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JP Flores
Education
PhD Candidate, Bioinformatics & Computational Biology
UNC Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC
2025 - 2021
- Graduate Certificate in Innovation for the Public Good
BA, Cellular & Molecular Biology (Public Health Minor)
Occidental College
Los Angeles, CA
2021 - 2017
Research Experience
Graduate Research Assistant
Phanstiel Lab (UNC-CH School of Medicine)
Chapel Hill, NC
2025 - 2022
- Using computational and wet-lab techniques to investigate the role of 3D chromatin structure in response to environmental stress
Undergraduate Researcher
Schulz Lab (Occidental College Department of Biology)
Los Angeles, CA
2021 - 2017
- Utilize techniques such as DNA isolation, PCR, gel electrophoresis, and HPLC to find medical relevance of venom
- Conduct fieldwork in Kauai to study and capture venomous cone snails
Professional Experience
Science Policy Intern
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of the Director
Bethesda, MD
2024
- Assist in developing a public vision and framework for including patient and community voices in the design and conduct of NIH-funded clinical research. Help plan public consultations to develop recommendations regarding engagement methods for research employing novel technologies and will be prototyping equitable and inclusive approaches for patient and community engagement.
Data Science Intern
University of Utah David Eccles School of Business Sorenson Impact Center
Salt Lake City, UT
2021 - 2020
- Work alongside the data science team to provide customized data analysis for clients, write code, learn best practices around data sharing and security, as well as create data visualizations and dashboards. Familiarity with Tidyverse set of packages within the R programming language
Student Manager of the Student Coalition for Higher Education
University of Utah David Eccles School of Business Sorenson Impact Center
Salt Lake City, UT
2021 - 2020
Awards & Accolades
Graduate
N/A
N/A
2025 - 2021
Undergraduate
N/A
N/A
2021 - 2017
- Spotify Next Wave Award Winner (2021)
- Trevor Moawad Leadership Award (2021)
- Dean’s Award: Service (2021)
- Capstone Student Leader of the Year Award (2021)
- Lucille Y. Gilman Memorial Award (2021)
- rstudio::global(2021) Diversity Scholar (2021)
- John W. McMenamin Award (2020)
Features & Interviews
Graduate
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N/A
2025 - 2021
- An Interview of Me by JP and Sarah: My R Journey, Hobbies, and the R Community (2023)
- California private colleges fear affirmative action ban as Supreme Court prepares to rule (2023)
- Writing About Race in Biological Science (2023)
- 18 Young Scientists to Watch (2023)
- Three Win NSF Graduate Research Fellowships (2022)
- John Patrick Flores’21: National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRFP) (2022)
Undergraduate
N/A
N/A
2021 - 2017
- New biology course explores the COVID-19 pandemic in real time (2020)
- Meet JP Flores - Occidental Baseball (2020)
- S2, Episode 1 - Off the Bench featuring Antonio Andrade and JP Flores (2020)
- OxSEA seeks to clean the ocean and educate LA’s youth (2019)
- Staying for the summer: Undergraduate Research Center provides students and faculty with summer research opportunities (2019)
Teaching Experience
I am passionate about empowering the next generation of diverse scientists, becuase talent is equally distributed but opportunity is not.
Promoting Inclusivity in the Research Environment
JEDI Leadership Fellows Program
Chapel Hill, NC
2024
- Workshop allowing researchers to recognize systemic barriers to inclusion and their impacts on individuals and society, take concrete steps to build supportive relationships with those from marginalized groups, and use their advantages to promote an equitable lab environment
BCB 723 Statistical Genetics & Genomics
Curriculum in Bioinformatics & Computational Biology, Department of Genetics
Chapel Hill, NC
2023
How to Learn to Code
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC
2023
- Summer miniseries about the basics of computer programming/coding for biological research
- Curriculum Development Team & Teacher
WinSpire Dancing with Data!
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC
2023
- Using the programming language R, high school students with marginalized gender identities, worked with data from Spotify. We explored which songs are the best to dance to, do homework to, cry to, and everything in between. Students gained experience in having fun in science, data wrangling & manipulation, data visualization, and science communication
WinSpire Digging Deeper
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC
2023
- Workshop covering the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in science for high school students with marginalized gender identities
Academic Support Program for Student-Athletes Tutor
Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost - UNC-CH
Chapel Hill, NC
2023
BIO 268 Biostatistics
Occidental College Department of Biology
Los Angeles, CA
2021
Training & Certifications
edX The Inclusive STEM Teaching Project
N/A
N/A
2023
- Trained facilitator for the national, NSF-funded Inclusive STEM teaching Project (ISTP). ISTP supports the professional development of faculty, largely in STEM, as reflective, inclusive practitioners through a 6-week, free online course and associated learning communities. ISTP has reached 11,240 participants to date. Learning communities are small groups of faculty and sometimes PhD students and postdocs who meet to engage with the course content, contextualize it to the local department or teaching context, share their own experiences and create a community of practice. ISTP nationally trains facilitators like me to lead these learning communities.
Effective Mentoring Training
N/A
N/A
2022
- Foundation for developing competencies and skills in effective communication, aligning expectations, assessing progress and understanding, addressing equity and inclusion, fostering independence, cultivating ethical behavior, and being able to articulate a mentoring philosophy to others
Academic Articles
To advance equity and inclusion in science in the future, I am interested in multi-pronged approaches for change: “bottom-up” approaches such as peer mentoring and “top-down” approaches such as using my power to advocate for and implement data-driven and equity-focused policy.
Aberrant NUP98 condensates activate leukemogenic genes via discrete genomic engagement
Submitted
N/A
2023
- Jing Li, Shizhe Liu, Sunghwan Kim, Jacob Goell, Zachary Allen Drum, John Patrick Flores , Alex J. Ma, Barun Mahata, Mario Escobar, Jeong Hyun Ahn , Rosa Selenia GuerraResendez, Yuhao Zhou, Bo Yu, Michael R. Diehl, Gang Greg Wang, Douglas H. Phanstiel, and Isaac B. Hilton
Mariner: Explore the Hi-Cs
Submitted
N/A
2023
- Eric S. Davis, Sarah M. Parker, Nicole E. Kramer, J.P. Flores, Manjari Kiran, Douglas H. Phanstiel
Advance U.S. international diplomacy efforts by expanding eligibility in the Embassy Science Fellows Program
Journal of Science Policy and Governance
N/A
2022
- Authored with Rami Major and Rachel Cherney
Non-Academic Articles
Invited Talks / Workshops
From where does it STEM? : Humanizing Science using science communication & storytelling
Seeding Postdoctoral Innovators in Research and Education (SPIRE) - IRACDA Conference
Chapel Hill, NC
2024
The role of 3D chromatin structure in response to environmental stress
Invited talk, McDaniel College Department of Biology
Westminster, MD
2023
Student-Equity-Centric: A Vision for the Future of Higher Education
University of Utah David Eccles School of Business Sorenson Impact Center
Salt Lake City, UT
2021
Poster Presentations
Hyperosmotic stress induces complete rewiring of chromatin interactions
UNC 6th Annual Chromatin & Epigenetics Symposium
Chapel Hill, NC
2023
Hyperosmotic stress induces complete rewiring of chromatin interactions
Keystone Symposium: Chromatin Architecture in Human Disease & Development
Victoria, BC
2023
Hyperosmotic stress induces complete rewiring of chromatin interactions
10th Annual Mid-Atlantic PREP & IMSD Research Symposium
Blacksburg, VA
2023
Hyperosmotic stress induces complete rewiring of chromatin interactions
5th Annual Dr. Samuel M. Nabrit Conference for Early Career Scholars
Providence, RI
2023
Hyperosmotic stress induces complete rewiring of chromatin interactions
Duke Biomolecular Condensates Symposium
Durham, NC
2023
From Sequence to Activity: Synthetic Neuroexcitatory Peptides from Fish-Hunting Cone Snails
Southern California Conference for Undergraduate Research
San Pedro, CA
2019
From Sequence to Activity: Synthetic Neuroexcitatory Peptides from Fish-Hunting Cone Snails
Society for Intergrative and Comparative Biology Annual Meeting
Austin, TX
2019
From Sequence to Activity: Synthetic Neuroexcitatory Peptides from Fish-Hunting Cone Snails
Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting
San Diego, CA
2018
Service
external service
N/A
N/A
2024 - 2017
- Host/Creator, From where does it STEM? podcast
- Senior Editor, GeneBites
- Biomedical Science Advisory Board Member, Chapel Hill - Carrboro City Schools Project Lead the Way
- Peer Mentor, Graduate Mentorship and Assistance Program Philippines (GradMAP)
- Peer Mentor, Association of Filipino Scientists in America (AFSA)
- Junior Varsity (JV) Baseball Coach, Chapel Hill High School
- Pen Pal, Letters to a Pre-Scientists
- Trained Facilitator, edX: The Inclusive STEM Teaching Project
institutional service - unc chapel hill
N/A
N/A
2024 - 2021
- Leadership Group, UNC Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program
- Student Admissions Commitee, UNC Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program
- Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) Advisory Committee, UNC Genetics
- Scientist Ambassador, North Carolina DNA Day Connect
- Scientist Ambassador, Shadow a Scientist UNC
- Students in Training, Academia, Medicine, and Research Program (STAHR), UNC School of Medicine Office of DEI
- Lead Peer Mentor, GeNe F1 UNC Department of Genetics
- Steering Commitee Member, UNC Curriculum in Bioinformatics & Computational Biology
- Peer Mentor, North Carolina A&T Bridges to the Doctorate Program
- Peer mentor, Summer Undergraduate Research Experience in Biological Mechanisms (SURE-REU)
- First-Year Group (FYG) Peer Mentor, UNC Biological & Biomedical Sciences Program
- Admissions Diversity Advocate, UNC Office of Graduate Education
- Strategic Planning Steering Committee, UNC School of Medicine
- Bench/ Peer Mentor, Educational Pathways in Genomics Research (EDGE) at UNC
- Peer Mentor Advisory Board, Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD)
- Peer Mentor/Interviewer, Chancellor’s Science Scholars
institutional service - occidental college
N/A
N/A
2021 - 2017
- NCAA Division III Baseball Team, Occidental College Dept. of Athletics
- Student-Athlete Advisory Commitee, Occidental College Dept. of Athletics
- Diversity and Equity Board, Associated Students of Occidental College
- Students for Equity & Advocacy in STEM, Occidental College
- Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion (JEDI) Committee, Occidental College Dept. of Athletics
- ViSTA (Volunteers in Service of Tiger Admission), Occidental College Alumni
- Alumni Secretary, Occidental College Class of 2021
- Tour Guide, Occidental College Office of Admissions