Gloria Vachino, CLA Associate Director/Instructor
I first became involved with CityLab Academy (CLA) in 2001 when I began teaching a Biotechnology course in BLCS (Biomedical Laboratory and Clinical Science), which CLA students take as part of the 9-month academy program. I was delighted by the energy and enthusiasm the CLA students brought to the classroom and after the course ended, I began working with the students on resume writing and other biomedical job preparedness skills. As time went on, I became increasingly involved with the CityLab Academy program, interviewing applicants with program director Connie Phillips during the summer months, running the Seminar course during the fall and spring semesters, and helping the students find lab jobs after graduation. In 2005, I became the CityLab Academy program coordinator and I continue to teach Seminar and Biotechnology.
Having spent 14 years as a lab scientist (at Tufts New England Medical Center and Genetics Institute- now part of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals), I find that my lab science background is extremely useful in helping the students with their coursework as well as in preparing them for lab jobs. I feel very fortunate to have had this opportunity to connect my past experiences with CityLab Academy and to be involved with such an amazing program. I am continually awed by the transformation CLA students undergo as they progress from their introductory courses in the fall through second semester coursework and internships onto graduation, jobs and a professional biomedical career.
Gloria Vachino is a faculty appointed Instructor in Biochemistry at the Boston University School of Medicine. She holds a MS in Immunology from Tufts University’s Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences and has a joint honors BS in Biology and Psychology from the University College of Wales in Great Britain. In the BLCS program, she currently teaches Biotechnology I and II, and Math for the Laboratory and has taught Introduction to Biomedical Lab Science, and Drug Discovery and Biotechnology. She has also conducted workshops for high school and community college educators at the Museum of Science Annual Symposium on Biotechnology Education, and taught lab and academic courses for 5 years in the Cambridge Biomedical Careers Program through Just A Start Corp. / Bunker Hill Community College.
