Dr. Lourdes P. Norman-McKay, Florida State College at Jacksonville

Dr. Lourdes Norman-McKay earned her PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. Her postdoctoral fellowship in microbiology and immunology focused on the role of viruses in cancer. She has been training allied health students at the associate, baccalaureate, and post baccalaureate levels for the past 17 years. She is currently a professor at Florida State College Jacksonville where she mainly teaches microbiology and anatomy and physiology, and where in 2016, her peers and students recognized her with the Outstanding Faculty Award.

Dr. Norman-McKay has extensive STEM program development experience that ranges from developing and launching a biomedical sciences baccalaureate program to serving as a curriculum designer and subject matter expert for the Florida Space Research Institute and Workforce Florida. Most recently, she was invited to serve in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Information Programs to promote STEM education innovation and women in STEM. Dr. Norman-McKay is also an active participant in the American Society for Microbiology’s (ASM) Microbiology in Nursing and Allied Health Task Force Committee; an associate editor for ASM’s Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education; and the author of Microbiology: Basic and Clinical Principles, a textbook used across the globe to teach tomorrow’s healthcare team — many of whom are now front-line workers in the current COVID-19 crisis.