From a Hartford science center open since 2009 to a Yale postdoc group formed that year, four hosts brought Baxter to virtual audiences as vaccines neared
The Connecticut Science Center in Hartford, the event image for its 2020 virtual Green Gala, Love Science. Baxter is not pictured. Photo: Connecticut Science Center
Raven Baxter gave four virtual talks between October and December 2020. Her hosts were the Connecticut Science Center, Medaille College in Buffalo, the Yale School of Medicine Black Postdoctoral Association and WISDOM at UT Health San Antonio.
At Yale on Nov. 20, she was the association's first invited speaker. Its flyer for "Wine Down with Raven the Science Maven" asked postdocs to bring a drink of their choice and hear her "discuss being unapologetically you in science and beyond." The association's website later described the talk as being about the importance of being unapologetically yourself in science.
The association's flyer for the Nov. 20, 2020 talk, with its registration code removed. Image: Yale School of Medicine Black Postdoctoral Association
The talks ran through the weeks when COVID-19 vaccines neared approval. On Nov. 18, the day of the Medaille talk, Pfizer and BioNTech reported 95% efficacy in their final Phase 3 analysis. A Pew Research Center survey published Dec. 3 found that 42% of Black adults planned to get vaccinated, compared with 61% of White adults. The FDA authorized the first COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 11, two days after the San Antonio talk.
The season opened Oct. 3 with the Connecticut Science Center's virtual Green Gala, "Love Science." The center's release listed her as a headliner with Kari Byron and Mo Rocca and said the gala "is moderated by Raven The Science Maven." The gala screened her COVID-19 safety rap, "Wipe It Down," and she answered viewers' questions in the chat.
"While it has been a year like no other, I think we can agree that science literacy, innovation, inspiration, and equity are all more important than ever," Matt Fleury, the center's president and CEO, said in the release.
At Medaille's Honors Program on Nov. 18, Baxter spoke with students and faculty about representation and the stereotypes about who succeeds in science. She also covered COVID-19 prevention and her own path as a Black woman in science.
On Dec. 9, she joined WISDOM's Breakfast Club on Zoom. She spoke with graduate students about her career path, being a woman in science and diversity in STEM.
Medaille College traced its roots to 1875, when the Sisters of St. Joseph founded a teacher-training institute in Buffalo. It closed in 2023. The Connecticut Science Center has served 1.8 million people since it opened in Hartford in 2009, according to its release.
The Texas Legislature created UT Health San Antonio in 1959. Female graduate students there started WISDOM, short for Women in Science: Development, Outreach and Mentorship, in early 2017. Three Yale postdocs founded the Black Postdoctoral Association in 2020. The Yale Daily News reported that it was only the third official group of its kind in the nation.
Two months earlier, Fortune had named her to its 40 Under 40 in health while she was a doctoral candidate at the University at Buffalo.
None of the four talks was posted publicly. The Connecticut Science Center's gala page remains online.
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Dr. Raven Baxter joined three fellow University at Buffalo alumnae on the UB Distinguished Keynote Panel at the 4th Annual WNY Leadership Summit on May 29, 2026.
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