Speakers
Women in Biomedical Research Careers and Mentoring
April 1, 2008
Keynote
Joyce E. Rudick is currently the Director of Programs and Management of the Office of Research on Women’s
Health (ORWH), NIH. Rudick was formerly Acting Deputy Director of ORWH. She holds a degree in
biochemistry from Carnegie Mellon University and attended New York Law School. Prior to joining the ORWH,
she was a member of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, NCI, and was a program manager for several years at
the Environmental Protection Agency’s in its Toxics and Biotechnology Regulations Programs. In her current
position, she co-chairs several trans-NIH committees and is a member of numerous working groups which
address issues related to women’s health. She is the recipient of several NIH Director’s awards and Merit Awards.
Mentor and Mentee Panel
Dr. Beth P. Black is an Assistant Professor in the UNC School of Nursing. She received the PhD in nursing with
a minor in sociology from UNC School of Nursing. Dr. Black previously was on the clinical faculty in the School
for several years, teaching maternity nursing. She was selected as a BIRCWH Scholar in 2006 and her research
looks at the responses and decision-making of women and their partners subsequent to a prenatal diagnosis of a
severe or lethal fetal anomaly. Her mentor is Dr. Margarete Sandelowski, a noted qualitative researcher.
Dr. Joanne Garrett is Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Director of the Career Development Core at the
Center for Women’s Health Research. She is an accomplished health services researcher at the Sheps Center
with training in both biostatistics and a PhD in epidemiology from UNC. Her contributions have included providing
both design and quantitative expertise, including helping with the writing of grant applications, overseeing the
progress of the studies, analyzing results, and writing manuscripts. Some of her more recent research projects
include risk adjustment models for cesarean deliveries and poor neonatal outcomes, a prognostic model for oneyear mortality in patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation, and acceptance and use of emergency
contraception. Dr. Garrett teaches quantitative methods in courses that serve the NIH-funded K30 Clinical
Research Curriculum and the MPH program in Health Care and Prevention. Her extensive list of more than 200
current and past trainees and publications reflects her expertise in working in multidisciplinary research. She
currently serves as the Program Director for the institutional Training in Epidemiology and Clinical Trials (TECT)
program which prepares obstetrician/gynecologists for careers as independent investigators in reproductive
health research.
Dr. Anne Z. Steiner is an Assistant Professor in Obstetrics & Gynecology. She completed her medical education
at Emory University, residency at UNC, and a fellowship in reproductive endocriniology and infertility at the
Women’s and Children’s Hospital at USC. She was recruited to UNC in 2006 and is one of the first Scholars in
the UNC Women's Reproductive Health Research (WRHR) Career Development Program.
Dr. John M Thorp Jr. Is a maternal-fetal medicine specialist and the Hugh McAllister Distinguished Professor of
Obstetrics & Gyiecology where he serves as director of the Division of Women’s Primary Healthcare. He
obtained his medical degree from Eastern Carolina University and his clinical training and fellowship at UNC. He
co-founded the Center for Women’s Health Research at UNC and currently is the interim director. Dr. Thorp has
made important contributions to women's health care on research topics ranging from episiotomy and pelvic floor
rehabilitation, to substance use intervention in pregnancy and 3-dimensional sonography.. Dr. Thorp has led
several multi-site trials including the Pregnancy, Infection and Nutrition study. Currently Dr. Thorp is the lead
researcher for the NIH funded Maternal-Fetal Medicine Network research site at UNC.
Dr. Julie Brittain is an Assistant Professor in Biochemistry and OB&Gyn. She obtained her PhD in
Pharmacology and postdoctoral training at UNC. In 2006 she was selected as a BIRCWH Scholar. Dr. Brittain is
a translational investigator whose research focuses on the mechanisms of vaso-occlusion in sickle cell disease.
She is also developing a clinical aspect of her work by identifying the mechanisms related to maternal risk during
pregnancy in sickle cell disease. Dr. Brittain was the recipient of a hematology training award and has received
several awards from the American Society of Hematology.
Dr. Eugene P. Orringer is Professor of Medicine and Executive Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in the UNC
School of Medicine. Dr. Orringer's research activities have focused primarily on the membrane transport
properties of the normal human erythrocyte and on its disordered physiology in a variety of pathological states,
especially sickle cell disease. Dr. Orringer and Dr. Marilyn Telen, his counterpart from Duke University, together
direct the combined Duke-UNC Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center. In addition to his own research, Dr. Orringer
has played a key role in all aspects of training and career development here at UNC. He directs UNC’s NIHfunded MD-PhD Program and he is the PI on two NIH-funded junior faculty development programs (the BIRCWH
and the Roadmap K12 grants. He is currently a member of two senior level NIH Committees: the Advisory
Committee for the Sickle Cell Disease Branch of the NHLBI and the Advisory Committee for the Office of
Research on Women’s Health.
Case Study in Mining the Mentoring Relationship
Dr. Janet Rubin is Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocriniology. She obtained her medical degree
from Brown University and trained at Northwestern University for residency and UC San Diego for her fellowship.
She was recruited to UNC from Emory in 2006. She is a clinician scientist working in the area of bone remodeling
and osteoporosis. Her current investigations concern the role of mechanical input in promoting bone formation at
the level of both mesenchymal stem cells and pre-osteoblasts. She has a longstanding interest in the mentoring
of young investigators and has already become part of the programs at UNC that support and develop careers of
physicians and young scientists in research.
Dr. Maria Escolar is an Assistant Profesor in Pediatrics at UNC and Duke. She graduated from the Escuela
Colombiana de Medicina in Bogota, Colombia. She has a Master of Science from Columbia University and
completed her pediatric internship, residency, and a fellowship in Child Development and Behavioral Pediatrics at
The New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical Center. Dr. Escolar has been supported by the Program in
Translational Science award for her research on the neurodevelopmental function of children with lysosomal
storage disorders.
Dr. Margaret Gourlay is an Assistant Professor in Family Medicine. She received her MD degree from Rush
Medical College in Chicago, completed her residency at the University of California, San Diego, and completed
two fellowships one in editing for the American Family Physician at Georgetown University and then as a Robert
Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at UNC where she earned an MPH. Dr. Gourlay was a recipient of funding from
the intramural Program on Translational Science and the Program on Aging. Currently she is supported by
NCRR on an NIH K23 career development award to study selective screening for osteoporosis in younger
postmenopausal women.
Best Practices in Mentoring: Gender Schema and Letters of Recommendation
Dr. Laurie McNeil is Chair of the Department of Physics & Astronomy and Interim Chair of the Curriculum in
Applied and Materials Sciences at UNC. She graduated from Harvard University with an AB in Chemistry and
Physics and an AM in Physics. She received her PhD in Physics from the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign in 1982, and then went to MIT as an I.B.M. Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Materials Science
and Engineering. She joined UNC in 1984 as the first woman appointed to a tenure-track position in her
department, and currently holds the rank of Professor. Prof. McNeil’s research activities focus on optical studies
of the properties of semiconductors and insulators, especially materials with potential use in future optical
communications technologies. Prof. McNeil is one of the first two WOWS Scholars in the College of Arts &
Sciences, in which capacity she is exploring new ways to support the recruitment, retention, and advancement of
women in the sciences at UNC.
Working on Women in Science at UNC
Dr. Kay Lund is Sarah Graham Kenan Professor in Cell & Molecular Physiology and Professor in Pediatrics and
Nutrition. She did her Ph.D in England and a postdoctoral fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. She
studies the molecular basis for normal intestinal growth and function during development and disease, and
aberrant intestinal growth leading to cancer. Her research includes a focus on adult intestinal stem cells and also
evaluation of gender effects on risk of precancerous lesions in the colon. She was President of the UNC
Association of Professional Women in the Medical School from 2004 until 2007 and has written editorials and
given multiple presentations on the climate for women in science and medicine in academia. She is currently the
School of Medicine coordinator for a new initiative “Working on Women in Science (WOWS)” which aims to
promote the success and advancement of women in science and medicine. She has one daughter who hopes to
be a physician scientist focused on research into women's reproductive health and another daughter who plans to
be an environmental scientist addressing mechanisms for sustaining healthy nutrient supply in the future. Dr.
Lund recently won the University Awards for the Advancement of Women.