As a social scientist Dr. Gabby Xu surprised herself by finding (and loving) her job at Rutgers RWJ Medical School. A passionate leader for INSPIRE the NIH-funded IRACDA at Rutgers – a biomedical research and education training program, Gabby works at the intersection of scientific teaching and career development to promote diversity across the academic pipeline in biomedical research fields. Her leadership skills are particularly reflected in communicating successfully to build the INSPIRE community and alliance with campus collaborators at Rutgers, RWJ Medical School and at their three partner institutions in NJ and NYC. The strength of their alliance even led to them co-hosting the NIH-IRACDA national conference last summer, together with three other sister programs in the region.
Also, in her 7 years of volunteer leadership in the community, she served as the club president and now a board member of the Parents and Children Education (PCE) Club, which has for 19 years promoted EQ parenting for the social and emotional health of children and parents as well. Last year Gabby brought a much-valued sociological perspective into their shared learning, and cultivated many cross-function alliances with other national non-profits. In just one year, she led their organizational growth (from 138) to 280+ paid members, and (from 3,000) to 5,000+ affiliated families.
Gabby received her Ph.D. in cultural foundations of education from Syracuse University (2016). She has taught at Syracuse and Rutgers, and volunteered frequently in K-5 classrooms. She is most proud of her improvising and community-building, but (she thinks) she can sing and draw too.