Empowerment Levers
Principal Consultant

Susan Ipri-Brown is the principal consultant at Empowerment Levers, specializing in the strategic implementation of educational programs. Prior to her consulting firm, Susan served as the Strategic Initiatives Manager at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Office of Advanced Manufacturing. At NIST, Susan expanded strategic collaborations in advanced manufacturing technology and workforce development among Manufacturing USA stakeholders inside and outside of government. Susan additionally worked as the founding Associate Dean for Educational Outreach and as an Associate Professor of Engineering Instruction at Hope College.  She has also held positions with the Northwestern University Office of STEM Education Partnerships, several North Carolina school districts, Delphi Automotive Systems, and the Michigan Legislative Service Bureau. As an American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Federal Fellow, Susan served a year at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
 

Within her work and community, Susan is a long-time advocate of programs that enhance diversity, equity, inclusion, and access in the engineering profession. She served as the 143rd president of ASME where she is a Fellow and has held a range of leadership positions. Susan earned her master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University.

Baylor College of Medicine
Chair, Huffington Department of Department of Education, Innovation & Technology

Nancy P. Moreno, PhD, is Professor and Chair of the Huffington Department of Education, Innovation & Technology, Thomas R. Powers Chair of Educational Outreach, and Director of the Center for Educational Outreach at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), Houston, Texas, USA. Trained as a biologist, she aims to improve the quality of science and health teaching and learning at all educational levels; develop faculty members’ abilities as educators and educational scholars; develop a more scientifically literate population; and promote preparedness for, and access to careers in science, medicine and the health professions. Her funded research develops educational partnerships, pathway programs, and transdisciplinary science and health educational materials on topics such as science communication and neuroscience. She also served as Associate Provost of Faculty Development at BCM. Dr. Moreno is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and received the Robertson Presidential Award for Excellence in Education, BCM’s most prestigious award for faculty educational contributions. She earned her BA with distinction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, MSc from the Institute Nacional de Investigaciones sobre Recursos Bioticos in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, and her PhD in biology from Rice University.

Emory University
Urology Resident

Dr. Ernest Morton, MD, MS, MBA, is a PGY-4 Urology resident at Emory University. He earned his MD from Western Michigan University Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine in 2022, where he also completed the inaugural “Bridge to MD” program and received his MS in 2017. He holds an MBA from Western Michigan University as well.

A dedicated advocate for diversity in medicine, Dr. Morton served as president of the WMed Alumni Association (2022–2024) and is a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society. Drawing from his own journey to medical school, he authored A Med Student’s Guide to Getting In, a resource to help pre-med students navigate the admissions process with insight and strategy.
Dr. Morton is actively engaged in translational research and quality improvement initiatives at Emory, with a focus on genetic testing and counseling in urology patients, as well as the integration of AI tools in outpatient clinical workflows. He is a proud member of the R. Frank Jones Urologic Society and remains committed to mentoring aspiring physicians from underrepresented backgrounds.