Stanford Hosts Regenerative Medicine Conference for Diverse Group of Students
by Lynn Nichols
October 19, 2023
Whether you were a student just beginning to explore a career in STEM or a post-doctoral candidate, you would have been welcomed at the recent first-ever regenerative medicine conference at Stanford University. That’s because an overarching goal of the conference was to introduce attendees to not only the field of regenerative medicine, but more generally to careers in STEM. The conference’s softer goals were to expose underrepresented minority students to a university conference, empower students to present their research, and provide students with networking and career opportunities.
Organizers Ngan F. Huang, MD, Associate Professor in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford and Joseph C. Wu, MD, PhD, director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, strongly encouraged Greater Bay Area students in all career stages to attend and learn about regenerative medicine and share their knowledge, inspiration, and hopes for a scientific career. Demographics showed a large number of attendees were underrepresented minorities (UMRs) who were high school, community college, and first generation college students, with an interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
“The idea for the conference really came from my own journey into this field. A summer internship in a lab set my career on a STEM trajectory. I was the first child in my family to go to college, so I didn’t have familial role models. Yet that lab experience gave me an opportunity, and I wanted to do the same for other underrepresented students,” said Dr. Huang, whose research laboratory at Stanford Medicine investigates the interactions between stem cells and extracellular matrix microenvironment for engineering cardiovascular tissues.
Bay Area Stanford Regenerative Medicine Conference attendees.
Photo credit: Caroline Hu
Throughout the day, high school, undergraduate, postdoc, and clinical fellows gave presentations on various STEM topics – a departure from typical conferences, which tend to feature faculty speakers. The morning was spent discussing ways to model tissue regeneration in a dish and the afternoon brought talks on translational models of tissue regeneration and exploring the intersection of tissue regeneration with engineering and technology.
“A highlight of the day was the keynote speech by Jessica Preciado, Vice President, Clinical Affairs, Noctrix Health, which was particularly memorable and heartfelt. She told her story of growing up as an underrepresented minority who struggled and triumphed to become an executive in a regenerative medicine company,” said Dr. Huang.
In between sessions, industry professionals shared about their regenerative medicine careers. Throughout the day, students had the opportunity to mingle with speakers, organizers, and each other to learn more about the various careers in regenerative medicine and STEM fields. The day rounded out with poster judging, an industry meet and greet, a career development opportunity complete with a resume review. Another highlight was the final award ceremony where each oral and poster student presenter received a Shooting Star Award certificate, and a few earned an additional award for their meritorious efforts.
Drs. Ngan Huang and Jessica Preciado
Photo credit: Caroline Hu
“Many of the participants noted that coming to the conference was a milestone. Seeing that it made a big difference in their lives confirmed to me that it was worth all of the hard work,” said Dr. Huang.
Bay Area Stanford Regenerative Medicine Conference awardees
Photo credit: Caroline Hu
The Bay Area Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS)-AM Ambassador’s Conference was created from what Dr. Huang described as “a perfect storm” where different sponsors with similar interests came together with her help. Some of those interests were localizing regional conferences in the Bay Area, education, and promoting diversity outreach.
The sponsors included groups that Huang is involved with in a teaching or leadership capacity, including the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, and the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS). Each group helped to sponsor the event, and Dr. Huang also received funding from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) via a grant.
The conference took place on Saturday, Sept. 23. Organizers expected about 100 participants, and were pleasantly surprised to have over 240 registrants, with more on a waiting list. Dr. Huang interpreted the high demand for the conference as representative of the hunger for this kind of unique approach to a STEM/regenerative medicine conference. Its success gives her motivation to organize the conference again next year.
