FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APS Contact
Christine Guilfoy
(301) 634-7253
(978) 290-2400
cguilfoy@the-aps.org
APS Names University Of
Louisville Doctoral Student As Its First Minority Outreach Fellow
BETHESDA, MD (May 2, 2006) – Mesia Moore Steed is from
a family of health professionals, and although she admires their work, she
knew that taking care of sick people was not her passion.
“I was interested in wellness,” recalled Steed, who
instead found her niche in physiology, a career that allows her to help the
sick by doing biomedical research. Steed is now in the doctoral program at
the University of Louisville’s Department of Physiology & Biophysics where
her aim is to advance knowledge about diseases that have a high incidence
among minorities, including hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes,
cardiovascular disease and obesity.
Steed discovered physiology with a bit of luck, and now
wants to tell other minority students in elementary, middle, and high school
about the interesting things physiologists do. The American Physiological
Society recently named Steed its first K-12 Minority Outreach Fellow. In
the coming year, she will encourage pre-college minority students who are
underrepresented in science -- African Americans, Native Americans,
Hispanics and Pacific Islanders -- to think about becoming biomedical
researchers.
Minority education aim of
fellowship
As the APS Fellow, Steed will visit classrooms to tell
students about her career path and to model for minority students what they
can achieve. As the K-12 Minority Outreach Fellow, Steed will:
-
Serve as a physiologist-in-residence at the APS science
teaching forum, a week of hands on science training for middle school and
high school teachers
-
Visit two minority student classrooms to do career
presentations and hands-on activities
-
Attend the 2006 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for
Minority Students (ABRCMS) to reach out to undergraduate students and
present APS research awards
-
Conduct outreach activities for high school teachers and
students at Experimental Biology 2007
The fellowship pays Steed’s registration and travel
costs to the 2006 and 2007 Experimental Biology meeting and to the 2006
ABRCMS meeting. The fellowship also includes travel costs to the science
teaching forum in Virginia and travel, material and supply costs for her two
visits to minority student classrooms.
“Mesia’s enthusiasm for sharing the excitement of doing
science makes her an ideal Outreach Fellow,” said APS Director of Education,
Marsha Matyas.
Career path rooted in
experience
The Henderson, Kentucky native did her undergraduate
studies at the University of Louisville, where she majored in Exercise
Science and Sport Medicine. She especially enjoyed her exercise physiology
classes, but didn’t really think about physiology as a career.
She worked at the North West Area Health Education
Center in Louisville after graduation, first as the assistant health
education coordinator and later as the activity coordinator. During this
time she met Irving G. Joshua, the chairman of the Department of Physiology
& Biophysics at the University of Louisville. Joshua encouraged her to take
a physiology course. She did, and was hooked.
Steed is now a doctoral student in the department and
was the lead author of two research projects that she presented at
Experimental Biology conferences in 2005 (“Differential role of eNOS, iNOS
and nNOS in vascular remodeling”) and in 2006 (“Mechanisms of vascular
remodeling in eNOS knockout mice”). The conference attracts about 12,000
scientists from around the world.
In addition to her research and work as a health
educator, Steed has extensive experience as a tutor and graduate assistant.
She has been a head cheerleading coach, personal trainer and fitness
instructor. Steed also has done extensive volunteer work.
Steed earlier received the APS NIDDK Minority Travel
award, second place in the “Research Louisville” graduate PhD competition,
the University of Louisville Integrated Programs in Biomedical Sciences
Fellowship, and the M. Celeste Nichols Professional Development Award. She
has tutored graduate level physiology and cell biology students and taught
small animal surgical techniques, protein analysis and research proposal
development to undergraduate summer research students.
* * *
The
American Physiological Society was founded in 1887 to foster basic and
applied bioscience. The Bethesda, Maryland-based society has more than
10,500 members and publishes 14 peer-reviewed journals containing almost
4,000 articles annually.
* * *
APS
provides a wide range of research, educational and career support and
programming to further the contributions of physiology to understanding the
mechanisms of diseased and healthy states. In May 2004, APS received
the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science,
Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM).
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