Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee meets regularly together and in break out teams to make significant improvements in diversity, equity, and inclusion in our department and the Bioinformatics Graduate Program.
Our DEI Team
Faculty Representatives
Maureen Sartor - sartorma@umich.edu
DEI Interests: DEI lead, making DCMB and our Bioinformatics Graduate Program more diverse and inclusive overall by making DEI a top priority, serving as a faculty advocate for students who are marginalized in any way, and attending ABRCMS.
Alan Boyle - apboyle@umich.edu
DEI Interests: Increasing student diversity, helping first generation graduate students, and attending SACNAS.
Margit Burmeister - margit@umich.edu
DEI Interests: Retention and success for all students and helping student programs with outreach such as K-12 outreach to underrepresented communities
Peter Freddolino - petefred@umich.edu
DEI Interests: Ensuring a safe, inclusive department for everyone; diversifying faculty recruitment.
Alla Karnovsky - akarnovs@umich.edu
DEI Interests: Diversifying student recruitment, and helping students transition from undergraduate programs to the Master’s level.
DEI Interests: Increasing diversity in academia.
Cristina Mitrea - mitrea@umich.edu
DEI Interests: Promoting women in STEM. I serve as advisor for DCMB’s Girls Who Code
Reza Soroushmehr - ssoroush@umich.edu
DEI Interests: Helping to ensure a safe, inclusive department, especially for immigrants and those of any religion.
Cristen Willer - cristen@umich.edu
DEI Interests: Ensuring representation of ancestry and other diverse groups amongst our trainees and breaking down embedded racism and sexism in the university. Community outreach (e.g. high school students) to increase interest in STEM.
Student Representatives
Olivia Alge - oialge@med.umich.edu
DEI Interests: Supporting students from underrepresented backgrounds, and serving as a student advocate
Gabrielle Dotson - dotsonga@umich.edu
DEI Interests: Underrepresented minority student recruitment and outreach - serve as student liaison for recruitment events and engagement with minority STEM/Engineering societies (e.g. NSBE, SHPE, AISES, etc.)
Elizabeth Gensterblum-Miller - gensterb@umich.edu
DEI Interests: Work for tangible, concrete goals; inter-departmental DEI collaborations
Kevin Huang - kghuang@umich.edu
DEI Interests: Master’s recruitment of URM and first generation students, especially into our Accelerated Master’s Degree Program (AMDP)
Cathy Smith - smithcat@umich.edu
DEI Interests: serving as a student DEI advocate
Monica Holmes - mhholmes@umich.edu
DEI Interests: To help build a community among Bioinformatics graduate students and to act as a liaison between students and faculty/staff
Staff Representatives
DEI Interests: Anti-racism efforts, decreasing disparities in opportunities
Jane Wiesner – jwiesner@med.umich.edu
DEI Interests: Transparency of DEI information
DEI Team Goals and Activities
- Work with university leadership to advocate for a more equitable and inclusive climate for the entire University of Michigan community
- Take steps to improve inclusiveness and equity in our department based on a planned internal climate survey.
- Develop relationships with partner institutions to enhance diverse student recruitment. HBCUs and other Minority serving institutions are encouraged to contact us.
- Apply for a Rackham Diversity Grant next funding round
- Host a symposium and discussion panel on Bioinformatics in Health Disparities Research
- Partner with similar departments to increase recruitment of diverse faculty, and ensure that DCMB follows DEI recommendations in all faculty recruitment efforts