A profile in Madison365 highlighted Angela Byars-Winston, PhD, professor, General Internal Medicine, who has devoted her career to research aimed at advancing diversity the life sciences workforce through effective mentoring. 

Dr. Byars-Winston's accomplishments include being named a member of the National Academy of Sciences Higher Education and Workforce Development Board, selection in 2011 for the Obama administration’s Winning the Future initiative as Champion of Change, and being awarded a $1.4M grant from the National Institutes of Health to research the impact of diversity awareness on mentor-mentee relationships in science, technology, engineering, math and medicine (STEMM) fields. 

Her work focuses on understanding how the racial, ethnic and gender identities of historically underrepresented people in STEMM impact academic and career decision-making. 

“From a psychological perspective I’m really interested in how people navigate the space [of racial and ethnic identity as well as identity as a scientist],” she said.

Mentoring is key to diversifying STEMM fields, she explains. “A mentoring relationship is the primary mechanism for growing the next generation of scientists."

Resources:

• "'I Have Skin in the Game:' UW’s First Black Woman Professor of Medicine Works to Diversify Life Sciences," Madison365, November 6, 2017

Photo credit: Clint Thayer/Department of Medicine