Keriayn Smith, PhD (Chair)
Dr. Keriayn Smith is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she specializes in molecular and cellular biology with an eye towards translational research. She received her Bachelor of Science (B.Sc, Hons) and Master of Philosophy (M.Phil) degrees in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from the University of the West Indies. Subsequently, she completed a Ph.D from the University of Georgia, where her work primarily focused on cancer gene function in embryonic stem cell maintenance and differentiation, and was published in top tier journals including Cell Stem Cell. Her current research stems from her postdoctoral work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with Dr. Terry Magnuson, UNC’s Vice Chancellor for Research, where she began to delve into the function of genomic sequence formerly considered junk DNA. Dr. Smith’s current research utilizes single molecule approaches as well as various –omics approaches including genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics to unveil molecular mechanisms of short and long noncoding RNAs in cell fate decisions and cellular immortality, particularly for stem cells and cancer.
Dr. Smith has a keen interest in entrepreneurship and she actively seeks opportunities in this area, particularly pertaining to bioentrepreneurship and its potential to stimulate economic and social development. She also has a demonstrable history and passion for building communities; this was her fuel to found our US 501(c)3 organization, the Society for Scientific Advancement (SOSA), to facilitate knowledge exchange, and to improve the participation of underserved and underrepresented groups in STEM education and research.
Dr. Smith continues to participate in mentoring GenerationNEXT and providing strategic development and consulting experience pertaining to various startup entities. This, along with her academic accomplishments, has been reflected in various institutional, regional and national awards throughout her career.
Danielle M. Webster, PhD (Vice Chair)
Dr. Danielle Webster is an Associate Lecturer with the Department of Health Sciences at the University of Central Florida. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology and Cell Science from the University of Florida and went on to earn her Ph.D. in Cellular Biology from the University of Georgia.
Even though she is a trained cell biologist, she has a profound passion for education. She focuses her teaching methodology primarily on creating a learning-centered environment. She believes it is important to be cognizant of the diversity within a student population and therefore, she adapts her teaching style and methods to create a learning-rich environment that focuses on individual student needs.
Serving her community has always been of utmost importance to Webster. She is dedicated to increasing the scientific literacy and capacity of students of all ages. As such, she has volunteered to design and coordinate several science education programs within her local communities. In 2011, she co-founded the non-profit organization Society for Scientific Advancement (SOSA), to expand her reach outside of her local community and to promote science education. She conceptualizes, organizes and delivers workshops catering to young students promoting the STEM discipline and advocates for them to develop an interest and excitement about science. Through SOSA, she also organizes annual scientific conferences that provide opportunities for scientists and health care providers worldwide to share their research and form new collaborations.
JeAnn Watson, MPhil, PMP (Secretary)
JeAnn Watson is a PMP holder, currently pursuing the Project Management continuing education certificate at Ryerson University. Previously, she worked at the Natural Products Institute as a Senior Scientific Officer where she was involved in several research projects focused on medicinal plant extracts, and natural and synthetic compounds with anti-cancer and chemo-preventive potential. She sought to add value to Jamaica’s biodiversity by identifying potential leads to be further investigated for drug development. She also assessed medicinal plants for potential drug-herb interactions.
This work supported the safe use of medicinal plants, particularly in combination with prescription drugs, which is common practice in developing countries where primary healthcare accessibility is an issue.
She received a BSc (Hons) in Biotechnology and Chemistry, and her MPhil in Biochemistry from the University of the West Indies. During her MPhil, she was the recipient of the Connecticut Jamaica 50 Independence Anniversary Celebration Scholarship. She has authored and co-authored 6 peer reviewed journal publications and 2 book chapters.
JeAnn Watson has been a volunteer and supporter of SOSA for 7 years, particularly the STEPS program which promotes the STEM field to youths in underserved populations.
Neley Morales, PA-C (Treasurer)
Neley Morales is a Surgical Certified Physician Assistant specializing in Urologic Oncology in Central Florida. She received her Bachelor of Health Sciences Pre-Clinical Track at the University of Central Florida and Master of Physician Assistant Studies from Rutgers University. Neley Morales PA-C has a keen interest in helping others through various outreach programs. She has helped her community throughout her growing career as an aid for children with motor and cognitive disabilities, an EMT, phlebotomist and as a home health aide. Throughout the years, she has traveled to the Dominican Republic and Haiti to provide aide to communities in need of medical care/services, and has mentored students pursuing a career in Health Sciences. Today, Neley Morales PA-C is our Treasurer and part of SOSA for the last 7 years, guiding undergraduate students as they volunteer with SOSA's outreach programs.
Joshua Starmer, PhD
Dr. Joshua Starmer is founder and CEO of StatQuest, a youtube channel that teaches Data Science topics like Statistics and Machine Learning. Prior to StatQuest, Dr. Starmer was an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, where he researched high-throughput sequencing analysis techniques.
Josh received a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science from Oberlin College and Bachelor of Music in Composition from Oberlin Conservatory before working in the IT-Lab at the Medical University of South Carolina. From there he went to North Carolina State University and received a Ph. D. in Bioinformatics with advisors Donald Bitzer, Mladen Vouk and Anne-Marie Stomp. After graduating, Josh worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Terry Magnuson’s lab at UNC-Chapel Hill before being promoted to Assistant Professor. During his time at UNC-Chapel Hill, Josh created his youtube channel, StatQuest with Josh Starmer, as a way to teach statistics to friends and loved ones.
At StatQuest, Josh tries to make Data Science topics clearly explained. Bam.
Alen Amini, MBA
Alen Amini is currently a management consultant at the Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit firm that provides advisory services to philanthropies and nonprofit organizations. A former Fulbright scholar, he previously served as a high school math teacher and vice-principal in Southeast Arkansas through Teach For America.
Alen is a Zuckerman Fellow and MEd candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is an alumna of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where he served as the editor-in-chief of the newspaper and served as the interim student body president and the Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business where he received his MBA.
Alexis Thompson MMS, MPH
Alexis Thompson is a public health scientist at the Department of Health - Sarasota County. Alexis received her Bachelors of Science in Health Sciences from the University of Central Florida. Feeding her love of science and community health, Alexis went on to pursue a Masters in Medical Science from the University of South Florida and Masters Degree in Public Health from George Washington University.
Throughout her professional public health career, Alexis continues to serve her passion of helping her community. She has worked with multiple nonprofit organizations globally, promoting healthcare access and literacy; specializing in reproductive health. Currently, Alexis works as a health educator focusing on sexual health and communicable diseases. Alexis continues to nurture her unwavering passion for eliminating health disparities by dedicating her efforts to several community initiatives.
Bukola Orekha
Bukola Fagbemi Orekha is the managing director of Ace United, LLC, a full-service construction and renovation company specializing in providing luxurious designs and renovations for every price point. Her clients include government and private sector entities and range from residential properties to commercial real estate throughout the state of Texas.
Bukola received her Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University. Subsequently, she worked in the Energy industry for 10 years as a Completions Engineer for a major oil production company where she planned, designed, and executed programs for multi-million-dollar projects.
Mrs. Fagbemi Orekha has a passion for child literacy and she seeks out mentorship opportunities at the intersection of education and entrepreneurship. She is a member of several non-profit organizations where she has hosted STEAM focused community service events and currently fills the role of a mentor to STEAM university students and recent graduates.
Icolyn Amarakoon, MPhil, PhD
Dr. Icolyn Amarakoon is a researcher in Molecular Biology and Lecturer at the University of the West Indies in the Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Biochemistry Section. She completed her MPhil in Biochemistry and later went on to complete her PhD in Biotechnology through a Split-site Doctoral Commonwealth Scholarship Program between the University of the West Indies and the John Innes Center in Norwich, England. Her doctoral research focused on the molecular characterization of viruses infecting plants. She also completed post-doctoral research in HIV viral infections. Dr Amarakoon later received a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue further research in characterizing the HIV virus, in Baltimore, at the University of Maryland (Institute of Human Virology). Her current research interests include viral infections, occasioned by her postdoctoral research, as well as an interest in the molecular biology of prostate cancer in the Caribbean.
Dr Amarakoon enjoys giving back to the youth in her community through various volunteer opportunities. She is an active mentor to high school students through the Future Leaders of Jamaica Scholarship program as well as a mentor to university students. Through her work with SOSA, Dr Amarakoon is able to merge her passions; science education and research plus nurturing and igniting young minds in STEM.
Past Board Members
Natalie Stephens, Ph.D.
Dr. Natalie Stephens is the Scientific Director of an independent contract research laboratory in Cambridge, MA, which provides scientific services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for product development and clinical trial support, primarily in the rapidly growing field of Orthobiologics and Regenerative Medicine.
Previously, Dr. Stephens worked in clinical studies aimed at investigating the phenomenon of Exercise Resistance and the variability of the exercise response seen in Type 2 Diabetics. Her research identified a novel transcriptional signature seen only in patients classified as Non-Responders to exercise. During her graduate research in infectious diseases, Dr. Stephens resolved the trafficking pathway of a resistance factor of African trypanosomes that leads to acute infections in humans and primarily game animals and livestock in southern and eastern Africa and was awarded the Harry Peck Award for presentation of this work.
Dr. Stephens earned her doctorate in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Georgia, and graduated with a B.A. with honors in Biology from Williams College.
As a student, Dr. Stephens gave back to the graduate student community by maintaining an active role in organizations that help to create positive student experiences. In pursuit of this, she was a founding member of the organization, Graduate Students and Postdocs in Science at the University of Georgia. She understands the importance of young researchers to the future of science and discovery and has been dedicated to mentoring undergraduates.
Kameka Johnson, Ph.D.
Dr. Johnson research interest is host-pathogen interactions, with a focus on plant pathology. She carried out her postdoctoral research at Cornell University, where she investigated host pathogen interactions between Grape and a bacterial pathogen. Dr. Johnson received a B.Sc in Botany and Biochemistry from the University of the West Indies and a PhD in Plant Pathology at The University of Georgia. Her PhD research involved identifying virulence systems important for the transmission of seed-borne pathogens.
Over the years, Dr. Johnson has taken active roles in both student and professional scientific organizations. She has been granted multiple awards with regards to her research including the Sigma Xi Grant in Aid-of-Research and travel awards to present her research at conferences. Dr. Johnson’s community service work involves outreach that helps promote science education. These include serving as a mentor to undergraduates and encouraging middle school students to develop an interest in science, specifically plant pathology.
Aneisha Collins-Fairclough, Ph.D.
Dr. Collins-Fairclough is a molecular virologist who received her PhD in 2009 for her work in discovering three geminiviruses that circulate in Jamaica and describing their genetic and biological properties. This work provided substantial insights of the role of weeds in geminivirus infection of Jamaican crops and showed that wild plants threaten the viability of local agriculture as they may contribute to a resurgence of geminivirus epidemics of in Jamaican crops.
In 2010, Dr. Collins-Fairclough obtained a Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Programme (AITRP) postdoctoral fellowship, which allowed her to gain training in HIV molecular epidemiology. In her postdoctoral research, Dr. Collins-Fairclough identified characteristic genetic features of HIV strains from Trinidad, that may account for HIV infected Trinidadians developing AIDS faster than other HIV infected cohorts globally. Dr. Collins-Fairclough currently lectures at the University of Technology, Jamaica.
Dr. Collins-Fairclough’s research interests include geminivirus molecular genetics and HIV molecular epidemiology and genetics. She has taught undergraduate courses in Biotechnology, General Biology, Human Biology, Introduction to Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology, is the primary author on 5 peer-reviewed journal publications and has coauthored additional scientific publications.
In the service arena, Dr. Collins-Fairclough is the Chairperson of the Projects Committee for the Jamaica Organic Agriculture Movement and reviewer and Editorial Team Member for the Journal of Aids and HIV Research (JAHR). She is also a guest lecturer for the annual “Concepts in Genetic Engineering Workshop” for Jamaican high school students and teachers.
Cheryl Stewart, Ph.D.
Dr. Cheryl Stewart is a recent graduate of the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies where used molecular biology techniques to conduct the molecular characterisation of begomoviruses infecting Sida spp. in Jamaica under the supervision of the UNESCO/L’Oréal Special Fellow, Dr. Marcia Roye. She has had various research, teaching and administrative responsibilities during her term as a postgraduate student and while employed at the UWI. She has received some training in the characterisation of begomoviruses in Prof. Robert Gilbertson’s lab at the University of California Davis. She has presented the results of her research at various local and international conferences and has three published articles in peer-reviewed journals.