Current Standing Committees
BGSA Committees are an opportunity for students to get involved in special projects within the organization
Deepa Suryanarayan
Diversity and Inclusion Committee
Co-chairs: Deepa Suryanarayan and Emmy Brown
Contact: des274@pitt.edu; eeb74@pitt.edu
Description of the committee:
The Diversity and Inclusion committee is responsible for developing programs for Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) initiatives for the BGSA, serving as a liaison with the School of Medicine Office of Diversity Programs, and promoting BGSA D&I initiatives during interview and recruitment cycles for SOM graduate programs.
Emmy Brown
Lauren cooke
buddy program
Chair: Lauren Cooke
Contact: lac349@pitt.edu
Description of committee:
The Buddy Program is responsible for facilitating interactions between incoming students and established graduate students. BGSA student volunteers act as an informal peer resource for small groups of first year students. These mentors check in with the incoming students throughout their first year, answering questions about living in Pittsburgh, passing along university resources, discussing rotations and courses, and encouraging attendance at BGSA and other university-run events. The chair coordinates additional program-wide events designed to give first year students advice about their time in graduate school or introduce them to activities around the city of Pittsburgh. If you are interested in serving as a mentor in this program, applications for volunteers are available each spring. Check your email for more information or reach out to the current buddy program chair.
Jossette Quezada
Newsletter Committee
Chair: Jossette Quezada
Contact: jdq2@pitt.edu
Description of committee:
The Newsletter Committee is responsible for creating the bi-monthly BGSA Newsletter. You do not have to be an active member of the BGSA to serve on the committee. In each newsletter, we highlight the achievements of a student nominated by their peers and mentors and allow them to use the platform to explain their research and experiences while bolstering their science writing and communication skills. We also spotlight an alumnus from the School of Medicine Graduate Programs. This is a great opportunity to learn of various career paths that are available to students after graduating and to begin networking with alumni. Finally, we also recognize those that have won monthly travel awards to attend conferences outside of Pittsburgh.
Salma O. El-Mossier
Mental Health Liaison
Chair: Salma O. El-Mossier
Contact: soe33@pitt.edu
Description of committee:
The Mental Health Liasion will be formally trained in University Counseling Center (UCC) policies and procedures, active listening, training to help point students to crisis resources, and self-care. It is aimed to help better the mental health literacy in the BGSA. This will also allow the liaison to provide feedback for the BGSA to the UCC and administration to make meaningful change by attending a monthly meeting with the UCC to provide updates. We also offer mental health activities per semester.
Josh Holloway
Community Outreach Committee
Chair: Josh Holloway
Contact: jth95@pitt.edu
Description of committee:
The Community Outreach Committee aims to provide programming to graduate students that promotes community engagement and outreach within the greater Pittsburgh area. The committee will development and organize BGSA Sponsored outreach events and build and maintain partnerships with local community organizations to generate leads for outreach opportunities. The four main goals of the Community Outreach Committee are to: (1) promote careers in STEM, (2) dispel misconceptions about research and educate on the scientific methods (3) engage in volunteering opportunities with patient serving groups connected to graduate student research and (4) lift up the Pittsburgh community.