ABRCMS Alumni Will Share Career Development Insights During Closing Keynote

Three ABRCMS alumni will share their personal journeys in STEM during the ABRCMS 2022 Closing Keynote on Saturday, Nov. 12. Each alumnus—Patricia Salgado Pirbhoy, Ph.D., Robert Drummond, M.D., Ph.D., and Kennita Johnson, Ph.D.—will share their unique perspectives, personal challenges and important lessons learned while building a successful career in STEM.

The interactive, 30-minute session, which will begin at 5 p.m. in ACC North 100 at the Anaheim Convention Center, is titled “Conversations with ABRCMS Alumni: Where Are They Now?” The session will include time for audience questions.

Pirbhoy completed her B.S. and Ph.D. at the University of California (UC) Irvine, where she works as an associate specialist with Oswald Steward, Ph.D. As a postdoc student at UC Riverside, Pirbhoy was awarded the University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship and two postdoctoral fellowships from the FRAXA Research Foundation. More recently, she received a 2022 FRAXA Fellowship and plans to continue her research investigating potential treatments to alleviate cognitive impairments in individuals with Fragile X syndrome, a genetic disorder that can severely affect cognitive development in children.

Drummond is lead clinician and director of laboratories at the Montebello Urgent Care Center with OPTUM. He also works as a concierge physician in the Greater Los Angeles area and serves as a medical consultant for corporations across the country. After earning his bachelor’s degree at Morehouse College in Atlanta, he received his B.S. in biology and participated in the Medical Scientist Training Program at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he received his M.D. and a Ph.D. in cellular and molecular medicine. He is a former captain in the California U.S. Army National Guard, where he served as a battalion physician. He has a passion for mentoring and diversity recruitment, which has earned him numerous awards, including the David E. Rogers Award for Medical Professionalism and Community Service, the Johns Hopkins Institutional Diversity Award, the Johns Hopkins MSTP Award for Leadership, and the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association Outstanding Recent Graduate Award.

Johnson is assistant professor and director of diversity and equity at the UNC-NCSU Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering and an adjunct assistant professor in North Carolina A&T State University’s Chemical, Biological and Bioengineering Department. She earned her bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, where she was a Meyerhoff Scholar. At the University of Florida, she earned a master’s degree in medical physics and a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Environmental Health Science. She is currently expanding her research on biomedical imaging of chronic kidney disease to address health disparities.