Dr. Alixanna Norris
Alix received her degrees from Virginia Tech (Biochemistry B.S., minors in Chemistry, Biology & Art) and Wake Forest University (Cancer Biology Ph.D., minors in Toxicology, Radiation Biology & DNA Repair). Her doctoral work uncovered a novel biomarker for aggressive prostate cancer in two patient cohorts. This discovery was published in the journals Prostate (Impact Factor, IF: 3.5) and Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention (IF: 4.1) and has been highly cited. While at Wake Forest, Alix received numerous merit-based awards and research grants, including a pre-doctoral research fellowship awarded by the Department of Defense. She was the recipient of many travel awards and presented her research at both local and national scientific conventions. Alix went on to complete a successful four-year postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of Dr. Murray Korc, a prestigious Joseph M. Huber Professor and Chair of Medicine at Dartmouth College. Her research focused on elucidating the complex signaling pathways activated in pancreatic cancer and culminated in published works to Gastroenterology (IF: 11.7) and Oncogene (IF: 6.4). After the completion of her postdoctoral fellowship, Alix founded Tn Consulting, LLC in order to better use her scientific strengths in experimental planning, interpretation, and communication to better help others in science.
Alix is a member of the by-invite-only National Association of Science Writers and the Grant Professionals Association. In addition to managing and working on projects for Tn Consulting, Alix is a writer and editor for BioMed Bridge and Write Science Right. She is also a Nature Publishing Group staff member and continues to respond to questions in the “Ask an Expert” Q&A series.
Dr. Katrina Bogan
Katrina Bogan, Ph.D., received a B.S. in Biology from Providence College and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College. Her doctoral work uncovered two novel NAD+ metabolites and the genes and enzymes that produce them. She also showed that this metabolic pathway contributes to the health and longevity of eukaryotic cells. This work culminated in peer-reviewed publications in the journals Cell, PLOS Biology, PLOS One, the Journal of Biological Chemistry and BMC Chemical Biology.
Throughout her graduate and post-doctoral work, Katrina has emphasized the communicating and writing of science. As a graduate student, in addition to research publications, she authored three peer-reviewed review articles and chapters in the Elsevier Encyclopedia of Biological Chemistry and the Annual Reviews of Nutrition. She has received several merit awards and grants including a travel award to the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology annual meeting, where she earned the “Best Poster Award” and a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service post-doctoral fellowship.
Katrina is a full-time grant writer and reviewer, specializing in higher education research grants and for-profit SBIRs and STTRs. Her expertise centers around applications to the NIH, NSF, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and Health and Human Services. Katrina has also participated in numerous SBIR writing training seminars and conferences, which has further strengthened her approach to developing and writing commercialization strategies. Katrina's combination of scientific strength and exposure to business strategy has made her an invaluable consultant for academic and for-profit clients alike.
Dr. Larry Clifford Gilman
Larry has a PhD in Engineering Sciences from Dartmouth (EE, biomedical dissertation) and an MA in English from Northwestern. He has also studied and taught creative writing at Columbia College, Chicago. In over fifteen years of freelance writing and editing, Larry has written dozens of patents, worked on grants for biomedical researchers and technology startups (with awarded grants totaling over $20 million), and has edited numerous article and book-length texts for engineers, biomedical researchers, architects, entrepreneurs, and other professionals. He has also published peer-reviewed technical articles, prizewinning fiction, essays, and hundreds of encyclopedia articles on scientific, mathematical, and medical topics.
Dr. Leanne Wirkkula
Dr. Leanne Wirkkula, Ph.D. is a freelance academic editor, writer and program reviewer whose primary contributions to the Tn Consulting team include substantive editorial review and critical proofing of academic proposals, manuscripts and documents of all kinds. She applies a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of the academic world, particularly its research mission to discover and disseminate new knowledge. Leanne is a creative strategist with expertise is higher ed leadership and institutional performance. Her experience includes 28 years of service in public research universities such as the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and, most recently, the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany, where she served as Chief of Staff and Vice President for Planning, Policy and Compliance.
Leanne’s passion for helping academic leadership teams to steward colleges and universities with greater strategy, creativity and excellence led her to found Black River Road, LLC, a higher education consultancy focused on strategic institutional development and executive coaching for organizational performance and academic excellence. Black River Road also contracts production services for academic conferences and scientific proceedings. Leanne remains affiliated with SUNY as a Leadership Fellow in SUNY’s Academic & Innovative Leadership Institute (SUNY SAIL), where she develops and delivers leadership development programs for higher education professionals.
Leanne holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership, Policy and Development from the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, in addition to a M.A. in Educational Policy and Administration-Higher Education, and a B.A. in Journalism. In her quest to remain a lifelong learner, she recently earned a certificate from the THNK School of Creative Leadership in the Netherlands. Leanne’s skill as a visionary organizational strategist coupled with her knowledge of how the academy operates and innovates has provided unique perspective and invaluable insight to higher education and NGO clients alike.
Dr. Jim DiRenzo
Jim DiRenzo earned his B.S. in Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame and his Ph.D. in Genetics/Biomedical Sciences at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. His doctoral work focused on mechanisms of target gene recognition and activation by the nuclear receptor family of ligand-activated transcription factors, and these interests led him to post-doctoral training at The Dana Farber Cancer Institute where he developed interests in breast cancer and the mechanisms underlying estrogen-regulated tumor progression. During his postdoctoral training, Jim’s interests branched into stem cell biology and the intersection of stem cell renewal and tumor initiation/recurrence.
Jim joined the faculty of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Geisel School of Medicine in 2001 and where he successfully mentored more than 25 Dartmouth Ph.D. students to the completion of their thesis. Jim has been the recipient of numerous awards including scholar’s awards from the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, the Komen For The Cure Breast Cancer Foundation, and the V Foundation for Cancer Research.
He has authored over 38 manuscripts and abstracts and has been privileged to speak at multiple conferences. While at Dartmouth Jim’s research led to discoveries involving hyperactivation of cell signaling pathways that govern stem cell renewal in tumorigenic breast cancer cells. Jim has served on countless peer-review panels for the NIH, DoD, several private foundations, and for the governments of Iceland, Qatar, and the United Kingdom. He served as an Associate Editor for Cancer Research, the flagship journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, and has reviewed manuscripts submitted to over 50 different journals. Jim has also worked in medical and scientific communications and has served as a consultant for the legal community.