In celebration of Black History Month, the Loudoun Chamber’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility Committee has spotlighted several members of the Chamber, including Susan Mitchell, President & CEO of Guardians of Honor LLC (GOH) and founder and CEO of Athari BioSciences Inc.; Susan is also the Chair of the Chamber’s GovCon Committee, and a member of the DEIA Committee.

“My heart beats for philanthropic and community service activities, which tend to spill over into the types of entrepreneurial endeavors I pursue. I am always looking for ways to improve access to and success in education, healthcare, workforce, and economic development. My hope is to combine both worlds – from the lab bench to the boardroom. I strive to ensure that people from all walks are represented and that DEIA is not just aspirational, but attainable in real-time – in business and bio today and beyond.” – Susan Mitchell

Join our CEO Susan Mitchell on March 3rd as she speaks on a panel with life science companies led by Krish R Krishnan and Elizabeth Onderko. As we all endeavor to deliver solutions in health and sustainability, sign up to attend in-person at George Mason University to network with friends in the NOVA BioHub or join us virtually: https://bit.ly/3v28nRX.

In celebration of Black History Month, we honor the leaders who paved the pathway to civil rights and set humanity’s sights on striving for equity. It is also vital that we make explicit how critical people of color are to the biotech ecosystem and STEM(M) – Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Medical fields as a whole. Today, we celebrate Mary Elliott Hill and Dr. Marie Maynard Daly, both Black female STEM pioneers who changed the field for the betterment of future generations.

Dr. Marie Maynard Daly

Biochemist

Dr. Marie Daly was the first African American woman to receive a doctorate in chemistry in the United States. After she earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Queens College in 1942, Daly completed her master’s degree at New York University in only one year. At Columbia University, she studied how bodily compounds contribute to digestion and earned her doctoral degree in just three years. Her postdoctoral research at the Rockefeller Institute focused on the composition of the cell’s nucleus and how proteins are metabolized. She taught at Howard University, Columbia University and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. While devoting her time to research, Daly helped develop programs aimed at increasing minority enrollment in medical school and graduate programs. In 1988, she created a scholarship fund at Queens College for African American science graduates.

Mary Elliott Hill

Organic and Analytical Chemist

Mary Elliott Hill was an organic and analytical chemist, born in North Carolina. She attended the Virginia State College for Negroes, now Virginia State University (VSU) from 1925-1929. She taught at VSU and took graduate courses at the University of Pennsylvania. She was one of the earliest African American women to acquire her master’s degree in chemistry (1941). Her work specified in ultraviolet light and using that to develop analytic methodology. While an associate professor and acting head of the chemistry department at Kentucky State University, she collaborated with her husband Carl McClellan Hill in developing the ketene synthesis, which aided in the development in plastics.

In celebration of National Mentoring Month, we’re proud to feature our Chief Scientific and Technical Advisor Tshaka Cunningham’s work with Future Kings, whose efforts are near and dear to Athari’s goals of being a leader in STEM education and bridging the gap of health equity across diverse populations.

Over the course of last year, Dr. Cunningham’s cohort of 12 high school students chose a research capstone exploring why African-Americans are more susceptible to COVID-19. They learned how to perform sterilization and pipetting techniques, DNA/RNA extraction, gel electrophoresis, and human cell culturing.

“Having mentors with as much expertise as Dr. Cunningham and being enriched every other weekend for a few hours is a unique experience you can’t get anywhere else, and you can’t get that in school,” says Norvin West, a Future Kings graduate who has started his freshman year at Yale where he will pursue a

degree in neuroscience. Read the full

feature in Yahoo Finance News.

The profound impact that organizations like Future Kings have on the lives of students and mentors alike speaks to why building a mentoring mindset and pro-STEM education culture that is year-round and sustainable is so important. Plus, we have work to do:

• Despite making up nearly half the U.S. workforce, women are still vastly underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce. We’ve made gains from less than 10% of the workforce in the 1970s but are still today under 30%.
• African-Americans make up 11% of the U.S. workforce overall but represent 9% of STEM workers, while Hispanics comprise 16% of the U.S. workforce but only 7% of STEM Workers, according to PEW Research.

Athari is committed to stewarding us toward a future with diversity represented across the biosciences, STEM training and health equity.

In celebration of National Mentoring Month, we’re proud to highlight some of the brave

and brilliant women who serve as our mentors and leaders today. Athari’s CEO and founder Susan Mitchell shares personal memories of growing up with a “Nurse Mom,” and how that paved the way for her future in STEAMM. Now in her spritely 80’s, Susan’s mother, “Nurse Nettie” as she is known, still maintains her certification and she holds a legacy of public health work at Walter Reed, serving as a School Nurse at Misawa Air Force Base Japan and as a Nurse Practitioner in support of our armed forces at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Being raised by a strong mentor as a mother, Susan shares:

“My life science roots were planted many moons ago. Growing up with a nurse mom, I learned to use the proper medical terminology for everyday ailments, much to the surprise of my peers and teachers. Our resident nurse practitioner was always full of medical advice for our family, neighbors and sometimes even strangers too!

I have also witnessed first-hand the importance of being a lifelong learner and sharing knowledge after seeing my mother progress from an LPN, to RN, to NP because of her constant thirst for higher education and her willingness to stay current on her nursing license, even in her retirement.

As I reflect, I can also thank Nurse Nettie as she was seemingly preparing us for Covid my whole life! Using hand sanitizer and hand-washing was a universal precaution met with the strictest of compliance protocols in our childhood home.

More seriously, my mom and I both would agree that there is something tremendously rewarding about being a mentor, innovator, and career creator. Like her, I have a strong calling to plant seeds that ensure our curated community continues to touch and teach, encourage and reach the next generation. I am filled with excitement every time opportunities arise where I can help develop young minds that are about to bloom. Being able to pour into and invest in the seedlings that will blossom into future biotechnologists, doctors, entrepreneurs, leaders, and life scientists brings my heart joy… Hopes and dreams, powered by STEAMM.”

CEO Susan is committed to creating a future where, as an African-American woman leading a biotech business, she is no longer a minority in the field; instead, she is among peers from all walks, creating a wellspring of future bioscience leaders, also from all walks.

Building a mentoring mindset and pro-STEM education culture that is year-round and sustainable is crucial, as we have much work to do:

• Despite making up nearly half the U.S. workforce, women are still vastly underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce. We’ve made gains from less than 10% of the workforce in the 1970s but are still today under 30%.
• African-Americans make up 11% of the U.S. workforce overall but represent 9% of STEM workers, while Hispanics comprise 16% of the U.S. workforce but only 7 percent of STEM Workers, according to PEW Research.

And with this work to do, we will leave you on this high note…..