Candidate Statement

I am running for Town Meeting in 2026 because I care deeply about Lexington’s future and want to help ensure that our town continues to make thoughtful, inclusive, and fiscally responsible decisions. Having lived in Lexington for many years and raised my family here, I have seen firsthand how important engaged local governance is to maintaining the quality of life our community values.

One of my primary areas of focus is ensuring that major town investments — including the new Lexington High School — are approached with careful planning, strong fiscal stewardship, and meaningful community input. Beyond construction, I believe it is essential that we continue to support Lexington Public Schools and other town initiatives over the long term so these investments are successful for decades to come. Maintaining excellence in our public schools is a top priority for me, and I am especially interested in ensuring that town decisions truly support students, families, and educators.

Affordable housing is another area of strong interest. I care about expanding housing opportunities for town employees and for residents who wish to remain in Lexington, and I believe housing information must be clear, transparent, and accessible. Through my work with Vision for Lexington, I aim to help make complex housing policies and options easier to understand so residents can meaningfully engage in discussions and decisions that shape our town.

Through active community engagement and careful long-term planning, I hope to contribute to Town Meeting in a way that strengthens our schools, supports our neighbors, and helps Lexington thrive.

• Academic Background: PhD in Biology from Columbia University. Areas of study: DNA damage, immunology, cancer & cell biology, and protein biochemistry; big data RNA and DNA whole genome sequencing analysis.

• Professional Experience: Served as an Assistant Professor of Pathology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, and Dana-Farber Cancer Center. Also held positions at the Broad Institute and Harvard Stem Cell Institute. Research: Immunological diseases and cancers (lymphoma, glioblastoma) caused by defects in DNA damage. Integration of DNA and RNA sequencing data to study complex disease mechanisms.

Community Involvement

Catherine has been an active volunteer and civic leader in Lexington for more than a decade, with a strong focus on public education, community engagement, and thoughtful town planning. Her work spans Lexington Public Schools, town committees, and local nonprofit organizations, reflecting a long-standing commitment to supporting students, families, and the broader community. Key examples of her work in the community is detailed below:

Lexington Public Schools & Education: 

• Lexington High School PTO (LHS PTO): President (2023–2025); Presidents Committee (2024–Present); and Forums VP (2022–2023) and Volunteer (2022-Present)  — lhspto.org/pto-board : As President, I spearheaded support for diversity and inclusivity with all our LPS PTOs/PTAs and actively worked with our LPS PTOs/PTAs partners to advance Article 8 to move LHS Building Project Bloom C5.b forward at the Special Town Meeting 2024-1 in November 2024. I advocated for permanent funding for METCO, Adaptive Education programs and student financial aid funding in our annual PTO budget. I secured METCO, Class Senate, and Pep Band Liaisons to join our PTO Board, and allocated more mini-grant funding for our educators to enrich their departmental educational programs. On the President's Committee, with the LPS budget shortfalls especially FY2027, we are working actively to do more for our educators and students, including supporting more ad-hoc LHS staff and educator grant requests. As Forums VP, I established long-term collaborations with SEPAC, CAAL, IAL, Youth Counseling Connections, Cary Library, LHRCC and other local nonprofits to strengthen connections between LHS and the Lexington community. As a parent Volunteer, I actively participated in staff hospitality events, junior and senior prom receptions, Cookie Pop-Ups, Principals Junior and Senior  Counselor's Parent Coffees, Credit for Life, Parent Academy, volunteer signups for MLK Day of Service, and many other PTO programs.

• Lexington High School All Night Graduation Party (ANGP), Parent Volunteer (2023–Present)

• LPS School Health Advisory Committee (SHAC) Parent Academy Organizing Team (2022–Present)

• Lexington Public Schools School Committee Calendar Working Group (2023–2024)

• Diamond Middle School: Lunch Volunteer & D-Minor/Drama/Musicals Parent Volunteer (2021–2022) Organized 8th-grade end of the year activities; helped with performance art student activities for D-minor, drama and musicals; and parent lunch, Book Fair and Lexington Food Pantry volunteer. 8th Grade Activities Parent Organizer (Spring 2022) For the 8th-grade end of the year activities: our parent group teamed up to help Assistant Principal Elizabeth Sharp to book and organize fundraising and parent volunteers for the school dance (food and decorations); busing and financial aid for the Museum of Science; tickets for a day at Canobie Park (in lieu of the  8th grade Washington DC trip). For the graduation ceremony, I organized with Asst Principal Sharp for over 300 roses (donated in part from Wilson's Farm) to be distributed to rising 9th graders during their graduation ceremony. 

• Fiske Elementary School: Science Fair Co-Organizer (2017–2019) and Big Backyard, Fiske Fair, and Other School Event Volunteer (2014–2019).

Town & Civic Engagement

• Member, Vision for Lexington Committee, Affordable Housing Working Group (May 2024–Present) — lexingtonma.gov/902/Vision-for-Lexington-Committee

• Participant, Town of Lexington Civic Academy (Fall 2025)

• Yes for Lexington, Fundraising Co-Chair (2024–December 2025)
  Supported the LHS Building Project; recipient with Yes4Lex team of the LPS Core Value Award (Dec 2025)

Community Organizations

• Chinese American Association of Lexington (CAAL): Education Chair & LPS/Town Liaison (Dec 2025–Present) Spearheading student grants to provide students with agency in their learning and community engagement, and connecting students to local nonprofits, schools, and civic opportunities and CAAL PAC (Jan 2026–Present)

• Friends of Lexington Music, Art, and Drama (FOLMADS), Parent Volunteer (2022–Present) Volunteer for ushering and ticket sales at LHS choral, jazz, drama, and musicals; POPs Concert setup/cleanup; fundraising; and senior class flower distribution.

I am committed to thoughtful collaboration, critical thinking, and addressing challenges with both confidence and humility.