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The University of Kentucky community is celebrating Women’s History Month. Throughout March, UKNow will feature the women — past and present — on whose shoulders we stand and whose hard work has made our achievements possible. With a combination of fierce resolve and deep compassion, UK women have left indelible marks on our university. Join us as we highlight these #WomenOfUK.

A meeting in early 2010 sparked Dr. Ima Ebong's passion to advocate for greater minority representation in medical school — a passion that has propelled her to national recognition for her work.

UK researcher Sharon Walsh is among other nationally renowned experts who were recently named to the Addiction Policy Forum’s Scientific Advisory Board. The board is made up of experts in of medicine, psychiatry, addiction treatment, research, and public health who will provide strategic guidance and direction for important research and scientific programs. 

University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center researcher Daret St. Clair, Ph.D., has been named the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient from the Society for Redox Biology and Medicine (SfRBM). St. Clair received the award and gave a feature lecture at the SfRBM’s 25th Annual Conference in Chicago earlier this month.

The University of Kentucky Alumni Association — with a committee chaired by UK Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement G.T. Lineberry — regularly honors outstanding UK faculty members with the UK Alumni Professorship Award.

Barbara Nikolajczyk has always had a passion for scientific exploration and discovery. After losing her father to complications from type 2 diabetes, she decided to delve into research examining the connection between inflammation and the disease. 

Ten researchers from institutions across the U.S. have been selected to participate in the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Advocacy Training Program, a rigorous six-month program aiming to produce the next generation of science advocates. Among those chosen is Aria Byrd, a doctoral candidate in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and researcher in the Fillmore Brainson Lab. 

Difficulty in accessing culturally affirming and informed health care has long deterred members of the LGBTQ* community from seeking fundamental services and resources.

UK HealthCare has more than 155 physicians practicing medicine with University of Kentucky Albert B. Chandler Hospital, Kentucky Children's Hospital, UK Good Samaritan Hospital who appear on the Best Doctors in America List for 2019 — more than any other hospital in Kentucky. Only four percent of doctors in America earn this prestigious honor, decided by impartial peer review. 

From childhood excellence in art and math, Sally Ellingson has built a robust career in computational drug discovery.

Every four years, people around the world gather around the television and spend two weeks watching a lifetimes worth of work play out. For the hundreds of athletes that comprise Team USA, the result of their blood, sweat and tears makes us feel pride, in our country and in our fellow countrymen. While the athletes take center stage there’s a team of people in the shadows treating pain, nursing illnesses and in some cases consoling athletes.

The Markey Cancer Foundation invites you to take an active role in furthering life-changing cancer research at the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center through the Markey Women Strong program.

According to a paper recently published in Cell Reports, labs from Case Western Reserve and the University of Kentucky's Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC) were able to demonstrate the existence of a parallel neural network that could potentially restore diaphragm function after spinal cord injury.

This ghost network operates entirely separate from the brain, which has long been considered the only organ capable of directing respiratory function, and appears able to instruct the diaphragm to contract when properly activated. 

When Alex Helman began her search for a doctoral program that would allow her to further her knowledge of neuroscience and conduct research on Alzheimer’s disease, she was surprised to add the University of Kentucky to her list.

University of Kentucky's Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) program has not only supported faculty and researchers in their work, but also jump-started careers, aided in the publication of research and helped forge partnerships and mentorships across disciplines.

Dr. Jing Li has been named associate director of the University of Kentucky Center for Health Services Research and the new director of the Office of Value and Innovation in Healthcare Delivery (OVIHD). Li graduated from Tianjin Medical University and completed residency training in anesthesiology and subsequent clinical research training at its hospital.

Renay Scales, PhD, will serve as the Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion. She will begin her new position at the College of Medicine in late August. Currently the Director of Faculty Development and Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Pikeville - Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Scales serves as the institutional representative for the national Empathy Project and works in tandem with leadership to develop programs and teach culturally conscious practices.

UK Center on Drug and Alcohol Research director Sharon Walsh will deliver the honorary Marian W. Fischman Lectureship during the College on Drug Dependence Annual Conference, June 17-22 in Montreal, Canada. Memorializing the late research pioneer Marian Fischman, the lectureship is bestowed to a woman scientist who has created transformative change in the field of drug abuse research.

Katy Brewer, a doctoral student in the University of Kentucky Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, was chosen as one of 100 doctoral students in the United States and Canada to receive a $15,000 Scholar Award from the P.E.O. Sisterhood. She was sponsored by Chapter C of Lexington, Kentucky. Brewer was a National Merit Finalist and a Patterson Scholarship recipient and graduated summa cum laude from UK in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in biology. She is now pursuing a doctorate in Matthew Gentry's lab at UK.

This article originally appeared on UKNow: http://uknow.uky.edu/uk-healthcare/fuel-your-body-athlete