
Advisor
Former President
Email: Jennifer.Ingram@duke.edu
Jennifer L. Ingram grew up in Princeton, North Carolina and attended Peace College, a women’s junior college, where she earned her Associate of Arts Degree before transferring to North Carolina State University. There, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology with a minor in Genetics. She continued her education at NC State by earning a Ph.D. in Genetics in 2000. Her Ph.D. research focused on chromatin structure and transcriptional regulation in plants. Following graduate school, she continued her postdoctoral training at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the CIIT Centers for Health Research. Her postdoctoral research focused on understanding pathogenic mechanisms of fibrotic lung diseases resulting from environmental insults (allergens, metal oxides pollutants, etc.). Dr. Ingram’s current position is Assistant Research Professor at Duke University in the Duke Asthma, Allergy, and Airway Center, where her work focuses on understanding the molecular pathways that lead to airway remodeling in asthma. Dr. Ingram has been a member of Graduate Women in Science since 1995, and had been a member of the GWIS Fellowships Committee from 2003-2008. Dr. Ingram currently serves as GWIS National President-Elect.
Ms. Winnell Newman
Membership Secretary
Email: winnell@ncsu.edu
Winnell worked towards her Bachelors' education at the University of Louisville, KY; completed the bachelors' degree and her Masters at the University of North Carolina Greensboro where she focused on plant ovary structure and biomolecular studies. She was awarded a GWIS scholarship for her Masters research project in 1987 and has been a member ever since. She was a co-founder and past-president of Trana Discovery, Inc, and currently is the manager of student programs at the BTEC facility at NCSU .
Dr. Mary Jane Cunningham
Liaison to GWIS National
Email: mjcunningham1017@gmail.com
Mary Jane Cunningham, Ph.D. is the President and Founder of Nanomics Biosciences, Inc., a Delaware incorporated nanobiotechnology company in Cary, North Carolina. Nanomics Biosciences offers global screening services in genomics and proteomics for manufacturers and developers of a variety of substances, including nanomaterials. Dr. Cunningham received her B.A. degree with double majors in biology and chemistry from Case Western Reserve University and her Ph.D. in Physiological Chemistry from The Ohio State University. She completed postdoctoral fellowships in genetic toxicology at Haskell Laboratory of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc. and in prostate cancer and molecular biology at Stanford University. Dr. Cunningham worked in several biotech start ups in Northern California and was one of the first investigators to apply gene expression microarrays and proteomics to study the toxic effects of chemical compounds. She is an inventor on several gene expression patents and has presented and published on the use of OMICs technologies in toxicology. For the last six years, Dr. Cunningham’s research focus has been in applying OMICs technologies to predict efficacy and safety of nanomaterials.
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