Executive Director, Faith-Based Genetic Research Institute, Dr. Tshaka Cunningham, a graduate of Princeton University, received his PhD in molecular biology from Rockefeller University & completed his postdoctoral training at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France and at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. He is a co-founder and Director of R&D for Polaris Genomics Inc., an early-stage biotechnology company developing genetic diagnostic tests for mental and behavioral health disorders such as PTSD. He is also the Chief Scientific Advisor for Athari BioSciences Inc., a start-up biotechnology company based in Northern Virginia that is pioneering new treatments for various human cancers and infectious diseases. He previously worked at the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) overseeing a federally funded national research program in aging & neurodegenerative disease and serving as a subject matter expert for the VA’s Genomic Medicine Implementation Program. Motivated by the timely need for advancements in diversity and inclusion in precision medicine while at the VA, Dr. Cunningham co-founded and serves as the Executive Director of the Faith-Based Genetic Research Institute, a community-based non-profit organization dedicated to improving people’s lives through the power of genomics and precision medicine. A leading voice in advocating for diversity & representation in the field of genomics, Dr. Cunningham is a board member of the Future Kings STEM biomedical training program, a STEM-focused non-profit organization for youth from underserved minority communities in the DC-area. Dr. Cunningham also serves on the Advisory Council for the STEMM Opportunity Alliance, a national initiative to ensure STEMM equity launched in December 2022 led by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in collaboration with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Doris Duke Charitable Fund (DDCF).
