Professors Jonathan Eisen and Veronica Martínez-Cerdeño were awarded the 2019 ADVANCE Scholar Award for their work to improve gender equity in STEM through their teaching, research and service in addition to encouraging research, leadership, and outreach to underserved communities and/or mentorship of underrepresented students.

The ADVANCE Scholar Awards highlight and celebrate the contributions that STEM faculty at UC Davis have made to their fields through outstanding scholarship and mentorship.

Veronica Martínez-Cerdeño

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine

Verónica Martínez-Cerdeño, is an Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at UC Davis School of Medicine and Faculty at the Institute of Pediatric Regenerative Medicine, the Shriners Hospital for Children of Northern California, and the MIND Institute. She is a CAMPOS Scholar who was selected for her leadership potential to impact their STEM discipline in profound and enduring ways. She has published more than 70 peer-reviewed articles and participated in seven books. She has been and is Primary Investigator (PI) for multiple NIH (R01s) and other grants and is a member of the NIH Neurogenesis and Cell Fate Study Section. She is external adviser for the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine. She is the Director of the UC Davis Fragile X/FXTAS brain repository, and the Founder and Director for CENE -Banco hispano-americano de cerebros de enfermedades del neurodesarrollo - The Hispano-American Brain Bank for Neurodevelopmental Diseases- the first brain bank for neurodevelopmental conditions in Latino-America, with nodes in California, México, Colombia, and Puerto Rico. She is also the Founder and CEO of The Ventricular Foundation, a non-profit organization that teaches about the benefit of outreach activities and science, to students of all ages, the scientific community, and the public in general, with emphasis in underrepresented students. She is the co-Founder and Scientific director of LUNAS (Latinos Unidos Navegando el Autismo y Servicios) project, a multimedia community approach to empower multilanguage parents to educate, navigate, and be successful at obtaining all the services available to their children affected by autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in California. 

Jonathan A. Eisen 

Evolution and Ecology, College of Biological Sciences; Medical Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine

Jonathan Eisen is a Professor at the University of California, Davis with appointments in the Genome Center, the Departments of Evolution and Ecology and Medical Microbiology and Immunology. His research focuses on the evolution, ecology, and function of microbes and their communities and how microbes interact with each other and with hosts. Most of his work involves using DNA sequencing to characterize microbes and the use and development of computational methods to analyze sequence data. Dr. Eisen is also involved in many science communication and STEM Diversity activities and is an active & award winning blogger and microblogger. Dr. Eisen was  elected to the American Academy of Microbiology in 2012. He has made outstanding contributions to broadening participation by women and underrepresented minorities in STEM fields. Diversity is one of the top priorities for every aspect of his work, teaching, service, and research, and he is committed to making diversity an ever-larger aspect of his portfolio.  Prior to UC Davis Dr. Eisen worked at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), Johns Hopkins University, Stanford University (PhD in 1998), and Harvard College (AB in 1990).