Dr. Ana Maria Porras, assistant professor at the J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Florida, will accept the 2024 Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Diversity Lecture Award on behalf of LatinXinBME, an organization she co-founded in 2019 with Dr. Brian Aguado. This award recognizes individuals or organizations that have made significant contributions to improving gender and racial diversity in the field of biomedical engineering.

Porras and Aguado will deliver a lecture titled “Building a Virtual Community to Support and Celebrate the Success of Latinx Biomedical Engineers” on Thursday, Oct. 24, during the BMES annual meeting. The award highlights LatinXinBME’s efforts to champion diversity and foster inclusion of Latino/a/e biomedical engineers in both academia and industry. The lecture will focus on the strategies employed by LatinXinBME to build community, support the professional and personal development of its members, and increase the representation of Latino/a/es at all levels of the biomedical engineering profession.

Porras leads the Tissue-Microbe Interactions Lab, which focuses on engineering in vitro models of disease to study human-microbe interactions. Her research explores how microbes interact with the human extracellular matrix in the contexts of the microbiome, global health, and infectious diseases. In addition to her scientific achievements, Porras is known for her inclusive multilingual science communication and science artwork.

“I am deeply honored to accept the BMES Diversity Lecture Award,” said Porras. “As a Latina in biomedical engineering, I have experienced firsthand the importance of representation and community. My goal is to continue building spaces where Latinx engineers and scientists feel supported and celebrated, and we hope that our work at LatinXinBME encourages others to take action in fostering diversity and inclusion in our field.”

Porras is also a leading advocate in the United States and abroad for the inclusion of women and Latinx individuals in STEM. She has received several prestigious awards, including the NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, the AAAS Early Career Award for Public Engagement with Science, and the Society for Biomaterials Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award.