Past National Meetings 

104th ANNUAL NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Location: St. Louis University Medical Campus, St. Louis

Dates: June 19-21, 2025

Highlights of 2025 National GWIS Conference in St. Louis

• This year’s conference began with the Grand Chapter meeting with Past President Amanda Koeni and Current
  President Nafisa Jadavji, Vice President Brooke Long-Fox, Treasurer Anna Kowalkowski, Gina Moreno
  Executive Board Member, Carissa Philippi (St. Louis Chapter President and meeting host), and other chapter
  officers and GWIS members from Virginia, Oklahoma, and St. Louis were in person. The meeting ended with
  Brooke Long-Fox being inaugurated in person as the 2025-2026 President by Current President Nafisa.
  
• After the Grand Chapter Meeting, there were social and networking events including a brewery tour at
  Anheuser-Busch and a networking dinner at Urban Chestnut hosted by Bayer.
  
• At the scientific conference, attendees had the chance to hear excellent presentations of scholarly work during
  the research talks, flash talks, and the poster session from a range of scientific fields and topics, including novel
  infrared imaging technologies for object detection, age-related ovarian stiffness, music therapy for traumatic brain
  injury, adipose tissue biology and metabolic function, and the role of vitamin B12 deficiencies in stroke.
• There were also engaging panels on different career pathways, grant writing, and community engagement and 
  communication.
• We heard an inspiring keynote address from Cynthia Chapple discussing her work, including her challenges and
  successes, as the founder and managing irector of Black Girls Do STEM, a non-profit organization with the mission
  of enhancing curiosity through deliberate access to education and opportunities in science, engineering, and 
  mathematics. At the end of her talk, she left us with this call for self-reflection in our roles as scientists and leaders in
  the community, “As you leave this room today, don’t just ask what kind of scientist you want to be. But rather, If I am
  the hand that feeds, what am I feeding my community? What are you feeding your field of study, your colleagues,
  undergraduate students, professional societies, etc.".
• We ended the conference with a banquet and a poster awards ceremony at the St. Louis Science Center.
  

For a complete schedule and list of workshop facilitators and panelists, please visit our website here.

NATIONAL MEETINGS from 1979 to the present

Key: GC = Grand Chapter (and National Council); IM = interim National Council. The person presiding was usually but not always the National President.

[Black Book of Records, section 7, has meetings info from the very beginning.]