Staci Bilbo, PhD, is a professor of neuroscience, integrative immunobiology, and cell biology at Duke University.

Elizabeth D. Kirby, PhD, is an associate professor in the department of psychology at Ohio State University. She received her PhD in neuroscience from the University of California Berkeley. Her postdoctoral training focused on neural stem cell biology at Stanford University. Kirby’s research explores how neural stem cells in the adult mammalian brain interact with local cells and signals to survive and promote brain function and recovery from injury. She regularly teaches “Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience,” as well as an upper-level seminar of her own creation called “Stem Cells and the Brain.”

You can contribute to a large-scale effort to increase awareness about issues facing women in academia. As an SfN member, you have access to a series of Increasing Women in Neuroscience (IWiN) toolkits and related resources that are adaptable for your use at your institution or local chapter meeting. Each toolkit contains a 30-minute presentation that focuses on specific gender retention issues, such as recruitment, hiring, promotion, and evaluation. The presentations highlight critical data, real-life success stories, practical strategies for breaking the cycle, and ready-to-use tools. The toolkits were adapted from live workshops and made possible through the NSF-funded Department Chair Training to Increase Women in Neuroscience program. Explore the toolkits and related resources here.

Pablo S. Villar is currently doing his PhD thesis at the University of Maryland.

Pamela Yao is a senior scientist at the Laboratory of Neurosciences in the National Institute on Aging. Her work focuses on studying the normal functions of signaling pathways in establishment and maintenance of neural circuits in developing brains, and the pathological roles of these signaling pathways in age-related neurological disorders.