Panelist: Fact or Fiction? You Are What You Eat
Kimberly M. Jackson is chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, associate professor of biochemistry, and director of the Food Studies program at Spelman College. She serves as co-director of the LINCS Scholars program, a new living and learning community for STEM scholars, an initiative whose goal is to improve access to STEM research careers for women of color through professional and social networks and social justice empowerment.
A Fulbright Scholar, Jackson maintains robust and active research programs focused on novel therapeutic agents for advanced prostate cancer and the role of minority-serving institutions and women of color in diversifying the STEM pipeline. Each of her research programs has garnered a host of publications, presentations, and funding from multiple agencies.
Jackson has mentored more than 38 students, providing them with research experiences in cancer therapeutics and drug discovery. Twenty-two of her former research students have earned advanced degrees, including nine Ph.D. degrees with six Ph.D. candidates (all African-American women) in the STEM pipeline.
She serves on the advisory board for the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Public Affairs Committee, COACh for Women Scientists and Engineers, and the American Chemical Society Committee on Minority Affairs. For her commitment to STEM excellence, Jackson has been recognized as a Governor’s Teaching Fellow, and awarded the Spelman Presidential Awards for Excellence in Research, Teaching, and Mentoring. She is the first faculty member to receive all three awards. She has held a research fellow position at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, as well as a visiting faculty appointment at Harvard Medical School in Boston in the systems biology department.
Jackson received her undergraduate degree in chemistry from Alabama State University and the Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from Clark Atlanta University. To these, were added postdoctoral experiences at Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She is the mother of three and, the wife of a research chemist. Her eldest daughter is a junior at Spelman.