2022 Fall STAR Educator Recipient: Ann Griffith, PhD, MIMG
Ann Griffith, PhD, MIMG
Assistant Professor
Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics, Griffith Laboratory
Nomination Submission:
Dr. Ann Griffith has made exemplary contributions to the diversity and inclusion in the MIMG department and deserves to be recognized as a LSOM STAR EDUCATOR. A favorite choice for mentoring by all students, she has mentored an extraordinary number of undergraduates, MS students, PhD students, and postdocs in a short time. In addition to supervising their high caliber work in her own lab, she serves on an amazing array of student Dissertation and QE committees, teaches multiple courses, and managed the undergraduate program in the department for many years. She goes above and beyond to support her students’ scientific efforts beyond her own lab environment. She has enabled most of her students to apply for and receive local and national poster awards, conference travel awards, training fellowship grants (including an incredibly competitive Howard Hughes Gilliam Fellowship), and GSBS leadership opportunities.
Most impressively, though, is that Dr. Griffith has mentored more URM students than almost all the other mentors in the MIMG department combined. She has made it her personal mission to evaluate her own biases, deliberately engage in difficult conversations to be sure her students are comfortable when politics are not, to suggest departmental programs that better support our minority students, and to educate our entire department about unconscious bias. Her efforts inspire me to more carefully consider minority concerns and to recognize that I can make a difference. I am confident the same is true for many other faculty in our department. She is an outstanding educator of all students, but she has made it a deliberative mission to also educate faculty on how to advocate for the less privileged. All student and faculty members of our department are becoming better educators and better advocates for URM students as a direct result of her engagement.