Marine Biological Laboratory Receives $6.8 Million Grant from NSF

A graduate of the Medical College of Pennsylvania, Dr. Jennifer Letitia serves as a consultant at Genetic Networks in Westport, Connecticut. Outside of work, Dr. Jennifer Letitia contributes to numerous organizations, including the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), which recently announced a $6.8 million award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). 

Located in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, the MBL has received $6.8 million to continue its research on Arctic ecology in Toolik Lake, Alaska. The grant program will be led by Edward B. Rastetter, an MBL senior researcher who serves as lead principal investigator of the NSF’s Arctic Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site in Toolik Lake.

Through the research at the LTER, 32 investigators are exploring changes in the area’s tundra, lakes, and streams. This research is critical, given that the Arctic is warming at an alarming pace, leading to changes in the area’s groundcover and permafrost. In the coming years, researchers plan to study the effects of such changes on the plants and animals native to the Toolik Lake region.

Buzzards Bay Coalition to Hold Buzzards Bay Swim

Jennifer Letitia, MD, a trained plastic and reconstructive surgeon, consultant for Miami-based Genetic Networks, (a company that fights genetic diseases by conducting network analysis of genes), and active member of the Marine Biological Laboratory Council, is also active in other charitable giving. Jennifer Letitia, MD, donates to the Buzzards Bay Coalition, which will host its Buzzards Bay Swim on Saturday, June 24, 2017. Her daughter , Tia, was a volunteer for the Buzzards Bay Coalition ,summer 2016.

Dedicated to the protection and restoration of the Buzzards Bay area in Massachusetts, the Buzzard Bay Coalition holds its annual Buzzards Bay Swim to raise money toward this cause. The event will take place at The Edge Seafood & Lounge in New Bedford and take swimmers on a point-to-point swim across Buzzards Bay. 

During the 1.2-mile swim, participants will traverse outer New Bedford Harbor and pass by the Butler Flats Lighthouse before reaching the finish line, where a beach party including pancakes, coffee, free massages, and a live steel drum band. 

Participants pay a $25 registration fee and are asked to raise or pay a minimum of $150 prior to the event.

The 12 Days of Gishmas Hunt

Jennifer Letitia is a trained surgeon who holds a doctor of medicine from the Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and currently serves as a consultant and medical advisor with Genetic Networks in Westport, Connecticut. She is also a devoted mother and an amateur costume and jewelry maker. In recent years, Dr. Jennifer Letitia has helped make costumes and create artwork in conjunction with her daughter’s involvement with GISHWHES.

GISHWHES (short for the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen) creates scavenger hunts and other fun events that draw thousands of participants from more than 100 countries around the world. One of its recent projects was the 12 Days of Gishmas Hunt, a digital contest that asked participants to post specific submissions to various social media sites. 

The 12 Days of Gishmas Hunt included 12 elements that required participants to complete activities such as performing a puppet show or dramatic reading of a Christmas holiday classic and decorating a public tree with animal-safe, edible “decorations” such as fruit and popcorn strings. After capturing these activities on video or in photographs, participants uploaded their videos or photos online in order to complete the challenge. At the end of the 12 Days of Gishmas on January 1st, GISHWHES awarded various prizes to the competitors judged most worthy.