MEMBERLOGIN |
ABE Featured Member - July 2024
Chanté Richardson Meritus School of Osteopathic Medicine | What are your name and title/rank? Chanté Richardson, PhD, MBA Associate Dean of Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Associate Professor of Biochemistry Chante.richardson@meritushealth.com How long have you been a member of ABE, and what attracted you to the organization? I have been a member of ABE for six years or so and my first ABE conference was virtual in 2021. I was attracted to ABE because of the opportunity to network and collaborate with educators teaching the same topics. Everyone knows the Kreb's Cycle and Gaucher's disease :). I also appreciate that ABE is fairly small which allows me the opportunity to get to know people and form genuine connections with them.Looking at your time with the association, what have you most enjoyed doing? What are you looking forward to? I have really enjoyed ABE for the opportunities it has given me to grow professionally. Over the last three years, I have most enjoyed serving on the Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Committee as both a member and Chair. Our committee members work diligently to meet our purpose and goals. I am looking forward to the ABE 2025 Conference in Santa Fe, NM. ABE Conferences are a great way to re-energize your passion for educating. Tell us more about your ABE conference contributions. If you aren't presenting, what are you most excited about engaging in? At the 2023 ABE Conference, the JEDI committee (including myself) presented a workshop entitled " Advancing Diversity, Equity, inclusion and Justice Biochemistry Education - Leveraging ABE's Strengths, Recognizing our Weaknesses, Seizing our Opportunities and Safeguarding against Threats." Also, during the conference, we solicited all ABE members to complete the ABE Demographics and Climate Survey to learn more about the identities of our members. I look forward to the release of our findings in the ABE JEDI Demographics and Climate Report 2023. If people would like to follow you on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc), what are your handles? https://www.linkedin.com/in/chanté-richardson-phd-mba What interesting things are you working on outside of the association right now? Research, presentations, hobbies, etc. N/A What are your name and title/rank? Jana Simmons, Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology simmjana@msu.edu How long have you been a member of ABE, and what attracted you to the organization? I have been a member since 2013. I was attracted by the idea of an organization dedicated to the discipline of biochemistry for health colleges. It feels like this organization was made for me! I loved the networking and sharing of ideas and was eager to get involved. Looking at your time with the association, what have you most enjoyed doing? What are you looking forward to? I have made wonderful professional networking relationships and friendships in ABE. I loved serving on the Board for 8 years and plan to stay involved in the organization now that I am rotating off the Board. I thoroughly enjoy our biennial meetings and the wonderful people who seek to learn from each other and improve biochemistry education together. Tell us more about your ABE conference contributions. If you aren't presenting, what are you most excited about engaging in? 2 / 2 I have attended each conference since 2013 and presented either an oral or poster at each one. Other than presenting, I am most excited about the networking and catching up with my ABE friends in person this year! If people would like to follow you on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc), what are your handles? I'm not that exciting... really. My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jana-simmons-585a6a4a/ What interesting things are you working on outside of the association right now? Research, presentations, hobbies, etc. I am a member of the Michigan Medical Nutrition Education Consortium and we are working on a couple projects to increase nutrition education in medical schools and advocate for nutritional biochemistry in medical curricula, especially in Michigan. |
