Sumedha Penheiter, Ph.D., has a doctoral degree in Biochemistry and Genetics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  Her postdoctoral work at Mayo Clinic was focused on Cancer Biology, where she researched signaling pathways in carcinogenesis.  Subsequently she worked as a program manager within research administration at Mayo Clinic, with a focus on health disparities research.  In that capacity, she worked closely with the leadership within the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center with a focus on expanding their community outreach and engagement portfolio.  Currently she works as a manger and consultant within the Mayo Clinic ‘Strategy Department’, where she advises on strategies for optimization of systems and procedures using the agile and waterfall management methodology.  She is also spearheading the formation of the Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity (EID) advisory committee within the strategy department.  Sumedha serves on the board of directors of the Rochester Diversity Council.  She is the chief executive officer of SylloggyS LLC, where she and her team provide consultation on research areas such as, EID, workforce equity, health equity, novel biologics, and data analyses.  Within the Minnesota Cancer Alliance, she serves on the steering committee, on the policy committee, cancer health equity network, and as a co-lead for the social media team for the Clinical Trials Strategy Action Group.