Harvard Bioinformatician Dr. Jean Fan joins LMI Scientific Advisory Board
Loving Mind Institute, Inc. a 501(c)3 national non-profit organization dedicated to advancing biomedical research and scientific initiatives in mental illness and addiction announces that Dr. Jean Fan has joined its Scientific Advisory Board. Jean, a post-doc at Harvard Medical School, has received numerous awards and distinctions in science and community engagement, including NIH and NSF research training grants. Her scientific specialty lies in single-cell analysis of heterogeneous tissue using multi-omics approaches.
“It is our humble honor that Dr. Fan joins the Loving Mind Institute Scientific Advisory Board. Her joining our SAB represents LMI’s commitment to attract the next generation of scientific thought leaders to consider the biomedical and societal challenges of mental illness and addiction,” says Marion J. Riggs, LMI Founder and Executive Director. Mental illness and addiction are highly prevalent and disabling with 44.7 million and 21.5 million Americans experiencing these disorders in any given year, respectively. Developing new bioinformatics models for understanding neuronal complexity is essential to progress in the field.
About Jean Fan, Ph.D.
Jean Fan, Ph.D., is currently an NCI F99/K00 post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Xiaowei Zhuang at Harvard University. She received her PhD in Bioinformatics and Integrative Genomics at Harvard Medical School under the mentorship of Dr. Peter Kharchenko at the Department of Biomedical Informatics and in close collaboration with Dr. Catherine Wu at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Jean’s research interests center around developing computational methods for identifying and characterizing heterogeneity at the single cell level, particularly in the context of cancer, using multi-omics approaches. She earned her Bachelors of Science in Biomedical Engineering and Applied Mathematics at Johns Hopkins University, Whiting School of Engineering. She has been the recipient of multiple research training grants, NIH NCI F99/K00 F99CA222750- Statistical Methods for Characterizing Tumor Heterogeneity at the Single Cell Level, NIH NCI F31 F31CA206236- Computational Analysis of Subclonal Evolution in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, and NSF GRFP DGE144152. Along with her scientific contributions she has demonstrated strong community values through her advocacy and outreach initiatives, including being an Anita Borg Pass-It-On Award Winner, BU GWISE Advocate of the Year, and NSF MRS Outreach Award Recipient. Jean is Founder and Director of 501(c)3 non-profit CuSTEMized, which engages, encourages, and empowers young girls in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) by providing them with tangible products and educational experiences that foster a positive scientific identity from a young age. Jean has been an excellent mentor to students and girls through her positions and involvement as co-chair for Harvard Graduate Women in Science and Engineering, a mentor-scientist for 2nd grade girls at the Science Club for Girls, and undergraduates at Harvard College in the Women in Science at Harvard-Radcliffe.
About the Loving Mind Institute
The Loving Mind Institute (LMI), Inc. is a 501(c)3 national non-profit organization dedicated to advancing biomedical research and scientific initiatives in mental illness and addiction. Mental illness and addiction are devastating to patients, friends, family, and to society as a whole. The numbers are staggering. 1 in 6 American adults (44.7 million) live with a form mental illness from mild to severe, and 10.4 million suffer from a severe form of mental illness. In 2014, approximately 21.5 million people aged 12 and older had a substance use disorder in the past year. To address this public health crisis, LMI coordinates scientific and educational campaigns aimed at improving medical and therapeutic outcomes for affected populations. Towards this aim, LMI will fund biomedical research and other targeted scientific initiatives that fundamentally improve our knowledge and treatment of these conditions. As part of our scientific initiatives outreach, LMI utilizes print, social media, and digital tools to translate scientific progress and treatment information to the community.