Linda J. Sealy, Ph.D.
Director, Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity
Associate Dean, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Associate Professor, Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
Associate Professor, Cell and Developmental Biology
- : linda.sealy@vanderbilt.edu
- : 615-322-3224
- :
727A Light Hall
- :
U1205 MRBIII
Dr. Sealy has been actively involved in addressing the disparities in Ph.D. degrees in biomedical sciences awarded to underrepresented minorities for over 20 years. As a biomedical researcher, she has had a long standing interest in Cancer Biology and Ras signaling, dating back to when she first characterized the ErbB oncogene as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Nobel laureate, Mike Bishop. Her laboratory at Vanderbilt focused on the study of transcription factors, particularly C/EBPbeta and its role in controlling senescence or growth and metastasis of breast cancer cells. Through her own students, including both African American and Hispanic women who obtained their Ph.Ds with Dr. Sealy, she learned first hand of the difficulties URM students face in preparing for and persevering toward a Ph.D. degree. Dr. Sealy has been part of the IMSD program since its inception at Vanderbilt as a postbac program in 2000. In 2007, when the Vanderbilt IMSD program transitioned to a graduate program, Dr. Sealy served as co-director and most recently, director. Over the past dozen years through the IMSD program and her own research lab, she has taught and/or mentored nearly 100 URM students at all phases of their pre-graduate/graduate training. She is particularly proud of the effort began in 2007 to transform graduate admissions from a numbers-based process to a holistic one. Under her guidance the IMSD program at Vanderbilt has become multi-faceted, offering offering academic support, leadership training, career development, and extensive, careful mentoring at all stages.