New members of the GSA Board of Directors: 2025–2027

We are pleased to announce the election of six new leaders to the GSA Board of Directors:

2025 Vice President/2026 President

Cassandra Extavour

Timken Professor of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology and of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Harvard University, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator

“Read this,” he said, “it will change your life.” My undergraduate research advisor handed me a copy of Sydney Brenner’s 1974 masterpiece that established Caenorhabditis elegans as a genetic laboratory model organism. The first scientific paper I ever read was published in GENETICS. Almost more fascinating to me than the 24 pages of worm genetics that I read and re-read that summer, was learning about the phenomenon of scientific publishing: it was incredible to me that one could so easily learn about the intricate details of the work of other scientists, by reading these papers. GENETICS instantly became my favorite journal—I looked forward to the release of each new issue so that I could read it cover to cover, and hoped I would one day do experiments that would be rigorous and insightful enough to be published in its pages.

Many years later, I had the opportunity to participate in the maintenance and growth of the organization that publishes that journal that changed my life—GSA. As a member of the Board of Directors from 2017 to 2020, I learned that the importance and impact of GSA extended beyond its journals and conferences, to include education, training, outreach, and advocacy across multiple career stages. As impressive as the talented and superbly efficient GSA Staff were the dozens of scientists who took time away from their own research programs and teaching duties, to volunteer with the Society to strengthen the field, nurture the next generation of scientists, and improve the awareness and lives of non-scientists through genetics research and education.

I am honored now to have the opportunity to help lead GSA as Vice President. The pursuit of scientific knowledge, the dissemination of accurate and accessible information about genetics, and the ability of people from all walks of life to participate in the scientific enterprise, are increasingly under threat in many regions of the country. I fear that inequities and inaccuracies in science education at all levels and shrinking budgets for our national research funding agencies make scientific careers less and less appealing to young people. These factors and more can also play a role in creating and deepening divisions even within communities of established scientists. I aim to help GSA contribute to strengthening the scientific community both by meeting the needs of those who have already chosen this career, and also by encouraging and welcoming students and early career scientists who are the future of research. Reading GENETICS was the beginning for me, but it won’t be the end—I look forward to helping GSA support the transformative effects that our field can have on science and society. 

Secretary

Maureen Barr

Distinguished Professor, Rutgers–The State University of New Jersey

I am thrilled to be elected to serve as Secretary on the GSA Board of Directors. I have a long-standing commitment to use genetically tractable systems to study processes relevant to human development, health, and disease. To me, GSA is home. As a graduate student, I discovered the power of model organisms, starting with studying cancer genes in budding and fission yeast. As a postdoc, I used “the worm” C. elegans to study genes that control behavior, which paved the way for studying the fundamental biology of cilia as a principal investigator. I have spent my entire independent career as a scientist, educator, and faculty member at state universities (University of Wisconsin-Madison and Rutgers University). 

I have served in scientific leadership roles locally, nationally, and internationally. For example, I co-organized the first two C. elegans neuroscience topic meetings at Madison-Wisconsin in 2006 and 2008. I served as WormBoard Vice President and President from 2020 to 2023. In 2024, I co-organized GSA’s The Allied Genetics Conference 2024, which brought together over 3,000 scientists from multiple international biological research communities. I loved working with Harmit Malik, the GSA Staff, the GSA Board, the TAGC 2024 organizing committee, and the eight participating communities (C. elegans, Drosophila, Mouse and Rat, PEQG—Population, Evolution, and Quantitative Genetics, Plant, Xenopus, Yeast, and Zebrafish). 

GSA and its members are remarkable. As Secretary, I will work with GSA to expand our membership to include new communities and to host exciting, innovative, and inclusive conferences. I am at a point in my career where I want to grow in my leadership and focus on scientific progress and advancement. I will help create opportunities for discovery- and curiosity-driven research and to communicate the importance of basic science, which has wide-ranging impacts on human health and our society. As Secretary, I will work with GSA to advance genetics and genetics/genomics-based research, and to expand genetics education and outreach.

I am devoted to the education and mentoring of undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral trainees and deeply committed to the mentoring, advancement, and promotion of junior faculty members (tenure track and research track) in my department, my university, and the scientific community at large. My greatest successes are those of my trainees and my colleagues. As Secretary, I will work with GSA to continue to foster and promote early career researchers and their professional development. My home university Rutgers-New Brunswick is one of the most ethnically diverse public universities in the United States, reflecting the population of New Jersey. As Secretary, I will work with GSA to prioritize equality, equity, and inclusion within our communities, our events, and our journals.

Director

Judith Yanowitz

Professor, Developmental Biology, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Where would the genetics community be if GSA ceased to exist? I have asked myself this question many times over the last month as I have deliberated running for the GSA Board of Directors. The Society is a central pillar of my scientific community. I deeply value the work they do to support our community through a vast range of professional development activities, from organizing our meetings, supporting publications of scholarly work, to providing funding for travel, community engagement, and educational activities. To champion and grow these myriad activities, I am honored to be elected to the GSA Board. 

I fell in love with chromosomes while reading Barbara McClintock’s seminal papers for journal club as a technician in New York City, but it was not until graduate school that I truly discovered my passion for genetics. Since then, the genetics community has been my scientific home.  Over the past five years, as a member of WormBoard and currently as its president, I have worked on multiple initiatives including the establishment of the Sydney Brenner Dissertation Thesis Award, diversifying participation in the organization of our meetings, supporting global worm community initiatives (WormBook, WormBase, international meetings, etc.), initiating efforts to build a pipeline of genetics researchers by recognizing undergraduate research especially from underrepresented communities, and building capacity to promote and advocate for greater societal investment in research. I have also held leadership roles at the Magee-Womens Research Institute (MWRI) serving for the last six years as MWRI Director of Research Education. In this role, I expanded our educational programs to engage local high school teachers and increased diverse participation in our summer programs. I also serve as a mentor in Springboard, a program for new faculty in Pitt health sciences, and recently became PI for our BIRCWH K grant program.

As part of the Board of Directors, I will prioritize several key issues to support the health and vitality of our organization. It is important to advance genetics research by promoting cross community interactions. I joined GSA as a graduate student in a fly lab and then moved into the worm community as a postdoc (and beyond), and found homes in both organism meetings and communities. Following GSA’s recent decision to not hold The Allied Genetics Conference again, we must seek new and innovative ways for our broader communities to continue interacting, thus supporting the cross pollination of ideas. As a Board member, I will work to create pathways that promote interactions both across established genetics communities and with communities that are currently underserved by major societies. I will also focus on ensuring GSA’s sustainability. For over a century, GENETICS has been home to some of the most rigorous and important science in our field–if elected, I will work hard to help the Society navigate the ever-changing publishing landscape while identifying creative ways for the journals to evolve and grow, driving the continued success of our publications and continuing to serve our constituents.

The field of genetics needs new and junior scientists and we must recruit from a broader swath of society. GSA has done an incredible job developing tools for professional development. I will work to expand the reach of our mentorship and training programs to a more diverse group of scientists and engage the international genetics community. I will also continue to support GSA’s work to create inclusive environments where we acknowledge our challenging histories with genetics research and how this may have disenfranchised minority communities.

It is my honor to serve on the GSA Board to help promote the promise and impact of genetics research for societal benefit. We must amplify the successes and vision of genetics research through civic engagement, critical to the expansion of research funding and to building greater societal trust in science, at a time when it’s greatly lacking. I look forward to serving our community and GSA.

Director

Jeff Sekelsky

Professor of Biology and Professor of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

I consider myself to be a strong proponent for GSA. I’ve been a member of the Society since I was a second-year graduate student in the lab of Bill Gelbart 35 years ago. In that time, I’ve gone to almost every Annual Drosophila Research Conference and to every TAGC, and I usually send all my students and postdocs. I recently stepped down after being on the GENETICS editorial board for 16 years, eight as associate editor and eight as senior editor for the Genome Integrity and Transmission section.

I realized early on that my most important jobs are mentoring and teaching. My lab has been the training site for 12 postdoctoral fellows, 17 former PhD students (three were co-mentored), four current PhD students (one is co-mentored), and more than 100 postbacs, undergraduates, and high school students. I’ve participated in mentorship training, including culturally aware mentoring. My mentoring advice is: “Every student is different and none of them are you.” I try to work with each trainee to determine what project is the best fit (even if it means making up a new one) and what mentorship style works best for them. I directed a large, interdepartmental PhD program in genetics for 12 years and for six years, participated in a study section that reviews T32 training grants, serving as chair during the final year. I was recognized with awards for mentoring and for directing the PhD program. The highlight of my career came a couple months ago when former trainees organized a 25th anniversary lab reunion (with awesome t-shirts).

I hope that my experiences help me provide valuable insights on issues related to training, publishing, and other topics of concern to GSA members.

Director

Heather Bennett

Assistant Professor of Biology, Trinity College

I am honored to be elected to serve on the GSA Board of Directors. 

I have been affiliated with GSA for nearly 13 years. My involvement began as a graduate student serving as a trainee representative in the GSA Education Committee. In this position, we discussed initiatives and strategies to make science education more accessible and engaging to younger students as well as opportunities to increase undergraduate student participation in national conferences. As a tenure track faculty member, I served as an inaugural member of the C.elegans Mentor Match Program organizing committee. This initiative looks to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Worm community by establishing mentoring relationships for graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and junior faculty with established research faculty and scientists at other institutions. In 2021, I was elected as the minority representative to WormBoard. Recently, I served on The Allied Genetics Conference 2024 PUI subcommittee, where I provided suggestions on workshops that would benefit PUI faculty research and facilitate undergraduate student engagement.

Collectively, I mention these experiences to emphasize my commitment and enthusiasm surrounding these topics, as well as highlight my ability to collaboratively work in groups both large and small to develop sustainable strategies to support scientists and educators. While on the GSA Board I will advance the overall mission of GSA, and focus on three areas including inclusion, advancing genetics research, and engagement and education.

I have mentored numerous students, many from underrepresented minority (URM) backgrounds. As an African American woman in science, I am fully aware of the challenges individuals may face when there is a lack of adequate representation and how this might influence the retention of our trainees. As a result, I have dedicated significant time toward learning more about inclusive teaching and mentoring practices, as well as how to foster inclusion in laboratory settings. In my role with the Board, I will work to listen and advocate for more programs that support and engage underrepresented groups both nationally and internationally. Continuing to advance genetics research by fostering opportunities for early career and established scientists is also key. I am committed to ensuring the work of scientists doing research in genetics is visible and to advocating for more funding opportunities to support this research. It is also essential that we continue to mentor the next generation of scientists, providing opportunities and guidance at each stage of their scientific career. 

Finally, for science to be impactful it must be shared. I will support the development of innovative resources that promote science literacy and initiatives that expand training and provide opportunities for scientists to engage with the public. I also believe it’s important to engage and collaborate within the field of genetics between the model organisms to foster community.

Director

Kirk Lohmueller

Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Human Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles

I am honored to have been elected to the GSA Board of Directors. I am excited to have this opportunity to help shape the future of this scientific society. My connection to GSA began as a graduate student, when I realized the journal GENETICS had published many of the groundbreaking papers in population genetics. I looked at GENETICS with a degree of reverence and still feel a sense of awe when my work is published in this esteemed journal. Since that time, I have contributed to both GENETICS and G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics as an author and reviewer. Another way that GSA has enhanced my own scientific growth is through its conferences. I have attended The Allied Genetics Conference and Population, Evolutionary, and Quantitative Genetics (PEQG) conferences over the years. As my own research focuses on understanding evolutionary processes in a myriad of model and non-model species across the tree of life, I am drawn to the fact that GSA encompasses many of the traditional model organisms as well as the more process-oriented community. The PEQG conference, in particular, is special in how it blends quantitative genetics and population genetics.

As part of the Board of Directors, I will work collaboratively with other Board members and Society members, really taking into account the community’s input, to maintain the excellence of the GSA Journals and GSA Conferences. Beyond their storied history, I believe both GENETICS and G3 continue to add tremendous value to our community. My first goal will be to maintain the constructive peer review and quality of papers, even in the changing publishing landscape. Second, I would like to increase connections between the model organism communities, while still enabling each to have its own scientific identity. With TAGC no longer meeting every four years, we will need other creative ways to enhance these connections, perhaps with smaller satellite meetings focused on particular topics of interest for several communities. Third, as GSA Conferences play a key role in training the next generation of scientists, I hope to increase the opportunities for early career researchers to present their work and gain visibility within their communities. 

I am grateful to be on the Board of Directors and am looking forward to contributing my time and experience to a scientific society that has been an integral part of my own scientific journey.