Just sat on a panel designed to give advice to first-year Assistant Profs
@UW
. Here's the advice I gave. (side note, while reading remember
#3
! Not all advice works for all people)...
David Sabatini has filed a defamation lawsuit attempting to character assassinate someone who he reveals WAS A STUDENT when he first had sex with her and…(drumroll) there are MULTIPLE other accusers.
@mit
how’s that tenure revocation case coming along?
#IStandWithHer
Opportunity for $10,000 awards for Black undergrad & grad students and postdocs for an 800 word essay from
@CellPressNews
! Love seeing
@MSEJAllen
as an advisor for this.
Truth. 👇
I was a postdoc w
@snbhatia
. I joined her lab bc I wanted to learn how she is SO successful while also balancing life. Here is some of what I learned:
1. By far, the biggest reason: She is very smart. Like, mega smart. (Seems that should have been obvious but 🤷♀️😅)
New pub! If we wants to build organs, we need to know what these organs look like. We need better blueprints. Here is our first step towards this goal - a new technology for spatial transcriptomics across scales, with
@coletrapnell
and
@JShendure
.
What is PRIDE? To me, it means learning to love yourself more than needing to be loved by others. It means pain, acceptance, strength. It means surviving, then thriving, then standing tall so others may do the same. To me, it says *this* is what some families look like.
#PRIDE
Filling out the
@HHMINEWS
Gilliam application (which is supposed to center DEI) as a thesis advisor, and this is the GENDER drop-down menu. 😱😭
Whose gonna tell them?
So excited about this - synthetic human organogenesis in a dish. I appreciate
@AllenInstitute
support and vision - funding potentially transformative ideas not likely to be funded by traditional sources. Look forward to working w
@VallierLab
and
@RobSchwartzLab
!
Shame
@BostonGlobe
. Posting a victim of sexual abuse on your front page. Making the story seem two sided, when it is NOT. What horrid journalism. I'm embarrassed that I used to read your publication. This nonsense - only propagates the living hell that victims go thru.
We desperately need to hire a more diverse faculty to tackle our biggest challenges. Here are some pointers how. Proud to have played a role in this roadmap, which was led by
@cosgriffhernan
. Also thx to
@potassiumwhale
for highlighting this paper here
1) First, CHILL. In my 1st year, I felt anxious. (Will I get the grant? Will I publish papers? The result was me frantically trying to do too much at once. Too many projects, collaborations, etc. Advice
#1
: CHILL. Trust yourself. You got this.
Huge congrats to
@TejalADesai
for winning the
@BMESociety
Pritzker Award. Amazing to see this extremely prestigious award go to such an incredible scientist, leader, and role model 🔥❤️🎉
And that’s a wrap! Thank you everyone for making
@BMESociety
2023 memorable.
Special thanks to the hard working folks behind the scenes - here w
@BMESociety
comms director Stacey Santiago and events director Chanel Ricks, and co-chairs
@Prof_Harley
and
@USCSysBio_Lab
Disability is a scientists super power.
This is not simply due to strength, grit, or bravery. This is a common misconception.
Disability is creativity. It means living fluidly. It is ingenuity and living beyond the box. It is being adept at inventing new paths to thrive.
7) Again, trust yourself. Be yourself. You be you. Bring your full self to the table. Don't let others tell you how to live your career. Everyone is different. That means you need to decide your career route, activities, and what is important for yourself. Then you will shine.
Huge congrats to
@oliviapagedots
Olivia Dotson for receiving the
@NSF
GFRP! Olivia is developing new bioink materials for 3D printing human tissues.
Grateful to be a part of Olivia's "team" with
@coledeforest
and
@Lola_UMich
3) Don’t take bad advice. If the advice doesn’t “feel right” for YOU, it might be bad advice. [For me, bad advice is often "cookie cutter" advice, such as "you need a nature paper or X papers for tenure, you need an R01 or X grants for tenure". Yawn, eyeroll]
If you haven't yet invited
@PracheeAC
to speak to you about publishing...do it. WOW. She is bringing down the house
@AllenInstitute
Symposium. Thank you
@PracheeAC
. Also, let's please make her President of Science everywhere.
2) Follow your heart and your gut. Follow your passions. If your heart/gut tell you something is needed or missing (whether in your science or department), take it upon yourself to step up and fill that gap. Forget about trying to conform. Yuck. Be a leader, not a follower.
It's as ifffff Sabatini got $25M, then realized this money is worthless w/o a lab (unless working in Mom's basement?)....so they commissioned
@BostonGlobe
to write an article about giving him a second chance? 🤔 That's "convenient" timing
@BillAckman
! Well done.
I am pleased to announce that last night at
@PershingSqFdn
scientific advisors dinner, we announced that we found a 50% funding partner for the new Sabatini lab.The new lab now has $5m of funding per year for five years. David is now making launch preparations for the lab. Allez!
5. Don’t focus on the “next scientific hurdle” that everyone else is focusing on. Instead, skip that one and instead focus on what comes after that. make a leap, not an increment. Play leap frog.
Team Pfizer! As an immune compromised person with little kids, this lifts a tremendous weight off my and my spouses shoulders. Thank you nanoparticle friends!!!
Spend your time doing things you are passionate about. Say no to busy work others might try to push on you. Build programs to support others coming behind you.
Thank you to
@genentech
for listening to the call to
#fundblackscientists
. Delighted to partner with
@Lola_UMich
@EmilyLepner
to build the Genentech Research Awards program, which will provide research funding for Black scientists. Stay tuned for our first RFA in coming months.
Today we announced the recipients of $16M in funding aimed at supporting groundbreaking solutions that address systemic racism in healthcare and STEM education pathways. Learn how we’re taking a different approach to giving to drive change:
4) Not all mentors are created equal. Find smart mentors who give you good advice that works for you. Pay attention to the quality of a mentor's advice. Decide who to trust and who to ignore. If your Chair is not a smart mentor, this is a problem - find someone else asap.
Prof. Kelly Stevens (
@kellystevenslab
) is an an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Bioengineering and Pathology at the University of Washington. Her work bridges several facets of regenerative medicine. Check out the Stevens lab page on JEDIS ().
Excited to announce our new paper
@natBME
: We developed 3D patterns of sugar, using lasers, which enabled large scale vascularized tissues (you read that right!). First author Ian Kinstlinger and collab with
@kellystevenslab
and
@nervous_system
@Rice_BIOE
5) Your time is your most precious commodity. Where you put your time will determine your impact. Do you ENJOY doing xyz activity? (If not, STOP and change course)? Ask, how much IMPACT will this activity have? Don't spend your time on things you dislike or that will not matter
Many folks saying universities are to blame for poor pay. Let’s not forget that unis - esp public one’s - are funded by govts and govt support of universities and research has plummeted…to actually make change, we need to call out state and federal govts (data in thread)
How much does a graduate student cost per year?
Salary: $35,793
Benefits + Tuition: $26,463
Supplies: $12,000
Travel: $3,000
Overhead: $42,491
Total: $119,747
The response to this paper has been incredible and speaks to the compassion, vision, and foresight of our scientific community. Let us all together build a world that is more innovative, just, and inclusive.
#fundblackscientis
.
2. Find unique intersections btwn two or more completely different fields and bam - scientific impact
3. Recruit smart people. Delegate to them, a lot. Trust them and give them wings and permission to do their thing.
Princess Imoukhuede has been named the new chair of
@UW
Department of Bioengineering
@uwengineering
@UWMedicine
effective Jan. 1, 2022. She looks forward to collaborative efforts for innovation in medicine & other fields
To all the incoming PI's. You do not need to do long lists before your PI job. Focus on the present. Live. Breath. Enjoy life this summer. Being a PI will be fun! It is a chance to fully be yourself, if you focus on yourself and not other PI's. Do what is right for *you*.
A lot of people in
@FuturePI_Slack
have these LONG lists of things to do before
#NewPI
life. Kuddos to them but me? Tbh I'm just surviving and concentrating on 3 things: finish postdoc work, figure out moving + setting up basic office/lab stuff, and finding time to REST
6) Put yourself in a position where *sponsors* will find you (yes I said sponsor, not mentor). To do this, put yourself in spaces (e,g, networks, societies, social spaces, etc) YOU enjoy being in - where you will find like-minded people. If those spaces don't exist, build them.
Such an absolute honor to host Dr. Shulamit Levenberg
@LevenbergLab
today. She has made *so many* seminal contributions to vascular tissue engineering. Here are just a few of my favorites (thread)...
"In the last 10 years, only 4 of the 1,500 fellows elected have been assistant professors". Congrats
@kellystevenslab
, you are a never-ending source of inspiration. Also, you are awesome.
Introducing DR. Daniel Corbett. Big day! First PhD student to graduate from my lab. He built our scientific and cultural foundation - infinitely smart, creative, thoughtful, kind, fun. Thank you Daniel. Congratulations and we will miss you!
The progress
@aimbe
has made for our profession is incredibly inspiring. The recent workshop for Diversifying Paths To Academic Leadership being one great example. Proud to join
@aimbe
ranks colleagues with incredible colleagues, and pay it forward.
6. If you have a paper or grant rejected, take one day to pout and lick your wounds. Then snap out of it and move on.
7. Be efficient with your time and energy. Crest boundaries and enforce them.
Whitehead Institute doubles down in court, reminds of their extensive investigation on the matter, and chastises Sabatini lawsuit.
The Whitehead says clearly:
#IStandWithHer
David Sabatini has filed a defamation lawsuit attempting to character assassinate someone who he reveals WAS A STUDENT when he first had sex with her and…(drumroll) there are MULTIPLE other accusers.
@mit
how’s that tenure revocation case coming along?
#IStandWithHer
"If science is to benefit all Americans, science first must be done by all Americans."
#fundblackscientists
Check out this fantastic op-ed by
@Lola_UMich
Loved seeing pioneer
@snbhatia
give a shout out to her work in DEI today at
@ColumbiaBME
Tissue Talks led by
@gvnlab
. Let's dig a bit more deeply into her slide...
Me: So, what did you wish?
5yo: If I tell you it won't come true.
Me: You can trust me. Our secret.
5yo: (sighs)...I wished that your arthritis would go away so you don't hurt anymore.
Me:
Me:
Me: 😯😢
There is love in the world, y'all.
When one teases
@coledeforest
for always patterning in PEG, he takes the conversation up a "Notch". [Kidding, biomaterials folks, I too, (mostly) love PEG]. Now 3D protein painting in natural biomaterials, such as fibrin and collagen.
Grateful to be among this amazing group pushing human organ engineering forward and for
@WellcomeLeap
vision and sponsorship. Our mission - a leap towards artificial liver with Ludovic Vallier
@VallierLab
and Kourosh Saeb-Parsy
@Cambridge_Uni
Inclusion — being surrounded by friends and colleagues who notice when you’re a bit off in a mtg and take the time to check in, even if it was nothing. Thank you
@coledeforest
😍.
@Lola_UMich
, first Black women to receive endowed professorship in
@UMengineering
says:
“It is always great to pause, acknowledge, and celebrate a glass ceiling being cracked. Being the ‘first,’ however, is richer only when one is not the last..."
Friends, let's talk. Racial funding disparity is not just an
@NIH
problem. We, the individuals of our profession, are responsible for the racism that permeates it.
Let's fix this, shall we? (thread)
>1700 faculty in BME, only 34 Blacks!
@NIH
wants to hire more-great! Problem? NIH funding process discriminates against Black PIs. >10 yrs
@NIHDirector
has known but not fixed.
Our
@CellPressNews
paper call on us to "be the light."
#fundblackscientists
.
Congratulations to DOCTOR Eileen Brady (middle) on her successful PhD defense today! Eileen is our lab’s most recent graduate, and she will next continue on to finish her MD/PhD. We will miss her brilliance, encyclopedia memory and fun dry humor. Congratulations Eileen!!
Thanks
@DrAnneCarpenter
for reminding us the Sabatini situation is about *more than one woman*. It was not only Knouse who came forward. Also reminding y'all of Dr. Capenter's previous tweet about her own experiences as a trainee in the Sabatini lab.
@CantlonLab
It seems to be the goal of all the accounts and the overall PR campaign. To pretend it’s all about one woman’s relationship and then discredit her, to distract from the chorus of others.
Otherwise they have to argue that we are all liars. Or we’re offended by a few profanities.
Third, Black scientists have to write twice as many grants just to keep up, in addition to the extra DEI service we expect of them.
This means they have less time for research, papers, and seminars. It also means they have less time to train, teach, and inspire Black students.
More
@MIT
policy 🤔. It is interesting that David Sabatini was director of the Whitehead Fellows program and this individuals direct faculty mentor. Huh.
Amazing piece by
@DrAnneCarpenter
. I appreciate it so deeply, as I also have psoriatic arthritis. Living with chronic disease doesn’t make one “weaker” (that perception is ableism!). Instead, it forces one to be more creative, intentional, and in the end, stronger.
2 years ago, everything was going great in my mid-career lab.
Making a choice to reduce stress and prioritize my health turned out to have ripple effects - my colleagues, family, and friends are reaping the benefits, as am I.
I tell my story in
@eLife
Our most recent paper digs into how engineered liver tissues can grow inside the body after implant. Check it out here:
This work was led by Drs. Chelsea Fortin
@cfortin888
and Tara McCray
@UWBioE
@UWISCRM
🎉Happy Gilliam Day! 🎉We’re excited to announce the 50 new
#GilliamFellows
and their advisers who are committed to advancing equity and inclusion in science.
Thanks for the love y’all. At least I get to be in hell for eternity with my wife. 😉. For real tho, I decided to stop caring about these comments long ago. My advice to the 🌈 trainees out there - stop caring what others think. You will be set free.
Mental Check-list: After seminars, did I introduce women using « Dr. »? After writing each paper, how many women did I cite? When reviewing grants, how many women did I fund? Did I include Black and brown women in my mental images of « women »?
Let's remember that $32M would be enough to achieve racial funding equity and
#FundBlackScientists
. Unfortunately
@BillAckman
doesn't understand how he could actually use his money to "benefit humanity".
Grateful to work w these amazing scientists. Lab celebrating Olivia Prado (lower left) and Susy Simmonds
@susanapsb
(lower center) passing their qualifying exams!! 🎉🎉
Officially entering countdown phase - we are exactly one week from
#BMES2023
abstract deadline!
BMES abstracts due May 1, 2023.
Come join us in Seattle Oct 11-14, 2023
Another amazing part of the
@BMESociety
#BMES2023
Reception was our inaugural Art in Science exhibition.
Amazing to see how we can share our work through images.
Congratulations to DR. Colleen O'Connor, who defended her PhD thesis with flying colors this week. Colleen is absolutely meticulous, rigorous, and thoughtful scientist. She perseveres through all problems, big and small, and is an impactful finisher.
Why is this disparity critically important?
First, we commonly use
@NIH
R01’s to gauge “success” of faculty when it comes time for tenure.
Black faculty without an R01 may not get tenure.
The pipeline “leak” is not a leak, but rather us pushing Black faculty over a cliff.
Congrats to all of the new 2021 AIMBE Fellows! Welcome to the AIMBE community!! See our press release with the full list of 174 Fellows here:
Mark your calendar for their induction ceremony on March 26!
Step 2:
@NIH
must immediately institute a policy to achieve racial funding equity (red ladder below).
@NIH
already has programs to base the design of such a program on, such as the Early State Investigator (ESI) program or PAR-19-222.
We ask, If racism exists in academia, how can it not exist in NIH grant review and research, which are performed by academics?
NIH must break its cycle of denial, which in the words of scholar
@DrIbram
is “the heartbeat of racism.”
Step 1:
@NIH
must acknowledge this racism.
👏 Congrats
@kellystevenslab
on being named to Nat'l Academies New Voices! 🗣️
@UWISCRM
"It's a chance to...collectively push the field to become more inclusive, not just by expanding the pipeline, but by throwing the door open at the leadership level."