Mission Statement: The mission of Women in Cytometry (WIC) is to promote gender equality in an inclusive environment. Our goal is to establish an empowering culture for the women members of ICCS by promoting, advocating, and celebrating their careers and accomplishments in the clinical cytometry field.

In 2008, a number of ICCS women members noticed the lack of representation of women on the ICCS council and speakers at the annual meeting. This subset of women had forged great mentoring relationships with other women in the society and felt that formalizing this type of relationship and expanding the scope would benefit and support the growing number of female ICCS members.

We began with an informal networking meeting with female members, which included relevant topics such as unconscious bias, mentoring and leadership. Male ICCS members were also invited so they could increase their awareness of bias in the workplace and become motivated to mentor women in their institutions. The participants’ response was very positive, and with a generous grant/gift from the Wallace Coulter Foundation, the gathering became a formal session at each of the annual ICCS meetings.

An organized mentoring program has benefited the growth and increased the presence of women in the society. A number of mentees have taken on important leadership roles in the society. We will continue our mission by increasing our visibility in order to expand participation from more ICCS members and to form alliances with other societies.

Interested in joining the Women in Cytometry Committee? Please download and complete the application. We kindly ask you to submit a short bio including your interest in the committee with your application to wic@cytometry.org.

Chair: Laura Wake

Vice-Chair: Ghada Shaheen

Members:

Dalia Salem
Heather Paich
Jonni Moore
Lana Gratch
Lindsay Hoffman
Megan Hessler
Michelle Machala
Melanie O'Donahue
Natalie Walker
Prabhjot Kaur
Somayyeh (Somi) Heidary
Sumi Kitahara

ICCS News