Upcoming events

We invite you to a fun hour with short interviews showcasing everything we do at Dimensions Sciences. Our team will be live from all over the  globe, presenting very special guests who will give their personal take  on the impact we are making! Please come celebrate our first anniversary  with us!

 This event will be conducted in English - Simultaneous interpretation to Portuguese will be provided.    

 Join our speakers for this free webinar on diversity in science.

The  program will outline the problem in the US and Brazil of lack of diversity  and access the opportunities in science and education. It will showcase solutions and  best practices. It will address questions such as "Where are the models of success?" "What is the  societal benefit?"  It will showcase real life stories and studies on how diversity in sciences benefits society, health,  economy.  

Keynote Speaker: Ambassador Sally G. Cowal 

Sally is a thought leader in global health and international educational exchange. As a retired US diplomat, Sally has served in a variety of foreign service  positions. She served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Trinidad and  Tobago, appointed by former Presidents George H.W. Bush and William J.  Clinton as well as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western  Hemisphere Affairs. Sally retired as Senior Vice President, Global  Cancer Control, for the American Cancer Society. She has been a key  contributor to the public health and nonprofit arenas, having helped  found the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in  Switzerland.  Sally has also served as Board member at the Union for  International Cancer Control, and Fulbright. She is a graduate of DePauw  University and George Washington University, where she earned a  master’s in public administration. 

Guest Speakers:

Licy Do Canto EVP,  Managing Director, BCW 

 Accomplished, values-driven leader with  25+ years of experience at the national, state and local levels across  the nonprofit, philanthropic, corporate and government sectors, in  developing and leading integrated public affairs campaigns combining  strategic communications, political and legislative initiatives, policy,  coalition building, grassroots/grasstops and direct advocacy in  healthcare, social-economic justice, environment and early childhood.  From 2010-2019, Licy was leading the Do Canto Group. As President and  Founder, he led the full service public policy, public affairs and  communications firm, providing strategic counsel, policy acumen and  support across consumer, advocacy, public relations, corporate and  crisis for national nonprofits, foundations, government and Fortune 500  companies in a myriad of public policy areas. 

Duilia  DeMello Vice Provost Global Strategies Catholic University (CUA)

 Born in Brazil, Duilia is an Astronomer.  Prior to CUA, Duilia spent three years at the Onsala Space Observatory in Sweden as an Assistant Professor. Before going to Sweden she was a  post-doctoral fellow at Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore  from 1997-1999. She was also a post-doctoral fellow at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory in Chile and National Observatory in Rio, Brazil, from 1995-1997. She received a PhD at the University of São  Paulo in Brazil, and two Master's degrees, one from the University of  Alabama and one from the Institute of Space Research (INPE) in Brazil.  She received a Bachelors's degree in Astronomy from the Federal  University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). 

 Discussion panel will be conducted in English - Simultaneous interpretation to Portuguese will be provided.   

 Mark your calendars for Dimensions Sciences College Ambassador Program in the US (DS CAMPUS) inaugural event.
We are inviting you to meet our panelists, Drs. Jessica Wade, Richard  Mankin, and Maria Lopez-Bresnahan and learn how they are supporting  underrepresented individuals in their scientific communities.
Discussion panel will be conducted in English - Simultaneous interpretation to Portuguese will be provided. 

Join us for a dialogue with leaders of the Brazilian COVID-19 task force. We invited the Principal Investigators of the COVID-19 task force research laboratories contemplated with a Dimensions Sciences scholarship. They will talk about the potential impact of their research for the COVID-19 patients and the challenges they face in Brazil. This event will be moderated by our Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board Prof. Martha Godinho Ph.D.

Guest speakers:

Prof. Fernando Spilki PhD 

Full Professor at Feevale University, Novo Hamburgo, Brazil. President of the Brazilian Society for Virology. His research topics are focused on viruses causing relevant diseases.

Prof. Luiz Goulart PhD

Full Professor at Federal University of Uberlândia, Institute of Genetics and Biochemistry, Brazil. Adjunct Professor at University of California Davis, US. Co-authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications.

Prof. Marcos Oliveira PhD

 Full Professor at the Biosciences Institute, in Genetics and Molecular Biology at Sao Paulo State University. Participated on the genome project of Xylella fastidiosa.

Prof. Eurico Neto PhD MD

Full Professor of Virology, University of Sao Paulo School of Medicine in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. Physician specialist in Infectious diseases. Research in pathogenesis and transmission of respiratory viruses.

Prof. Nicolas Hoch PhD

Full Professor at the Department of Chemistry at University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Studies cellular mechanisms of DNA repair and DNA damage signaling.

  Discussion Panel with guest speakers

Maira Caleffi, MD, PhD, Founder and President FEMAMA and

Molly Daniels, President, Daniels Advocacy Group.

Find out about the impact of public policy in science and education. The speakers will give perspectives on the topic from the US and Brazil.

Speakers: 

Molly Daniels

Molly Daniels is a deft strategist, consensus builder, and inspirational leader with nearly three decades of experience training, organizing, and mobilizing grassroots campaigns.  

Molly’s leadership in the field includes serving as Chief Advocacy Officer of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), the nonprofit and nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society. While there, she led the launch, expansion, and transformation of its grassroots network into a nationwide movement of nearly one million advocates and over 500 highly trained and motivated volunteer leaders representing every US Congressional district. 

Prior to the Society and ACS CAN, Molly spent twelve years at AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) as the head of their national grassroots program. Earlier she ran the volunteer advocacy program for the Older Women’s League, as well as legislative campaigns for the Long Term Care Campaign. 

Dr Maria Caleffi MD, Ph.D. Founder and President FEMAMA

After graduating with degrees in pharmacy and medicine, Dr. Caleffi completed her residency in gynecology and obstetrics in 1983. Afterwards, she specialized in breast care at the Imperial Cancer Research, Guy’s Hospital of London. At the University of London, she earned her doctorate in cancer biochemistry. She then undertook postdoctoral studies in molecular biology in the field of genetics and breast cancer at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. She served as a Board member of the Union of International Cancer Control (UICC) from 2012 to 2018. Dr. Caleffi is the Chief of the Breast Center at Hospital Moinhos de Vento, Porto Alegre, Brazil and was the Chair of the Executive Committee of the City Cancer Challenge in Porto Alegre. She is the founder and President of the Federação Brasileira de Instituições Filantrópicas de Apoio à Saúde da Mama (Brazilian Federation of Philanthropic Institutions for the Breast Health Support, or FEMAMA). Presently, she develops academic, research, teaching and patient-care activities with a highly multi-professional team.

Prof. Marcio Alves Ferreira from University of Rio de Janeiro talks to Stevens Rehen, a Brazilian neuroscientist, specializing in stem cell research and to Fábio Gouveia,  a researcher at Fiocruz about the revitalization of science in Brazil.

• Stevens Rehen is a Brazilian neuroscientist specializing in stem cell research. Full professor at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences of UFRJ and researcher at the Instituto D'Or de Pesquisa e Ensino (IDOR). Member of the Latin American Academy of Sciences and Affiliate Member of the Academy of World Sciences in Development (TWAS). Stevens also works in Scientific Dissemination to the lay public. He is a Member of the Scientific Committee of the Museum of Tomorrow, Curator of Rio2C and Science Consultant in the program Conversa com Bial (TV Globo). He is scientific coordinator of ArtBio, a multidisciplinary project that aims to democratize science through the artistic perspective. He's a talk show host of Trip with science.

• Fábio Castro Gouveia is Ph.D. in Science (Education, Management and Diffusion in Biosciences) by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (2007). Works at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation at the Museum of Life. Works in the area of Science and Health Communication, with emphasis in Science Centers and Museums, Internet and Multimedia Development, Interaction Design, Webometrics and Altimetric.
   

This webinar will surely shed some light on the future of science in Brazil.   Mark your calendar!

Keynote speaker 

Paula helps us to understand and explore, among others, what are some  of: i) structural and socio-cultural factors limiting the female  empowerment; ii) unconscious biases, including those of women  themselves, based on prejudices, cultural beliefs and stereotypes, which  hinder the advancement of women in the professional and business world;  iii) techniques, elements and resources that can help (awareness,  emotional empowerment, support networks professionals, training,  negotiation skills, self-esteem and ‘leaning-in’).

Paula brings  over 12 years of experience in international development and comparative  analysis focusing on gender equality, women’s rights and empowerment,  and private sector development. Her work with the World Bank focuses on  promoting gender-informed policy making, improving the legal framework  protecting women from discrimination and gender-based violence, and  enhancing women’s economic opportunities. Paula has extensive experience  working in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa to implement change  through capacity-building, knowledge exchange and community driven  development. She is a guest lecturer at American University Washington  College of Law focusing on Gender, Law and Development and a member of  the George Washington University Gender Equality Initiative in  International Affairs (GEIA) Advisory Group, and has authored several  articles on gender equality, women's economic empowerment and protection  of women against discrimination and violence. Paula is a Brazilian  lawyer and holds a Master’s Degree (LL.M.) in International Law from  Georgetown University and a specialization in International Relations  from the University of Brasilia, Brazil. She is also a member of the  Brazilian Bar Association (OAB-DF), the International Bar Association,  the American Society for Comparative Law and the Association for Women  in International Trade.  

Speaker

 Claudia Mitchell Ph.D. MBA, VP Product and Portfolio Strategy Astellas

 Before Astellas, Claudia was the CEO and co-founder of Universal Cells  Inc. She previously co-founded Halo-Bio RNAi Therapeutics, a biotech  start-up company developing new RNAi molecules, and served as its Chief Scientific Officer from 2008 to 2011. Besides being a biotech  entrepreneur, Claudia has also held positions in the non-profit sector and in academia; she worked as the Program Director at the LGMD2I  Research Fund, a family non-profit foundation, and has held a tenured  Academic research position at the French National Institute of Medical  Research (INSERM). She received a Masters in Molecular Virology from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Paris and an Executive MBA from the Ecole des Ponts Business School, Paris, France.      

Q&A

1) Why was it harder to be a scientist in the US? Is it more competitive? Or because of your immigrant status although you are fluent in English?

The US is definitely more competitive than Brazil, but that was not the issue. I actually meant that it was harder to be a women scientist in the US compared to Brazil. There is certainly a glass ceiling for women in both Science and Biotech that I felt much more present in the US than in Brazil. I never felt that I was being treated differently professionally because I was a women while I was in Brazil; but in the US, there is certainly a difference and it is much harder to grow to leadership positions in the US than in Brazil when you are a women. For example, even if there have been more women entering PhD programs in life sciences for a few decades already, there are still many more men with tenure faculty positions. This phenomenon is also seen in the biopharma industry. I once surveyed all biopharma companies in the Seattle area and saw that there were less than 10% women in the CEO position.

On the other hand, being an immigrant in the US has never been an issue for me. I never felt discriminated in the US because of that.

2) Did you experience any professional culture shock in the US?

No, I adapted very quickly to the professional life in the US. It may have helped that I had done my PhD in France before moving to the US, as in my opinion, France is a “cultural mid-way“ between the US and Brazil for many things.

3) As a Brazilian, I understand that school and working is a privilege. How is that different abroad?

People certainly take things much more for granted in the US and France, in my opinion. In Brazil, we learn to appreciate what is made available to us and I think that made me more eager to take the opportunities that appeared in front of me than many other people who were born in those countries.

4) What was your main reason for moving from academia to the private sector?

I felt that Academia was too far removed from the reality of impacting people’s lives. The real trigger for me was when a friend of mine had a partial hepatectomy for the removal of a cancer that had metastasized into his liver and his liver was not regenerating. Despite the fact that I had been studying liver regeneration for nearly a decade and I had published nice papers about it, including in Nature Med and Nature Biotech, I couldn’t help find any practical solution to help him. That made me think that I wanted to be closer to finding solutions for patients and that’s when I decided to do an MBA and become an entrepreneur.

5) Did you ever receive a scholarship? If yes, how did it help your trajectory?

I received many scholarships during the early stages of my career and they were essential to my pursuit of a career in Science. Already when I was in my second semester at University, I received the “Scientific Initiation” scholarship. I then received a Masters’ scholarship while in Brazil, then a PhD stipend while in France, and then a couple of fellowships for my post-doc in the US. That is why I feel that the work of Dimension Sciences is so important, as without the support in the early stages of your career, it is nearly impossible to make it through as a scientist.

6) What would help a Brazilian woman scientist who is on an entrepreneurial path?

Believe in yourself! I really think that Brazilian women are stronger than most women I have met in the US or Europe. We have a lot of resilience, courage and grit. Use it to follow your dreams!

7) How did you get your first funding to start your company?

I fund raised $300,000 from my friends and family. Only one of my investors knew anything about the technology; everybody else invested in me, knowing that I would do everything I could to succeed. I ended up returning 30 times their money when my company got sold. One of the best moments of my life was making the phone calls to my investors to tell them that their investment in me had paid back very well! 

8) What do you wish you had known 20 years ago? What would you have told yourself then?

Listen to the advice of others and trust your intuition.