Leadership

Shreya Desai
President
shreyadesai@wayne.edu

Shreya is currently an undergraduate student at Wayne State University, working toward a major in neuroscience and a minor in psychology. Shreya was one of the cofounders of SciPol-Detroit and is is interested in pursuing a career in medicine.

Katherine Dwyer
Vice President
fa3735@wayne.edu

Katie is currently a dual-graduate student working towards her Ph.D. in Biological Sciences and M.B.A. She enjoys engaging in scientific outreach and eventually would like to inform and affect policy within the science-policy interface.

Daed Daher
Secretary
gn8514@wayne.edu

Daed is currently an undergraduate premedical student at Wayne State University, working toward a degree in Environmental Science. She advocates for ecological remediation as she believes the climate crisis is a huge factor to our health complications.

Lana Grasser, PhD
NSPN Liaison
lgrasser@med.wayne.edu

Lana Ruvolo Grasser (she/her/hers) recently obtained her PhD in Translational Neuroscience from Wayne State University. Under the mentorship of Drs. Arash Javanbakht and Tanja Jovanovic, her NIMH-funded dissertation project, “Biomarkers of Risk and Resilience to Trauma in Syrian Refugee Youth”, identified skin conductance response to trauma interview and fear potentiated startle as candidate biomarkers of trauma-related psychopathology in youth exposed to civilian war trauma and forced migration. Dr. Grasser has extended this work to query efficacy and underlying mechanisms of creative arts and movement therapies to address trauma-related psychopathology in families resettled as refugees of Syria, Iraq, the Congo, and Afghanistan. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led efforts to expand these programs to the virtual space, to reach schoolchildren in the Pontiac and Waterford school districts. She is also passionate about science policy and advocacy, and is a member of the National Science Policy Network as well as the local branch SciPol Detroit. In the fall, Dr. Grasser will begin a postdoctoral fellowship within the Emotion and Development Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health. Outside of the lab, Lana enjoys scuba diving with her dad, being a triathlete, and practicing yoga.

Advisors

Hilary Marusak, PhD
Advisor
hmarusak@med.wayne.edu

Dr. Marusak is an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at Wayne State University. She directs the WSU THINK lab, which focuses on the impact of stress and trauma on brain development in children and adolescents, and childhood anxiety disorders and PTSD.

Stacie Clayton, MBA
Advisor
stacie.clayton@wayne.edu

Stacie is the Director of Community Affairs for Wayne State University. In this role she serves as the primary contact for individuals, business, community organizations, and local municipalities that seek involvement with the University. Stacie promotes the urban mission of the University by strengthening, developing and sustaining mutually beneficial partnerships with stakeholders throughout the metropolitan Detroit area. This includes strategically extending Wayne State’s resources to the community so that Wayne State continues to have a significant impact on the cultural, economic and social life of southeastern Michigan. Stacie also works directly with the University’s leadership, schools and colleges to advance their work internally and externally.

Carrie Leach, PhD
Advisor
carrieleach@wayne.edu

Dr. Leach is an Assistant Professor (Research) at the Institute of Gerontology and Community Engagement Program Manager at the Center for Urban Responses to Environmental Stressors (CURES) at Wayne State University. Dr. Leach has considerable experience in inter-disciplinary research in a variety of settings with expertise in health communication, environmental health literacy, and community-based and aging services delivery and communication.

Elizabeth Kutter
Advisor

Elizabeth is the Senior Director of Government and Political Affairs at the Michigan Health and Hospital Association. She brings experience from both the public and private sector having served as a government affairs manager for Henry Ford Health System most recently and previously for the Michigan House of Representatives as Associate Legal Counsel and Policy Advisor to the Republican Caucus.

James Williams
Advisor

James is the Director of Federal Affairs for the Wayne State University Office of Government and Community Affairs. In his more than 20 years in Washington, DC, James has worked with six members of Congress, and has extensive experience addressing issues affecting Michigan. He has an broad list of legislative achievements, including playing a valuable role in helping to get two reauthorizations of the Higher Education Act signed into law; serving as one of principal individuals who drafted certain language in the Civil Rights Act of 1991; and helping to secure more than $700 million in appropriations funding earmarked for academic, defense, health care and transportation needs of the state of Michigan.

Rochelle Chapman
Advisor

Rochelle is the Community Engagement Coordinator for the Center for Urban Responses to Environmental Stressors (CURES). Her role is to create bi-directional relationships with community members. To educate and disseminate research in a relatable way to the community.She was added to the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Team weekly engagement meetings. For the past 19 years she has been involved in grassroots organizing and community outreach which includes free resources (food, clothing, school supplies, etc.) for residents.

CURRENT MEMBERS

Ava Palopoli
Lana Ruvolo Grasser
Lyndsey Braman
Alisa Kishta
Clara Zundel
Edlira Sako
Hilary Marusak
Daed Daher
Ayia Almufti
Savanah Rayyan
Colleen Linn
Julia Evanski
Shreya Desai
Jennifer Oprisiu
Alicia Arkwright
Dalia Daher
Alixandria Trombley

Shelley Paulisin
Jack Schroeder
Prince Iroanya
Emma Fidler
Amanpreet Bhogal
Mackenzie Connell
Nicole Gadon
Alixandria Trombley
Maggie Sneideman
Brenna Friday
Christine Rabinak
Justin Hayes
Jaelen Mayberry
Victoria Kelly
Lisa Todd
Quinten Beggs

BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP

Membership is $25/year, which includes a free SciPol-Detroit t-shirt and benefits listed below. Membership dues are paid on Venmo to scipoldetroit@wayne.edu.

We are also selling SciPol-Detroit stickers and sweatshirts to raise money for a science-advocacy trip to Capitol Hill. Click here to access our order form.

BECOME A MEMBER

PARTICIPATE IN LANSING & DC TRIPS, SMALL GROUP LAWMAKER MEETINGS

PRIORITY ACCESS TO EVENTS, NETWORKING, CAREER DEVELOPMENT, & LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

NAME LISTED ON WEBSITE & FREE T-SHIRT!

THANK YOU

We are very grateful for the generous support of:

Wayne State University Office of Government and Community Affairs

Wayne State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Wayne State University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences

Research!America Microgrant

Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) Science for Public Good Fund

Leadership

Shreya Desai President shreyadesai@wayne.edu

Katherine Dwyer Vice President fa3735@wayne.edu

Daed Daher Secretary gn8514@wayne.edu

Lana Grasser, PhD NSPN Liaison lgrasser@med.wayne.edu