2018 Communication Workshop Speakers

Thank you to the presenters of the 2018 Women and Diversity Workshop on Communication.  Get to know the speakers below as you prepare for the conference.

Cynthia Leifer, PhD

Cindy Leifer is an Associate Professor of Immunology at Cornell University. The cross-disciplinary research in her lab uses immunologic and bioengineering approaches to investigate regulation of Toll-like receptor signaling in macrophage biology. An author of over 50 scientific articles and book chapters, she is also an advocate for vaccines and immunization policies. She has OpEds featured on CNN, Huffington Post, and Pacific Standard, and has been interviewed on air nationally and internationally. She has discussed vaccine policies and other issues with school boards, and local and state politicians. She organizes and leads workshops on science communication, and is co-host of the podcast Immune. Immune can be found using any podcasting app and at microbe.tv/immune. You can find Cindy at leiferlab.com and on Twitter at @CindyLeifer.

Lisa Borghesi, PhD

Lisa is an Associate Professor of Immunology and Director of the Unified Flow Cytometry Core at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Her research focuses on the mechanisms of immune cell development in the bone marrow. As a member of the Committee on Public Affairs for the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) she has advocated for NIH funding on Capitol Hill and helped to frame AAI’s congressional testimony. Such engagement with legislative issues requires attention to the interface between AAI's science and public policy. She has led scores of junior faculty and trainees on their first-ever visits to Capitol Hill, empowering the next generation of scientists to communicate with legislators.

Brittany Boribong

Brittany Boribong is currently a fourth-year graduate student in the Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology (GBCB) program and a pre-doctoral scholar in the Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) program at Virginia Tech. Her research interests lie in mathematical modeling of dynamic biological processes, particularly within innate immunity. She currently works under the supervision of Dr. Caroline Jones and Dr. Liwu Li where she researches how to quantify neutrophil decision-making during migration during sepsis using microfluidic devices and deterministic ODE modeling. She is enthusiastic about using Twitter to connect with other researchers and communicate her science, leading her to run twitter accounts for several different programs. You can find Brittany at boribong.github.io and on Twitter at @bboribong_