Team and Collaborators

Seeds of Success Collaborators

In our first year of Seeds of Success New Haven we have gathered a great number of organizations and leaders interested in supporting our program:
 
Office of Collaborative Excellence @ Yale School of Medicine
Senior Atwater Center
 

 

Seeds of Success Team Members

Dr. Giovanna Guerrero-Medina

 Director and Principal Investigator for Seeds of Success
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Hobbies: Singing, Dancing, and Mentoring.
Dr. Giovanna Guerrero-Medina is Director of the Yale Ciencia Initiative in the Office of Collaborative Excellence of Yale School of Medicine, and Director for Professional Development and Community of Yale’s Wu Tsai Institute. Through these positions, Dr. Guerrero-Medina leads programs that broaden participation and increase inclusion and retention in STEM training pathways. Until 2024, Dr. Guerrero-Medina was the first Executive Director of Ciencia Puerto Rico. Under her leadership, CienciaPR became one of the largest networked communities of Hispanic scientists in the world and was recognized for their work promoting justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in the areas of science communication, education, and careers by the Union of Concerned Scientists, the AAAS-Caribbean Division, and the White House. Dr. Guerrero-Medina’s work is funded by grants from the NIH and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, among others. Originally from Puerto Rico, Dr. Guerrero-Medina has a Bachelors in Science from the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras and a PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley, followed by a science policy fellowship with the National Academies and science policy work at the NIH and the Van Andel Institute.
 

Carolina Machado

Program Manager
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Hobbies: Crafting, Singing, and Traveling
Carolina Machado is the Program Manager for the Yale Ciencia Initiative and a Boston University Manufacturing Engineer by training. With four  years of experience working with Giovanna Guerrero-Medina, her role encompasses Communication, Program Support, Logistics, and Optimization of systems and processes. Carolina facilitates communication between the team, program participants, and collaborators, ensuring everyone is well-informed about all steps of the program, and fostering a supportive environment. She prepares and distributes program materials annually and assists with social media and blog posts on various websites. She also provides logistical support for virtual and in-person meetings, including event planning, arranging venues, transportation, catering, and overall setup of sessions and workshops.  Carolina has also implemented automated workflows to streamline the application, review process, and attendance tracking, delivering concise data summary reports. She has spearheaded the inclusion of AI tools in all appropriate processes which has allowed for real time analysis and improvement. Before joining Yale, Carolina spent 17 years in the education sector as a teacher and school manager. As an immigrant from Venezuela and a mother of four, she understands the challenges of integrating into a new society while being true to your cultural identity.
 

Seeds of Success Fellows

These amazing STEMM leaders participated as fellows through the GSAS Fellowship program during the 2024-2025 academic period. They left a lasting impression on the first cohort of students and their input will shape the program for years to come.
 

Aiyanna Doss, 24-25 Seeds of Success Fellow

Biomedical Engineering
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Hobbies:
Aiyanna is a Seeds of Success Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Fellow. She is a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering studying how to develop a model that mimics the human brain’s connective structure. She never misses a chance to encourage and inspire a love of STEM for all ages through different types of outreach and to speak about her own experience from childhood to higher education. When she is not in the lab, she is in the kitchen trying out new recipes for all kinds of delicious goodies.
 

Leslie Arrazolo, 24-25 Seeds of Success Fellow

Chemical & Environmental Engineering
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Hobbies:
Leslie is a PhD student in the department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Yale University and a Seeds of Success Fellow. I study water treatment technologies, specifically, how we can use electricity to remove contaminants from drinking water. Leslie was born and raised along the border of Texas and Mexico and loves spending time with friends and family.
 

 

Yanitza Rodriguez, 24-25 Seeds of Success Fellow

Physiology
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Hobbies:
Yanitza, born and raised in Puerto Rico and a third-year PhD student in Cellular and Molecular Biology at Yale, researches obesity’s impact on fertility through metabolic physiology. She is passionate about women’s health and healthcare advocacy. Yanitza combines scientific excellence with outreach, fostering community and advancing understanding of ovarian function and cancer.
 
 

Andrés Cubero-Cruz, 25-26 Seeds of Success Fellow

Biomedical Engineering
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Hobbies:
Andrés W. Cubero Cruz, an interdisciplinary engineer, combines mechanical and biomedical expertise. A Yale PhD candidate specializing in cardiovascular biomechanics, he investigates how mechanical stresses influence heart disease. He was born and raised in Puerto Rico and loves combat sports.