The Board
Who We Are
Sapphire Bowen-Kauth
Board President
Sapphire Bowen-Kauth, a Howard University alumna, is a researcher at the Center of Neuroscience at Children's National Hospital, where she studies biomarkers to track treatment efficiency in neurological disorders.
Bowen-Kauth also has extensive research experience in proteomics and neuroscience at academic and government institutions. An advocate for scholastic discovery and equity in STEM spaces, she plays a critical role in leading the Karsh STEM Scholars Program.
Emily Rios
Board Vice-President
Emily Rios, a Harvard College alum, is a Business Analyst in Deloitte's Human Capital Practice. She has experience in change management, organization design, and workforce transformation and has worked with multiple clients from various industries.
Outside of work, she is passionate about social science research and inquiry. At Harvard, she conducted research on the Student Impact on Higher Education and contributed to several research projects for international non-profits. She strives to be an advocate in all her roles: for her clients, students, family, and friends.
Matthew Garcia
Board Treasurer
Matthew Garcia, hailed as an "Education Equalizer" by the TED Fellows, is a social innovator who co-founded and serves on the Board of Directors for two U.S. non-profit organizations, Through the Staff and the Pre-College Research Institute, that have generated $1.8+ million in impact. His TED Talk, which has been seen 1.2 million times and translated into 9 languages,
highlights the power of virtual nonprofits to bring educational resources to underserved communities.
Though trained as a Stem Cell and Regenerative Biologist at Harvard College, for which he is an admissions interviewer, Garcia is equally well-versed in non-science research. As a frequent collaborator to the research of WolfBrown Principal, Dr. Dennie Palmer-Wolf, he advises national non-profit clients and has published reports for the U.S. Congress on what predicts student persistence in historically exclusive fields - like academic research.
Markia Jefferson, MPH
Board Secretary
Markia Jefferson, a Masters of Public Health at Baylor University, serves in leadership positions across several U.S. national non-profits. Professionally, Jefferson is a Family Services Specialist and performs investigations in cases of suspected child abuse or neglect.
Standing as a pillar of her community, Markia advocates for systemic equitable changes for communities of color. This has informed her extensive experience in clinical research, where she studies how marginalized communities report levels of trust in medical researchers and how these levels predict their participation in clinical trials.
Emily Sanchez
Director
Emily Sanchez, a Harvard Senior, is an incoming Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company. She primarily consults for Global Health clients, due to her extensive experience in healthy policy at institutions like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
At Harvard, Sanchez serves on the board of several advocacy organizations and conducts clinical research on health disparities related to autoimmune disorders at Brigham and Women's Hospital.