Putting a pause on family vacation to announce that I’ve been promoted to Associate Professor with #tenure ! Starting out in academia, I never dared to think I would become a professor. It was an uphill battle with being first gen, black woman in STEM, and a single parent trainee.

To get tenure, I wasn’t going to do it any other way except my way. I built an amazing team of diverse scientists, helped with establishing the @bummp_ucsd mentorship program and will continue to pave the way for effective change in academia.

This wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing human beings of the @Neal_Lab , board members of @bummp_ucsd , my husband @AndrewMHatch , kids, family, colleagues at @ucsdbiosciences , dept. of CDB and beyond, friends, collaborators, and mentors that have helped me along the way

@Neal_Lab Congratulations, Sonya!!!!! 🙌🍾🤓❤️