BOARD OF OFFICERS

The present board is very pleased to have a full complement of officers for the year.  However, fresh voices are always welcomed and needed, and if you have any suggestions and/or wish to be an officer or know someone who does, please let the board know.

Dixie Fisher, Ph.D. PRESIDENT	Specialty : Academic Medicine e-mail :   Dr. Dixie Fisher received her B.A. in Microbiology/Chemistry and her M.S. in Veterinary Science from the University of Nebraska.  She received her doctorate in Education from the University of Southern California (USC), specializing in Higher, Adult, and Professional Education with a focus on research methodology.  She has taught the Master’s Research Seminar for the Division of Medical Education since 1993.  She served as a mentor in the Professionalism and the Practice of Medicine course for first and second-year medical students. Dr. Fisher's research is in the area of the development of clinical reasoning in medical students.  She is certified by Multi-Health Systems, Inc. Toronto, Canada to administer the MSCEIT emotional intelligence ability test, and to deliver the Emotional Intelligence Critical Skills for Success workshop.  Prior to joining the Division of Medical Education, she directed the Veterinary Diagnostic and Disease Surveillance Laboratory at USC.  She isolated, characterized, and named the marine bacterium Vibrio damsela as reported in the research journal, Science.  She has peer-reviewed publications in the areas of animal, fish, reptilian, and educational research. Among her favorite pastimes are playing USTA tennis and training her dog, KayDee.
Virginia Carson, Ph.D. VICE PRESIDENT	Specialty : Biology, Psychopharmacology  e-mail :   Virginia has a rather diverse academic background.  Her BA was in mathematics, MA in psychology, Ph.D. in physiology, and post doctoral training in pharmacology. Virginia has had a number of positions at Chapman University ranging from Chair of the Faculty to Dean.  Currently she is a Professor of Biological Sciences at Chapman and Director of the Chapman University Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Health Sciences program. Virginia was one of the founders of Sigma Chapter in Orange in 1987.  She has served as secretary, vice-president, and president of the Sigma chapter a number of times and is currently vice-president of the chapter.  Nationally, she became active on the parliamentary committee from 1991 – 1993 and again from 2003-2004.  She is currently serving an additional term on the parliamentary committee.  She became Vice-President of National in 1997 and proceeded to go through the National Offices including the Presidency in 1999-2000.  She was Chair of the Board of Directors 2005-2006.   She has organized seven symposia for AAAS and has served as the SDE/GWIS representative to the Chemistry section from 1994-2002 and the SDE/GWIS representative to the Biological Sciences section from 2003 to the present.  She became a Fellow of AAAS in September, 1998.  In June, 2006, National named her an Honorary Member.  In June, 2008 she was named a SENCER (Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities) Leadership Fellow.  She is also active in the Orange County Science Education Association, serves on the Orange Unified Science Steering Committee and is an Elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Orange.
Melissa Strong, B.S. SECRETARY	Specialty : Neuroscience e-mail :   Melissa graduated in 2005 from UC Irvine with a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences (specialization in neuroscience).  Participation in an undergraduate research program sparked her interested in pursuing science as a career, and after working as a lab technician for a year, she began graduate school.  Currently, Melissa is a graduate student at UC Irvine in the department of Anatomy and Neurobiology working under Dr. Oswald Steward.  Her project aims to determine the genetic cause of excitotoxic cell death using mouse models of the late onset neurodegenerative disease: Huntington’s disease. Melissa is a founding chair of the student group at UCI: Research and Education in Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (ReMIND) which was created to promote three goals: educating researchers and the community about diseases of the nervous system, promoting community outreach, and advancing collaboration between researchers.  She is also an active member of the Society for Neuroscience.  Her involvement with GWIS began in 2008 at the annual science conference as a student presenter.  Outside of the lab, Melissa enjoys spending time with friends and family, especially hiking, swimming, camping and traveling.
Margaret Carson, B.A. TREASURER	Specialty : Earth Science e-mail :   Margaret earned a double major Bachelors degree in Geology and Biology from Mount Holyoke College. She enjoys knitting and swimming.  She also enjoys her travels to Ecuador, where she also owns a home.
Katherine Baum LIAISON	Specialty : Mathematics, Computer Science, Philosophy e-mail :    Katherine Baum’s academic career concentrated on Mathematics, Philosophy, and Sociology.  She received her B.A. from Mills College, completed a California Teaching certificate for secondary schools from University of Southern California and completed the required graduate courses at California State Northridge in Sociology. She worked as a computer programmer and liaison assisting mathematicians and physicists at the Rand Corporation, statistical programmer for the UCLA tissue typing lab, and behavioral research assistant at UCLA Neuropsychiatry department. After a few years as a technical writer at the Unisys Corporation, she retired but not before serving as the assistant on special projects for the Senior Associate Dean of Educational Affairs at the UCI College of Medicine. Now that she is retired she enjoys reading philosophy, yoga classes, swimming, and walking.  She is currently attending philosophy classes at Claremont Graduate University.
Adrienne Andres, B.S. MEMBERSHIP	Specialty : Neuroscience e-mail :    Adrienne graduated from the University of California San Diego in 2007 with her B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology.  Her undergraduate research project involved identifying and characterizing the proteins responsible for the stacked morphology of the Golgi Apparatus in mammalian cells.  Her second research project involved studying neurodegradative factors from the blood after spinal cord injury.  This project sparked her interest in neurobiology.  Adrienne started graduate school at the University of California Irvine in 2008 and she joined the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology.  She currently studies the molecular mechanisms of learning and memory, and how this system is perturbed by stress.    In her free time, Adrienne enjoys yoga, cooking, camping, and reading.
Mitra J. Hooshmand, Ph.D. PUBLIC RELATIONS	Specialty : Neuroscience e-mail :    Mitra graduated in the fall of 2002 from UC Irvine (UCI) with a Bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences and a minor in Philosophy. During her undergraduate studies, she conducted research in areas of Down syndrome and Alzheimer disease. Additionally, Mitra was highly active within her residential community, serving as a community programmer, program advisor, and resident advisor.   After a short break during which she worked at Wells Fargo Bank, Mitra began her graduate career at UCI in the department of Anatomy and Neurobiology. She joined Dr. Aileen Anderson’s laboratory in the spring of 2004. Her dissertation study investigated the effect of the microenvironment after spinal cord injury, specifically the fate of human central nervous system stem cells and the ability of transplanted cells to promote functional recovery. Mitra was also the co-founder of the department-wide Anatomy and Neurobiology Journal Club (established in 2005) which allows graduate students the opportunity to critically read, interpret, and present scientific literature to fellow peers, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty.   Additionally, Mitra is the founding president of Dialogue Society, a student-run organization with numerous chapters and affiliates (established in 1998). The Dialogue Society dedicates itself to exploring ethical, moral, and humanistic aspects of various schools of thought including the sciences and the arts.   Mitra participated in the 2008 OC GWIS Student Research Conference and was awarded the first-place prize in the PhD category. She has been an official OC GWIS member since 2008.   When not in the laboratory, Mitra volunteers her time at the Orangewood Children’s Foundation, a non-profit organization with the vision to reduce child abuse and neglect, especially within the foster youth community. She is also addicted to exercise, spending most of her evenings swimming, biking, doing yoga, Pilates, or lifting weights.
Viorela Pop, Ph.D. COMMUNICATIONS & OUTREACH	Specialty : Neuroscience e-mail :   Viorela is currently a post-doctoral fellow at Loma Linda University in California and works on molecular aspects of traumatic brain injury using rodent injury models. She obtained her Ph.D. in Biological Sciences with the department of Neurobiology and Behavior at the University of California-Irvine, where she studied "Beta-Amyloid Pathogenesis in the Canine Brain: Effects of Age and Antioxidants".  She holds a dual bachelor's in Neuroscience and English from the University of California-Los Angeles. Viorela is a member of the UCLA Alumni Association and has served on their scholarship committee since 2005.  She is also an active member of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) and has taken part in Brain Awareness programs for elementary school kids.   Her involvement with GWIS dates back to 2004, participating in student oral research presentations, helping with various chapter events, and serving on the national GWIS Fellowships Committee. Apart from science, Viorela enjoys spending time with her husband and their three kids.  Together with other relatives and friends, she enjoys spending time outdoors, movies, cooking parties, and the arts.