PHILADELPHIA – Jonni S. Moore Ph.D., Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, was awarded the 2008 FOCUS Award for the Advancement of Women in Medicine. Now in its fifth year, the Advancement of Women in Medicine award recognizes Penn faculty who demonstrate outstanding efforts to enhance the success and overall quality of life for women at Penn Medicine.
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Jonni S. Moore, Ph.D.
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Moore is a world-renowned scientist in the field of cytomics, the study of cell systems, and has used her skills to help build the United States’ largest and most comprehensive flow cytometry resource laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania. Moore is currently the Director of Penn’s Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting Facility and the Clinical Flow Cytometry Laboratory at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Beyond her scientific prowess in the field of cytomics, she also holds leadership positions on several journals and frequently lectures on the clinical applications of cytomics, and has been a lifelong mentor in many capacities.
“There are lots of awards a person can win with respect to [his or her] scientific expertise and care of patients,” Moore says. “The importance of an award for mentoring is that it not only recognizes what your peers think of you, but what your legacy is and the impact you’ve made. To me, this is the best kind of award you can win.”
Moore’s passion for mentoring future generations of women in science and medicine stemmed from her own hard-fought battles to excel as a female scientist from the rural South in the late-1960s. When her own science teachers failed to engage the school-aged Moore, a female veterinarian from her town took her under her wings, offering Moore guidance and support. It was a relationship that would stick with Moore throughout her education, as she became the sole woman in her science classes at the University of Virginia and later built her professional career at Penn.
For over 25 years, Dr. Moore has mentored more than 100 women throughout their scientific careers, beginning as early as elementary school through junior faculty positions. From opening her lab to local high school and college students in the summer to sharing her personal strategies for success in academics and finding balance between the demands of science with life outside the lab, Moore strives to provide the support that will help women in science to excel.
“While we are bringing women [into the sciences] at college and graduate level, we are losing them once they are in the profession” because of the perception they can’t have a family and be successful in this field, Moore says. As a scientist and mother of two, Moore says she often helps her mentees to prioritize the tasks that will lead them to professional and personal satisfaction.
Moore also plays an active role on committees that guide Penn policies to offer an environment that is supportive and welcoming to researchers of diverse backgrounds. She is currently Chair of the Medical Faculty Senate Steering Committee, a member of the Gender Equity Executive Council, a FOCUS Advisory Board member and a past executive board member of the University’s Penn Professional Women organization.
As winner of the FOCUS Award for the Advancement of Women in Medicine Moore will receive a plaque in her honor and $1,000. Moore says she plans to use her award to fund the research projects performed by the female high school and college students that spend the summer in her lab
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