2025 Live. Learn. Lead. Symposium

Meet the Panel Moderators

Erin S Calipari, PhD

Dr. Calipari is the Director of the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research and an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Calipari has been studying the neuroscience of addiction since 2009 when she began her graduate career. She has worked with leaders in the field to develop a research program that is focused on solving this crisis. Her lab has made seminal discoveries on how drug use changes the brain at the systems and molecular level to give rise to addiction. Over her career, she has published over 90 peer-reviewed research articles and reviews on these topics. In her role as director of the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, she is leading a large group of faculty, students, and staff as they work together to understand the brain and the factors that confer risk to addiction. The center conducts research that is at the frontier of systems neuroscience, molecular biology, pharmacology, and drug development. Through graduate and postdoctoral training, the environment in the addiction center has not only impacted the local community but has trained the next generation of scientists to go out across the world to make discoveries on their own. Finally, through targeted outreach, the center has made an impact in the local and national community through educating the public on the science of addiction.

Traci R. Ray, Ed.D.

Traci R. Ray began working for Vanderbilt University in August of 2006 and now serves as Associate Dean of Students for Student Engagement and Leadership within the division of Student Affairs where she works with Arts and Campus Events, Greek Life, Student Centers, and Student Organizations, Leadership and Service. She also serves as a trained facilitator for Disrupting Everyday Bias diversity and inclusion education and Narrative 4 Story Exchange, an empathy building initiative as well as a facilitator for Restorative Practices. Inspired by her own educational journey, she leans into work that would promote healthy experiences of marginalized individuals at a predominantly white institution. She has over twenty-five years of service in the field of Higher Education and recently completed her doctorate in Higher Education Leadership at the University of Miami. Traci became a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. on April 3, 1993, at Theta Mu Chapter on Oklahoma State University’s campus and currently affiliates with Nashville Metropolitan Alumnae Chapter. She is a proud aunt to her four nieces and one nephew and enjoys surrounding herself with people and things that will help create positive memories. One of her mantras is positioning herself to assist students with crafting their own experience, helping them gain access to what they need to be successful with emphasis on distinguishing needs from wants. She also finds it necessary to remind herself and others that we must put on our own masks before helping others with theirs; in other words, to be helpful to others, we must take care of ourselves first.