News from the School of Graduate Studies & LGBTQ+ STEM Day
Nicholas D. Fried
Vice President of Public Relations, School of Graduate Studies SGA
Jessi Cucinello-Ragland
President, School of Graduate Studies SGA
The School of Graduate Studies recently held the 34th Annual LSUHSC - New Orleans Graduate Research Day via Zoom. Graduate students participated in five-minute oral presentations. The following students were recognized with top presenter awards: Alexandra Denys (Pharmacology), Mona Elgazzaz (Pharmacology), Robert Fuchs (Pharmacology), Phaethon Philbrook (Genetics), Jonquil Poret (Physiology), Steven Scahill (Pharmacology), and Ashley Winters (Microbiology).
November 18th, 2020 was the International Day of LGBTQIA+ People in STEM. According to prideinstem.org, this day “honors the 60th anniversary of American Astronomer and gay activist Frank Kameny's US Supreme Court fight against workplace discrimination.” LSUHSC - New Orleans participated in the celebration by hosting its first LGBTQ+ STEM Day via Zoom, organized by Tiger Pride (Mirandy Li, co-President) and the School of Graduate Studies SGA (Jessi Cucinello-Ragland, president and Muhammad Farooq, VP of Student Activities). The event started with workshops focused on LGBTQIA+ issues led by students in the Schools of Allied Health, Graduate Studies, and Medicine. Topics included Gender Diversity; Invisibility, Imposter Syndrome, & Identity; Care of Bisexual Patients; and Inclusionary Practices in Academia, Research, and Health Care. Dr. Brandy Panunti (System Chair, Ochsner Endocrinology; Program Director, Ochsner Endocrinology Fellowship; Senior Lecturer, Ochsner Clinical School) gave a keynote talk on Best Practices for Treating Trans Patients. The day finished with a well-received panel discussion featuring LGBTQIA+ individuals in Medicine and Academia. Those who missed the event can watch the lecture recordings at: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/s632jr9fica4r1b/AABsDYEvbKVtVxnZW6mY_aMTa. Dropbox will only show a 15-minute preview; in order to view the entire recording, you must download the file onto either your Dropbox or your device.
Mona Elgazzaz in the Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics recently published a review article in Clinical Science titled, “Epigenetic modifications of the renin-angiotensin system in cardiometabolic diseases.” The laboratory of Dr. Charles Nichols, including Pharmacology graduate student Ben Cummins, was featured in a report by Bloomberg discussing psychedelic drugs and mental health (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2020-11-23/psychedelic-drugs-are-fueling-a-mental-health-revolution-video).
Aratrika Saha in the Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics was selected as one of ten 2020 Washington Fellows by the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. The Washington Fellows program gives students and post-docs the opportunity to meet with legislators on Capitol Hill to learn how legislation and policy affects the pharmacology profession and the larger biomedical sciences community.
Whitney Walkowski in the Department of Cell Biology & Anatomy received funding from the American Philosophical Society to perform summer research at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.
Laura Monteagudo-Romero in the Department of Physiology was awarded a scholarship from the Usona Institute to study, “Therapeutic Effects of Psilocybin in Chronic Pain and Alcohol Use Disorder.”