Plenary Speaker - April 1, 2025, 9:00 AM - Bird Library Auditorium
Dr. Suzanne Ortega, President of Council of Graduate Schools
Bio: Suzanne Ortega became the sixth President of the Council of Graduate Schools on July 1, 2014. Prior to assuming her current position, she served as the University of North Carolina Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs (2011-14). Previous appointments included the Executive Vice President and Provost at the University of New Mexico, Vice Provost and Graduate Dean at the University of Washington, and the University of Missouri. Dr. Ortega's masters and doctoral degrees in sociology were completed at Vanderbilt University. With primary research interests in mental health epidemiology, health services, and race and ethnic relations, Dr. Ortega is the author or co-author of numerous journal articles, book chapters, and an introductory sociology text, now in its 8th edition. An award-winning teacher, Dr. Ortega has also served on a number of review panels for NSF and NIH and has been the principal investigator or co-investigator on grants totaling more than $6 million in state and federal funds. Dr. Ortega serves or has served on a number of professional association boards, committees, including, the Executive Boards of the Council of Graduate Schools, the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), the National Academies of Science Committee on the Assessment of the Research Doctorate, the National Science Foundation’s Human Resources Expert Panel, the North Carolina E-learning Commission, the North Carolina Public School Forum, the UNC TV Foundation, and the UNC Press Board of Governors.
Keynote Speaker - April 2, 2025, 9:00AM - Bird Library Auditorium
Dr. Louis Justement, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Director of Undergraduate Immunology Program, Director of GBS Immunology Graduate Theme, Professor in Department of Microbiology
Bio: Throughout his career, Dr. Louis Justement has dedicated significant time to both research and advocacy for the biomedical and biological scientific community. His current focus is on science policy and biomedical education, spanning from the undergraduate to graduate level. He is committed to promoting sound scientific policies, supporting a diverse and inclusive scientific workforce, fostering the training and professional development of the next generation of scientists, and ensuring that the scientific community actively engages with the public to highlight the positive impact of science on society and evidence-based decision-making.
Dr. Justement had the distinct honor of serving as President of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) from 2021 to 2022. In this role, he collaborated with dedicated Federation staff and volunteers from 28 scientific societies, collectively representing approximately 115,000 scientists. Prior to this, he served as Vice President for Science Policy at FASEB (2018-2019), overseeing the activities of the Science Policy Committee. Through these leadership roles, he worked with a broad range of scientific societies to advance sound science policies, advocate for the scientific community, and promote diversity and inclusion within the workforce.
Currently, Dr. Justement is the President-Elect of the Society for Leukocyte Biology (SLB), an organization he has been a member of since his graduate studies. He is also a member of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine (SEBM), serving on its Council, and a long-standing member of the American Association of Immunologists, where he has contributed to numerous committees. These experiences have provided him with extensive knowledge of key issues impacting science and scientific societies, which he seeks to leverage in support of the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS) and its mission to strengthen the global immunology community.
A strong advocate for training and career development, Dr. Justement has dedicated his efforts to ensuring that early-career scientists receive the professional opportunities necessary for success in research-intensive and science-related careers. He served as Chair of the Training and Career Opportunities Subcommittee at FASEB for ten years and was a founding Steering Committee member of the Professional Development Hub (pd/hub), where he continues to contribute to advancing career development in the biomedical sciences. Most recently, he was elected to the Steering Committee for the Group on Research, Education, and Training (GREAT Group) within the American Association of Medical Colleges, an organization dedicated to supporting graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in achieving their career aspirations.
In addition to his work in science policy and professional development, Dr. Justement has been a strong proponent of broadening immunology education. He established one of the first dedicated undergraduate immunology programs in the United States and is a founding member of ImmunoReach, a collaborative group of immunology educators working to expand interdisciplinary STEM education with an emphasis on immunology. Currently, he serves as the Director of the Immunology Theme in the Graduate Biomedical Sciences Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and as Co-Director of the Undergraduate Immunology Program, which he founded in 2016. The Undergraduate Immunology Program remains the only dedicated undergraduate major in the U.S. focused on educating the next generation about the immune system and its role in health and disease.