Schedule 

Monday, October 30, 2023 from 8:00 AM - 3:30 PM

8:00 AM - 8:50 AM - Arrival & Check in - Main Entrance, Bryan Lobby 

9:00 AM - 9:50 AM - Welcome & Morning Keynote - PEC Gym with Dr. Jamie Lathan,  Dr. Michael Vazquez & Dr. Santos Flores

10:00 AM - 10:50 AM - Student Collaboration Session #1: Health & Medicine* 

10:50 AM - 11:05 AM - Break

11:05 AM - 12:00 PM - Student Collaboration Session #2: Dealing with Data*

12:00 PM  - 1:00 PM - Lunch - Ground Floor Bryan 

1:10 PM - 2:00 PM - Student collaboration Session #3: Examining the Environment*

2:00 PM - 2:15 PM  - Break

2:15 PM - 3:15 PM - Panel Discussion: What's Next? - PEC Gym with Dr. Jamie Lathan,  Dr. Antonio T. Baines, Dr. Schantel A. Bouknight, Ronald Harris, & Kamryn Locklear

3:15 PM - 3:30 PM - Dismissal 

*see name tag for collaboration session locations

Featured Speakers:

Michael Vazquez, PhD

Santos Flores, PhD

Kamryn Locklear

Michael Vazquez, PhD

Michael received his PhD in Philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. He is committed to forging lasting, democratic, and collaborative partnerships between the academy and the community, and to cultivating the philosophical voices of people of all ages. One of the main goals of his community engagement work is to promote moral and civic education in K-12 schools across the country. He serves on the Executive Committee of the National High School Ethics Bowl, the Executive Committee of the Middle School Ethics Bowl, the Public Philosophy Committee of the American Philosophical Association, and the Academic Advisory Board of the Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization

Santos Flores, PhD

Santos Flores is a researcher and educator with an interest in models of conflict transformation and social justice for application in community engagement. He holds a Masters in 'Peace and Conflict studies' and a Doctorate in 'Community and Youth development,' and currently serves as a Research Scholar at NC State and Executive  Director of the Terreiro de Arte e Cultura. He specializes in youth development, embodied philosophy, and sociological mindfulness. At UNCG’s Institute of Community & Economic Engagement, Santos advanced scholarship of community-based perspectives of Restorative Practices in higher education systems. Santos is experienced as a restorative and cultural educator, conflict coach, community organizer and in somatic transformations. Santos lives in Durham, North Carolina with his wife, daughter, and a bunch of fish. He enjoys nature, outdoor recreation, cartwheels and martial arts. 

Kamryn Locklear

Kamryn Locklear is a native of Lumberton, NC, and an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe. After graduating from NCSSM in 2016, she studied psychology at UNC Chapel Hill as a Chancellor’s Science Scholar. Kamryn went on to earn a Master of Biomedical Science from Duke and later worked as a clinical research specialist in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She is currently a second year medical student at the UNC School of Medicine. Outside of school, Kamryn enjoys spending time with her husband, a fellow NCSSM graduate, and traveling.

Ronald Harris

Dr. Antonio T. Baines

Dr. Schantel A. Bouknight

Ronald Harris

Ronald Harris is a third-year medical student at Duke University School of Medicine. Born and raised in Durham, NC, Ron graduated from NCSSM in 2015 and attended UNC-Chapel Hill for undergrad. He graduated from UNC with a Bachelors of Science with Highest Honors in Psychology in 2019. He then received his Master of Management in Clinical Informatics at Duke University School of Medicine. Ron has had longstanding involvement in diversity equity and inclusion initiatives. As a student at UNC, he oversaw Black & Abroad, a student led initiative to encourage black students to embark on study abroad opportunities while in undergrad. He led recruitment efforts to increase diversity within Honors Carolina, UNC’s premier honors program. After graduating from UNC, Ron worked as a full time staff member in Honors Carolina where he worked to improve recruitment efforts, resources for mental health, and facilitate a welcoming environment for new students. As a medical student, Ron recently served as co-president of Duke’s chapter of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA), where he directed recruitment efforts for students underrepresented in medicine (URiM), community service events, fundraising, MAPS mentorship chapters, pipeline programs for high school and college students, and events for current black medical students. Ronald intends to pursue a career in anesthesiology and critical care medicine. He is an avid cook, published poet and researcher, and has a passion for mentoring students.

Dr. Antonio T. Baines

Science was always one of the courses that Dr. Antonio (Tony) Baines  excelled in throughout high school. It was this love for science that led him to  major in biology as a STEM honor student at Norfolk State University, an  historically black university in Norfolk, Virginia. As a college student, Tony  participated in summer research internships at places such as NASA’s  Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida and the University of  Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.  


After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in biology, Tony was admitted to the Ph.D. program in pharmacology and toxicology at the University of  Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. As a graduate student at the Arizona Cancer  Center, he studied the chemopreventive and molecular mechanisms of dietary  selenium in colon cancer. In 2001, Tony received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology  and Toxicology, becoming the 2nd African American to graduate from the  department. 

 

Afterwards, Tony conducted pancreatic cancer research as a teaching/research  postdoctoral fellow in the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH). As a postdoc, Tony  studied some of the different cell signaling pathways found to transform  normal cells to cancer cells in the pancreas and how they could be used as  potential drug targets. In 2006, Tony accepted a tenure-track faculty position  in the Department of Biology at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in Durham, North Carolina where he currently teaches and continues his biomedical research on pancreatic cancer as a tenured Associate Professor.  Also, he is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of  Pharmacology and is a member in the Curriculum in Toxicology &  Environmental Medicine at UNC-CH.  


Tony has received various awards over the years such as the University  Teaching Award, the Society of Toxicology (SOT) Undergraduate Educator  Award, the Outstanding Scientist and Champion of Research Excellence  Keynote Speaker, and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Minority-Serving Institution Faculty Scholar Award. He has various  research publications and has received research funding from NIH as well as  from biotech. He has taught and trained many students in his classroom and  laboratory and have been invited to speak about his research at numerous 

universities across the country such as UNC, NC A&T, NC State, Spelman,  University of Nebraska, Indiana University, University of Florida, Florida  A&M University, MIT, Duke, Harvard, etc.  


Currently, Tony serves on SOT Council, AACR’s Science Education and  Career Advancement Committee, the Scientific Advisory Committee on  Alternative Toxicological Methods (SACATM) for the National Institute for  Environmental Health Sciences, and other scientific advisory boards. He is  committed to helping encourage students to consider a career in STEM.

Dr. Schantel A. Bouknight

Schantel obtained her B.S. in Biology from Fort Valley State University in 2000. She earned her D.V.M from Tuskegee University in 2004 and completed her anatomic pathology residency training at Michigan State University in 2007 with achievement of board certification in the same year. Schantel earned her Ph.D. in Molecular Pathology from Michigan State University in 2011 through the National Institutes of Health Comparative Biomedical Scientist Training Program (CBSTP). 


Schantel joined Charles River in 2011 as a Veterinary Pathologist 2. Since then, she has gained has over 10 years’ experience concentrating on safety assessment within a CRO environment. CR’s unique contract with the National Toxicology Program has also afforded Schantel with equal years’ of experience working with principal investigators in a research environment. During her career as a pathologist, Schantel has microscopically evaluated numerous safety assessment, discovery and efficacy type studies in various animal species and has authored 12 peer-reviewed publications and numerous scientific presentations.  In a shift towards management, Schantel managed (20016-2019) the Division of Translational Toxicology – DTT (National Toxicology Program Pathology) contract where she was directly responsible for scientific oversight of all government projects. In this role she ensured scientific quality, timeliness of project completions and monitored financial performance. In 2019, Schantel was promoted to Scientific Director where she provided operational oversight of the pathology and specialty pathology groups. In this role, she served as a scientific resource for the toxicologic pathology activities in support of various areas: Drug Safety, Discovery Sciences and DTT pathology. She is now the Director of Pathology where increased responsibilities include facility operations and leadership to approximately 80 employees at the Durham, NC site and 28 ACVP board certified pathologists across three geographical locations. 

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Host & Moderator: Dr. Jamie Lathan

Jamie Lathan is the Vice Chancellor of Extended Learning at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. A national-board certified social studies teacher, Jamie has taught high school students for more than two decades in face-to-face and virtual formats. An advocate for diversity and equity in K-12 STEM education, he has led a research and leadership camp for underrepresented minority students for a decade. His passion for educational equity spurs him to work to make quality teaching and curriculum accessible to as many students as possible through distance education and summer programs.