About the Speaker:

Bio:

Dr. Renã A. S. Robinson, Professor of Chemistry at Vanderbilt University and inaugural Dorothy J. Wingfield Phillips Chair, received her B.S. in Chemistry with a concentration in Business from the University of Louisville and Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Indiana University under the mentorship of Professor David Clemmer. She developed proteomics methods to study aging in Drosophila (fruit flies) and continued working in aging as a Lyman T. Johnson Postdoctoral Fellow with Professor D. Allan Butterfield at the University of Kentucky. During this fellowship she began to focus on neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and received a UNCF/Merck Postdoctoral Fellowship. In 2009 she accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh and, in 2007, moved to Vanderbilt University as Associate Professor of Chemistry and the Dorothy J. Wingfield Phillips Chancellor’s Faculty Fellow. Renã is currently a Professor of Chemistry, Principal Investigator of RASR Laboratory, Faculty Head of House of Murray House, and actively supports the Vanderbilt Memory & Alzheimer’s Center, the Vanderbilt Institute for Chemical Biology and the Vanderbilt Brain Institute. She has a nationally and internationally recognized research program and is a leader in the field of proteomics for her work in aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and applications relevant to human health. Her laboratory is especially focused on advancing proteomics and lipidomics technologies to promote health equity in Alzheimer’s disease. Renã serves as the Immediate Past President of NOBCChE (National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers) where she was the 14th President from 2021- 2023 and led the organization through tremendous growth in membership, programming, funding, and overall outreach of URMs in STEM. She is currently the faculty advisor for the Nashville Student and Professional Chapter of NOBCChE, Co-Director for the Faculty ACCESS Program, and Board Member-at-Large for the US Human Proteome Organization.