July 15, 2012
Kristine M. Garza, Ph.D, a 1991 graduate of St. Mary’s University, is now executive director of the Society for Advancement of Hispanics/Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS).
SACNAS is a national nonprofit with a 39-year history of fostering the success of Hispanic/Chicano and Native American scientists by encouraging them to attain advanced degrees, careers and positions of leadership in the scientific world and academia. The organization has more than 25,000 members, partners and affiliates and hosts nearly 70 college and university chapters.
Garza, an immunologist, holds a doctorate in microbiology from the University of Virginia. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Biology from St. Mary’s, where she also was a participant in the University’s Minority Access to Research Careers Undergraduate Student Training in Academic Research (MARC U*STAR), a federally funded program designed to guide talented minority students in the School of Science, Engineering and Technology into graduate research programs.
Before joining SACNAS as executive director in July 2012, Garza was an Associate Professor of Biology Sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso, where she also was director of the Border Biomedical Research Center. She previously was on the organization’s board of directors.