Burlingame Rotary Club
Founded in 1925

High Gear Bulletin

 

Zoom Meeting - Wednesday, March 24, 2021

High Gear Editor:  Lisa Goldman

President Emily Matthews called the meeting to order at 12:15.
 
This Week:  Joe Galligan led the Pledge of Allegiance. Emily Beach led the invocation, reading excerpts from one of her favorite spiritual texts from Eastern philosophy, Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, translated by Stephen Mitchell. For those who want to follow along, Emily read #67, #9, #78, #66, #59, and #74.
 
Announcements: Our guests for today’s presentation included our speaker, Dr. Ofer Barnea-Yizhar, and Ellie Feder and her parents Rabbi Dan and Sandra Feder.
 
President Emily gave us some important reminders:
 
  • Happy hour will be Friday @ 5.
  • Six students are looking for students to interview for an inter-generational cookbook project that’s being run through the Burlingame Collaborative. Contact President Emily at emily@nolamarketing.com if you have questions.
  • The Spring Golf Tournament
  • The Holiday Party do-over is at Filoli on June 27 from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Invitations are in the mail. You can sign up on the website.
  •  
Mike Heffernan spoke about Ellie Feder. Several months ago, Ellie, a UC Davis student, was looking for a stipend as she had an unpaid internship in Sacramento with Governor Newsom’s office. Jennifer Pence talked about the value of internships for recent college grads seeking jobs in their field. Because many internships are unpaid, it can be difficult for students to pursue unpaid internships if they don’t have external funding. Mike let us know that Donna and Eric Colson and Burlingame Rotary chipped in to provide funding to Ellie for her internship.  Ellie then described her experience as an intern in the Governor’s Office. One of the most exciting projects she worked on was the “Recovery with Equity Report”. She learned a lot, met interesting people, and was inspired by her work. Ellie thanked the Colsons and Burlingame Rotary for providing her the funding to take on this unpaid internship.
 
Newcast: Fritz Brauner told us that today is National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day and asked for a show of hands about who prefers white chocolate to dark chocolate. It’s also National Cheesesteak Day, a great day for Philadelphians. And, it’s National Equal Pay Day. Did you know that all of the members of the Board of Directors receive equal pay?!
 
Finally, Fritz threw out some of the top 10 reasons Mike Kimball hasn’t finished writing his book and invited meeting attendees to add their own via the chat box. Some contributions from the peanut gallery:  Mike is afraid it actually might be published.  He’s having trouble formulating grammatically correct sentences. Carol Tanzi is a nice distraction. He has to learn how to type first. His pet gerbil ate his first draft. Fritz also asked everyone to submit titles for the yet-to-be-completed book.
 
Program:
 
Bobba Venkatadri introduced our speaker, Ofer Barnea-Yizhar, PhD, co-founder of Geneyx. Ofer is a scientist with a background in biotechnology engineering and human molecular genetics. He is currently doing his post doctorate in San Francisco. His company, Geneyx, is a computer software company that offers an integrated cloud-based genetic data platform, enabling Pharma, universities, and institute-based research groups to spearhead the development of innovative drugs, novel therapeutics, and diagnostic tools.
 
Ofer shared a presentation entitled Better Data for Better Health. If you enjoy all things science, this presentation was for you! His company, Geneyx, integrates clinical data and genetic data to help make discoveries that will lead to improved patient care. Ofer told us that our genome encodes for all of our traits and our predispositions, most of which are so complex we have yet to unravel them. The genetic similarity between one human and another is 99.91%, but there are alterations in the genetic code that create differences in people. Some of the changes in the genetic sequence are harmless, but some can cause disease and other problems. To study DNA, Geneyx uses Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), which allows them to read small segments of the genetic material. One problem hampering researchers, however, is the lack of diversity in genetic databases—DNA databases are too white. More diversity is needed in the databases so that research will be more robust.
 
President Emily closed out the meeting at 1:35 and virtually presented Ofer with a certificate.
 
Zoom Link:
 
Order a Home Flocking
The flocks have been flying! Below are photos of our first two flockings. Details about home flockings and order info on the website.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Speakers
Mar 31, 2021 12:15 PM
How C-SPAN is purposefully different in today’s media landscape
How C-SPAN is purposefully different in today’s media landscape

C-SPAN provides non-partisan & gavel-to-gavel coverage of the federal government, C-SPAN Programming includes Congressional floor proceedings and committee hearings; White House events and briefings; Supreme Court oral arguments and confirmation proceedings; and interviews and call-in programs. Ways to connect with C-SPAN includes 3 TV networks, a video-rich website, smartphone app, social media, and e-mail newsletters.
 

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“420”, A day celebrating cannabis businesses and culture
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Upcoming Events
Program Committee Meeting
Zoom Meeting contact Rotary@nolamarketing.com for access
Apr 06, 2021 8:00 AM
 
View entire list
Member Birthdays
Joseph DiMaio
March 8
 
James Young
March 10
 
Charles Voltz
March 24
 
Anniversaries
Cheryl Fama
Denis Fama
March 19