WinRS: Big Shoes to Fill – August 2021 Update
Written by Karen Schindler
The SSR’s Women in Reproductive Sciences (WinRS) committee is celebrating its 1-year anniversary of being appointed the status of a full standing ad hoc committee. It certainly has been a busy year in developing and growing our committee. We now have an advisory Steering Committee, and awards and social media subcommittees whose efforts are critical to our successes. In case you missed the annual business meeting, we highlight here the achievements we made in our 1st year.
✅ Encourage and support nominations of women: WinRS was off to the races last fall, identifying and supporting the nominations of our amazing SSR women members for SSR Board and Executive Roles and for the inaugural 2021 cohort of SSR Distinguished Fellows.
✅ Highlight achievement and careers of women: We have ensured that women candidates are well-represented in the group of 2021/2022 Distinguished Fellows, the 2022 SSR major awards nominees, and through our social media highlights.
✅ Maintain social media presence: Our tech-savvy social media team is consistently highlighting SSR members’ achievements. We also have fun engagement activities to boost our visibility within Sci-twitter. Follow us on @WinRS_SSR and on. Add us on Women in Reproductive Sciences.
✅ Organize an event at the SSR meeting: With generous support from the SSR Board, we will purchase a license for SSR members to view Picture a Scientist, a documentary that chronicles the experiences of three women scientists throughout their careers. We are planning in-person and virtual discussions during the annual meeting this December. This will be a great educational and networking opportunity. Look for the viewing sign-ups this fall.
I’d like to personally recognize the efforts of my fantastic co-chair, Heather Fice, and our Steering Committee members (Olga Bolden-Tiller, Arunika Das, Niamh Forde, Kate Grive, Kanako Hayashi, and Kate Loveland) for their ideas and energy this past year. Also, a special shout out to our Awards team for their tireless efforts in putting together nomination packets (Christian Bellissimo, Miranda Bernhardt, Arunika Das, Chris Geyer, Angela Gonella-Diaza, Kate Grive, Niamh Forde, Rebecca Robker, Virginia Savvy, and Xiaoqin Ye).
Are you interested in joining our efforts? Join our WinRS Open forum on the SSR member Community Page or drop us a line at ssrwinrs@gmail.com.