Meet the Presenters

Brandi Hudson (she/her)

Remix Therapeutics

Computer-aided drug design of Lirafugratinib, a highly selective, covalent small molecule inhibitor of FGFR2 

Brandi Hudson is a Principal Scientist in Computational Chemistry, utilizing in silico modeling and structure-based drug design to discover therapies for cancer and rare diseases. She spent two years at Remix Therapeutics, applying a model-first approach to hit validation, fragment X-ray screening, and lead optimization across RNA-targeting programs. Prior to that, she spent five years at Relay Therapeutics, where she contributed to the discovery of Lirafugratinib (RLY-4008), a highly selective FGFR2 inhibitor now in the global ReFocus trial with FDA breakthrough therapy and orphan drug designations. Beyond her scientific contributions, Brandi is passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion. In January 2020, she launched Relay’s Diversity, Equity, Belonging, & Inclusion (DEBI) initiatives, leading efforts for over three years and overseeing the creation of two employee resource groups, company-wide DEI training, inclusive meeting practices, and year-round diversity celebrations. Her impact earned her a place on Google Ventures’ Impact List in 2021. Brandi completed postdoctoral training in structural biology at UCSF (2018), earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry from UC Davis (2016), and received a B.S. in Chemistry from the College of Charleston (2011). Between college and graduate school, she worked as a chemist at o2si, a chemical standards company and as an adjunct organic chemistry lab instructor at Trident Technical College.

Courtney C. Roberts (she/her)

University of Minnesota

Solving Challenges in Benzyne Chemistry

Prof. Courtney C. Roberts (she/her) obtained her B.S. in chemistry from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, CA. She then pursued her graduate studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, becoming the first graduate student in the laboratory of Prof. Simon Meek. During graduate school, Courtney developed rhodium olefin hydrofunctionalization catalysts using a new class of ligands called carbodicarbenes. After completing her Ph.D. in 2016, Courtney became a postdoctoral research fellow in the laboratory of Prof. Melanie Sanford at the University of Michigan where she explored C–H functionalization reactions using high valent Ni. Courtney began her career as an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota in the Fall of 2019. The Roberts group focuses on the development of d0 metal catalysts for alkyl–alkyl cross coupling as well as harnessing heterocyclic aryne intermediates for medicinally relevant building blocks and new methods in photoredox catalysis. While at UMN, she has been the recipient of the Amgen Young Investigator Award, the Sloan Research Fellowship, the NSF CAREER Award, the NIH Maximizing Investigators Research Award, the 3M-Alumni Professorship, and the McKnight Land-Grant Professorship.

Renã A. S. Robinson (she/her)

Vanderbilt University

Pushing the Limits of Quantitative Proteomics to Advance Alzheimer’s Disease Research

Professor of Chemistry at Vanderbilt University and inaugural Dorothy J. Wingfield Phillips Chair, received her B.S. in Chemistry with concentration in Business from the University of Louisville and Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Indiana University under the mentorship of Professor David Clemmer. She developed proteomics methods to study aging in Drosophila (fruit flies) and continued working in aging as a Lyman T. Johnson Postdoctoral Fellow with Professor D. Allan Butterfield at the University of Kentucky. During this fellowship she began to focus on neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and received a UNCF/Merck Postdoctoral Fellowship. 

In 2009 she accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh and in 2017 moved to Vanderbilt University as Associate Professor of Chemistry and the Dorothy J. Wingfield Phillips Chancellor’s Faculty Fellow. Renã is currently a Professor of Chemistry, Principal Investigator of RASR Laboratory, Faculty Head of House of Murray House, and actively supports the Vanderbilt Memory & Alzheimer’s Center, the Vanderbilt Institute for Chemical Biology and the Vanderbilt Brain Institute. She has a nationally and internationally recognized research program and is a leader in the field of proteomics for her work in aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and applications relevant to human health. Her laboratory is especially focused on advancing proteomics and lipidomics technologies to promote health equity in Alzheimer’s disease. Renã serves as the Immediate Past President of NOBCChE (National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers) where she was the 14th President from 2021- 2023 and led the organization through tremendous growth in membership, programming, funding, and overall outreach of URMs in STEM. She is currently the faculty advisor for the Nashville Student and Professional Chapter of NOBCChE, Co-Director for the Faculty ACCESS Program, and Board Member-at-Large for the US Human Proteome Organization. 

Alison Narayan (she/her)

University of Michigan

Alison Narayan's main research interest is identifying enzymes from secondary metabolite pathways with potential synthetic utility and developing methods based on these biocatalysts to enable access to biologically active target molecules.

Narayan holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. She completed her undergraduate studies in chemistry at the University of Michigan, where she later returned as a postdoctoral research fellow in the lab of LSI faculty member David Sherman.

She joined the Life Sciences Institute faculty as an assistant professor in 2015. Alison has been recognized by numerous honors and awards, including being named as an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow (2019) and awarded the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Awards in 2022.

Brian Loy (he/him)

Corteva Agriscience

A New Class of Crop Protection Chemistry Inspired by a Natural Product

Brian has been with Corteva Agriscience since 2013, where he has made significant contributions to the discovery and advancement of pipeline fungicide projects including Adavelt and Haviza, two new compounds from the picolinamide chemistry inspired by the natural product, UK-2A. Brian currently leads a staged fungicide project, where he coordinates project activities across R&D including chemistry, biology, field sciences, formulations, process chemistry, and regulatory sciences. Since January 2021, he has held several people leader roles, and he currently is the Fungicide Discovery Chemistry Leader. Brian has held other roles such as co-leader of the summer R&D internship program (2015-2018) and Indianapolis chair of the Professional Learning Acceleration Network (2018-2019), providing development opportunities to Corteva’s early career employee population.

Prior to joining Corteva Agriscience, Brian obtained his PhD in Chemistry from Stanford University in 2013 where he conducted research in the Wender lab on the total synthesis of bryostatin 1 analogs targeting novel therapies for cancer and HIV/AIDS.

Outside of his professional endeavors, Brian enjoys spending his free time traveling, gardening, and staying active in the pool as a member of the Indianapolis Aquatic Masters swim club.

De'Shovon Shenault (she/her)

Kraft Heinz

Get Your Money Right

In the Summer of 2023, De’Shovon M. Shenault-Smith received her Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Purdue University with a focus in Lipidomics. In her research, she developed mass spectrometry methods that utilize chemical systems, like the gas-phase ion/ion reaction to structural elucidation and characterize lipid components found in biological matrices. During her graduate career, Dr. Shenault-Smith authored and co-authored 6 high impact publications in lipidomic journals while presenting at various national and international conferences. In Dr. Shenault-Smith's earlier undergraduate career, she holds a dual BS degree in both Environmental Chemistry and Chemistry from Illinois State University and Chicago State University, respectively.

Growing up on the Southside of Chicago with the limited science and higher education preparation offered in her neighborhood, Dr. Shenault-Smith had the invaluable experience of having a mentor by the name of Valerie Goss who opened her eyes to the world of chemistry. Understanding the importance of having a mentor, Dr. Shenault-Smith  started several mentoring programs in Chicago during her college experience. After beginning her graduate studies in Indiana, she co-partnered with Tippecanoe County epidemiologist Pauline Shen and Dr. Temitope Adeoye Olenloa as  the Site-Director and mentor in the Heads Up Tutoring & Life Skills Program (Heads Up). Heads Up is an afterschool program offering academic and mentoring support to local youth living in public housing. Combining her love for science, teens, and food, she helped build community gardens and taught cooking classes to families to promote nutrition and healthy eating. Upon graduation in 2022, Dr. Shenault-Smith accepted a position as a Separation Scientist in the Analytical Department in  Kraft Heinz where she explored her love for food and science. As an Analytical Chemist, Dr. Shenault-Smith works on understanding, sustaining and developing new technology for characterizing ingredients in Kraft and Heinz products.  

Cristina Y. Zamora (she/her)

Sanofi

Lessons in being incurably curious!

Dr. Cristina Y. Zamora is the Director of R&D Workforce Engagement at Sanofi, specializing in digital innovation and internal scientific exchange. Dr. Zamora earned her PhD in Organic Chemistry from Tufts University and completed a fruitful Postdoctoral Fellowship at MIT in the lab of Prof. Barbara Imperiali, where she patented technologies to improve analytical work in the fields of glycobiology and chemical biology.

At Sanofi, Dr. Zamora has held various roles, including Protein Engineer in early discovery, scientific consultant, transversal project lead, and leader in sophisticated AI tools to streamline scientific workflows across drug development. She is a strong advocate for gender equality and inclusivity at all levels and a mentor to early-career professionals in STEM. Dr. Zamora was recognized by the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association in 2022 with the Rising Star Award and currently serves on the Steering Committee for the landmark Howard University-Sanofi PharmD Fellowship Program.