Biological Sciences Alumni Advisory Council (BSAAC)

The primary role of the Biological Sciences Alumni Advisory Council (BSAAC) is to act as a sounding board for the department leadership, offering advice and insight to the department head. As generous donors of their time, talent and resources, the committee members gather on campus every semester to meet and interact with our department leadership team, faculty and students. Current BSAAC initiatives include assisting to establish a Summer Research Internship Fellowship fund to provide support for undergraduate research stipends for Biology students working in research labs during a 10 week summer internship, with a goal of raising $25,000 for the 2017 summer program. 

Contact Jimmy Parker, Biology Director of Development (JAParker@prf.org), for further information about BSAAC or questions about becoming involved with BSAAC activities.

Meet the BSAAC

	Mark Effron, MD - BS 1974 Dr. Mark Effron received his MD degree from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine located in Baltimore, MD.  After completing Internships and Residency in Internal Medicine at Northwestern University and a Fellowship in Cardiovascular Diseases at Johns Hopkins and the NIH, he joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and served as Director of the Coronary Care Unit and Cardiovascular Research Laboratory at the Sinai Hospital of Baltimore.  He then entered the pharmaceutical industry where his research focused on the use of drugs affecting blood clotting.  He has recently joined the Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute, Ochsner Medical Center, New Orleans, LA. and is Associate Professor at the Ochsner Clinical School, University of Queensland (Australia) School of Medicine.
	Meg Frazer, MD - BS 1980 Dr. Margaret (Meg) Frazer is a Senior Director within the Cardiovascular and Metabolic team at Pfizer while also maintaining an active neurological practice in the Indianapolis area with JWM Neurology.  Dr. Frazer's professional interests include Alzheimer's disease, Multiple Sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases, clinical research, and patient disease state management.  She was the founding member of the Central Indiana Neuropathy Support Group and is on the board of directors of the Indiana MS Foundation as well as on the Medical Advisory Board of the Alzheimer’s Association.
	Herman Houin, MD - BS 1979 Dr. Houin completed a General Surgery Residency at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, MI and a Plastic Surgery Fellowship at Wayne State University. He has been a Plastic Surgeon practicing with the Henry Ford Health System in the Detroit Metropolitan area since 1989. Dr. Houin became a BSAAC member in January, 2008 and maintains interests in agriculture, a biogenetic startup company and flying his Cessna 182.
	Bruce K. Kidd, BS 1980 - BSAAC Chair Bruce Kidd is Senior Vice President of Walker Information (Indianapolis, IN), one of the nation's leading customer strategy consulting firms. Walker Information advises companies of all sizes on how to become intensely customer focused in their business strategies. Bruce's other experiences include working for the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and with Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels as the Director of Entrepreneurship for the state. He managed all programs designed to assist in the creation and/or growth of entrepreneurial companies in Indiana, including serving as the Managing Director of the 21st Century Fund.
	Reid Leonard, PhD 1985 Reid Leonard is Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Potenza Therapeutics, a biotech company discovering novel immunotherapies for cancer. Reid also serves as part-time Venture Partner at MPM Capital, a life-science venture capital firm in Cambridge, MA. Prior to joining Potenza, Dr. Leonard had a 25-year career with Merck & Co. that spanned basic and drug-discovery research, scientific search and evaluation, business development, and venture capital investing. A graduate of Brandeis University (B.A., biology & psychology) and Purdue University (Ph.D., neuroscience), Dr. Leonard completed his academic training as a postdoc at the California Institute of Technology.
	Lauren Mioton-Connor, MD - BS 2009              Dr. Lauren Mioton-Connor holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology (2009) from Purdue University.  She then continued to receive her Doctor of Medicine from Vanderbilt University.  She currently works at Northwestern Memorial Hospital as a Plastic Surgery Resident with career interests in microsurgery and breast reconstruction. During her time at Purdue, Dr. Mioton-Connor was the Team Captain of the Purdue Women’s Basketball Team, which she played on during her 4 years in West Lafayette.  She was also crowned Homecoming Queen during her senior year.  Upon graduation she was presented with the Flora Roberts Outstanding Senior Award.
	Jennifer Ruby, BS - 1992 Jennifer is Attorney-Owner at Ruby Law, counseling individuals and businesses on legal issues since 2005.  The same year, she founded Finances 101 for Young Professionals to provide basic financial and estate planning education.  For her entrepreneurial efforts, Jennifer has been awarded the Indiana Commission for Women’s Torchbearer Award, Junior Achievement’s Indy’s Best and Brightest, and Indianapolis Business Journal’s Forty under 40.  Prior to this, she gained extensive experience in state and local government.  Jennifer holds a Bachelor from Purdue University and a Master of Planning and Doctor of Jurisprudence from Indiana University.  Her credentials include an American Institute of Certified Planners designation, licenses to practice law in Indiana and New Mexico, and a civil mediator registration.
	Joe Ruhl, BS - 1977 Joe is an outstanding high school teacher. He has taught high school biology courses for 34 years and presently teaches Honors Biology, Genetics, and Science Research Projects courses at Lafayette Jefferson High School. Along with teaching high school students, Joe has presented in biology teacher training workshops in Human Genetics and Bioethics, Evolution, and Biology Teaching Methods. Throughout his teaching career he has been engaged in research and teaching projects with Purdue's College of Education, the Department of Biological Sciences, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Department of Animal Sciences, and the College of Veterinary Medicine.  In 2017 Joe was inducted into the prestigious National Teachers Hall of Fame.
	Belinda Seto, PhD - 1974 Dr. Seto is currently the Deputy Director of the National Eye Institute (NEI) at NIH. Prior to this appointment she was the Deputy Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). She has extensive experience in database management and analysis which led her to serve on the executive committee of the NIH Big Data to Knowledge initiative (BD2K) and its oversight body, the NIH Scientific Data Council. Dr. Seto is a lifelong advocate for women in biomedicine and in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).
	Jonathan Snyder, PhD                    Jonathan Snyder is a Research Scientist at Elanco, the animal health division of Eli Lilly and Company.  There, he leads the Virology Research Group where his team focuses on the research and development of novel vaccines designed to protect animals from a myriad of viral pathogens.  Jon received his BS in Biology at Purdue in 2005 and worked at Abbott Laboratories in the IVD Assay Technology Support Group until 2007.  He then returned to Purdue where he obtained his Ph.D. in 2012.  His work, in the laboratory of Richard Kuhn, focused on the assembly pathway of alphaviruses.  Following his Ph.D., Jon was a postdoctoral fellow at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN where he studied both the entry pathway of the Hepatitis B virus as well as the rational design of novel oncolytic viruses.