Dr. Diana Azurdia serves as the Director of Mentoring and Development for the Graduate Programs in Bioscience, a consortium of seven PhD programs with over 800 students and faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In this role, Dr. Azurdia leads the development and implementation of a strategic plan to enhance inclusion in the biomedical graduate student population. Leveraging her position as a Principal Facilitator for the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) and the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Research Experiences (CIMER), she actively promotes inclusive mentoring practices at UCLA, leading efforts to build capacity for evidence-based research mentorship training for scientists at all career stages. Dr. Azurdia has over twelve years of experience leading mentorship training and development initiatives on a national scale. She has conducted training sessions for various national conferences and meetings, including workshops addressing resilience, emotional intelligence, and interpersonal communications.
Dr. Diana Azurdia is also the founder of Diana E. Azurdia Consulting LLC, a consultancy in STEMM higher education. The company’s goal is to broaden participation in research careers by assisting partners in developing and sustaining inclusive initiatives that support both mentors and mentees. She earned her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from UCLA and graduated with a B.S. in Biochemistry from California State University Los Angeles. Dr. Azurdia is a first-generation Guatemalan-American and the first in her family to attend college.