The Backbone of the Genetics IDP: Tamara and Ximena

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone!In this episode, Joe Romanowski and Lilia Sanchez host two women absolutely vital to the Genetics program- Tamara Ospina-Vega and Dr. Ximena Paez-Colasante. Without the two of them, the program could not be where it is today, and in this episode we chat with them about how they came to the Genetics program, what they’ve enjoyed most about their work, and advice for future applicants looking to apply to graduate school.Tamara Ospina-Vega has been with the program since 2017 and is the Genetics and Genomics Graduate Program Specialist, which means she’s involved in every aspect of the program to help keep it afloat. Dr. Ximena Paez-Colasante is the Associate Director at the Texas Institute for Genome Scientists and Society (TIGGS). She graduated from Texas A&M in 2014 with Ph.D in Neuroscience and later joined the Genetics and Genomics program as an administrative Post-doc until transitioning to TIGSS in 2021.If you want to know more about the Genetics program at Texas A&M or Ximena’s new position at TIGSS, please visit the following websites:Genetics IDP: https://genetics.tamu.edu Genetics Graduate Student Association: https://g2sa.tamu.edu TIGSS: https://genomics.tamu.edu/