Thursday, December 17, 2020

USA scientist named council member of international society

Aishwarya Prakash, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, has been named as a council member of the Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society. Prakash was among five members recently elected to serve three-year terms. She joins Natalie Gassman, Ph.D., assistant professor of physiology and cell biology, as the only USA College of Medicine faculty on the council.

The Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society (EMGS) consists of academic, industrial and governmental researchers. It focuses on the study of environmental impact on human health and the role that genetics can play in diseases. 

EMGS Council members are responsible for collecting and distributing resources, establishing policies, approving plans within the program, overseeing the society’s work, and reporting to other members. Members are nominated to be a potential counselor, and others participate in an online voting process to determine which nominees will join the council.

Prakash initially became a member of EMGS in 2017. Support for junior faculty, she said, drew her to the group: “It’s been a great support. It really helped during my first few years because it gave me an opportunity to present my work at annual meetings and meet like-minded scientists,” she said.

Prakash was awarded the EMGS Young Scientist Award in 2018. She also is a member of multiple committees within the group, including the Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis Editor’s Choice team. She is the chair of the Young Scientist Award committee and co-chair of the Women in the EMGS committee. In 2020, Prakash was selected as the Young Investigator co-chair for EMGS Annual Meeting, where she participated in organizing and planning the EMGS annual meeting that was held virtually in 2020. She also was elected to be the co-chair of the EMGS DNA Repair Special Interest Group, also a three-year term.