Our Committment
The Center for Cell and Gene Therapy is committed to promoting a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion for our students, staff, and center faculty members. We are providing a professional, accepting environment to work irrespective of race, gender identity, age, ethnicity, ability, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or political affiliation. We seek to make all have a sense of belonging by providing this environment, as well as providing continued education in diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
Our Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Rayne Rouce leads efforts to increase diversity in our workforce, educate our center members and engage within our catchment area community. In these efforts we liaise closely with Baylor’s Office of Community Engagement & Health Equity where Dr. Rouce serves as associate director for Community Engagement.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Leadership
Rayne Rouce, M.D.
Associate Professor, Pediatrics - Oncology
Chief Diversity Officer
Valentina Hoyos, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Center for Cell and Gene Therapy
Co-Director, Summer Student Program
Kathryn McKenna, Ph.D.
Instructor, Center for Cell and Gene Therapy
Co-Director Summer Student Program
Katherine King, M.D. Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Pediatrics-Infectious Disease
Liaison with M.D. Ph.D. Program
Inclusion and Equity Ambassadors
Gabriela Llaurador
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics - Hematology Oncology
Inclusion and Equity Ambassador
Administrative Coordinator, Center for Cell Gene Therapy
Inclusion and Equity Ambassador
Birju Mehta, M.S.
Research Associate, Center for Cell Gene Therapy
Inclusion and Equity Ambassador
DEI Task Force and Council
The Center for Cell Gene Therapy collaborates with the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center in their task force established to promote equity and inclusion in clinical research. The task force led by Dr. Rayne Rouce Rouce and also includes: Drs. Helen Heslop, Laquisa Hill and Valentina Hoyos.
Many Center for Cell Gene Therapy members also serve on the Cancer Center Diversity Council.
Diversity in Research and Education
The Center for Cell and Gene Therapy offers a Summer Research Internship Program which provides students with hands-on laboratory experience by participating in ongoing research efforts conducted at the center. This program enrolls students with various academic backgrounds including undergraduates, pre-med and medical students.
In this intensive ten-week program, participants are paired with an experienced scientific mentor (graduate student or postdoctoral fellow) and are assigned a research project. Summer students attend an immunology course, run by the center graduate students and fellows, which is designed to teach the basics of immunology and to introduce them to translational immunotherapy research being conducted at the center.
- Our program recruits many diverse participants from a variety of ethnicities and backgrounds - with a nearly equal distribution of males (44 percent) and females (56 percent) in the program.
- The majority of past participants have gone on to a range of graduate programs making up 41 percent of our program alum entering: medical school (29 percent), Ph.D. programs (7 percent), and master's programs (5 percent).
