Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Lu.
Hi Stephen, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
When I was young, I learned to play the piano and the violin, and I took some computer programming classes in elementary school. I really enjoyed the concept of programming, using computers to solve problems and create virtual experiences. In high school, I designed and programmed some TI-85 calculator games and learned how to design and code websites in HTML on my own. Because of that, I joined the Programming Club and helped our team design and code the school’s first website, and we spent the summer networking the computer lab on our own. Mr. Madden, the programming teacher there, was an influential figure in my life and I know he was for my friends as well. I was also an avid Star Trek: The Next Generation fan, so in my free time, I designed and published a Star Trek fan site detailing the show’s various ship designs and histories. Yes, I was a hard-core Trekkie!
Near the end of high school, my interests shifted into the biological sciences. This shift in interest was greatly influenced by my internship mentors, James Pennington, April Stonehouse, and the late Dr. Michael Wells at the University of Arizona. So, when I enrolled at the U of A, I majored in Biochemistry and Molecular and Cellular Biology. I ended my internship, but I stayed on with the lab through the U of A’s Undergraduate Biology Research Program founded by Dr. Wells and headed by Carol Bender at that time. My research work in Wells’ laboratory culminated in a publication in a peer-reviewed journal near the end of my college career; it was an accomplishment I was immensely proud of. I did take a break from the lab for a bit before my junior year: I had the rare opportunity to complete a summer internship at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIH/NIDDK). I performed research on the mechanisms of neutral lipid trafficking in Niemann-Pick Type C disease. This disease is a rare progressive genetic disorder where the body is unable to transport cholesterol and other fats inside of cells. Generally, NPC affects children’s neurological and psychiatric functions and can lead to early death. This internship was my first opportunity to get hands-on experience in research that directly applied to medicine and human cell biology.
After graduation and a considerable amount of deliberation, I realized that I had an interest in combining science with public service and criminal justice. Pursuing that interest led me to a position with the California Department of Justice’s Jan Bashinski Laboratory in the Bay Area. At that lab, I trained as a DNA Analyst and worked in the Databank Unit, which handled and submitted DNA profiles to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).
I had a great desire to perform casework in Forensic Biology, so that brought me back to Arizona, where I worked as a casework DNA analyst with the Arizona Department of Public Safety, first in Phoenix, then in Tucson. During my tenure there, I also worked as a contract assessor with the National Forensic Science Technology Center. With them, I worked as part of an audit team, performing audits of DNA laboratories around the United States. With my work as an auditor, I also helped with teaching a few courses in Forensic Biology topics at several labs.
Back in college, my friends and I used to come to San Diego every Spring Break, and we even took an impromptu trip out here one weekend to see Lifehouse in concert at the House of Blues downtown. That was a wild trip, which included driving late at night down the eight during a tumbleweed storm and staying at a motel where the shower floors were painted black. So, I have always had the pull to live in California, and I accepted a position with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department in 2012. I first worked in the Forensic Biology Unit, but I had the fortunate opportunity to branch out and become a part of the Crime Scene Investigations Unit. With this team, I responded to numerous crime scenes to assist with death investigations. I performed trajectory analysis, bloodstain pattern analysis, and shooting and crime scene reconstruction. In 2015, I was able to transfer to the Firearms Analysis Unit, where I performed analysis on firearms-related evidence and contributed to the ATF’s National Integrated Ballistic Information Network with their Integrated Ballistics Identification System (IBIS/NIBIN).
In late 2018, I began having some health issues that put me in the hospital a couple of times. When the COVID pandemic hit and I was at home, I had this urge to develop a lifelong interest in public service and public health by using my skills in web design. After some deliberation, I realized that patients diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) don’t have a lot of support, and the disease does not get a lot of funding for research. Some consider it an orphan disease. So, I built a small online platform to help increase the public’s awareness of ALS, support ALS patients, and contribute what I could to ALS research and drug development. We officially incorporated in September of 2021 and received our 501c status earlier this year.
My health issues kept getting worse, and eventually, I had to retire to focus on my health this past January. To have something to keep my mind active and to keep growing my interest in public service, I founded the Forensic Leaders Training Center. One thread in the forensics industry that I kept seeing pop up was a lack of quality leadership and management training for forensic professionals in the United States. I have personally experienced poor leadership in all the labs I worked with, and I hear stories of poor leadership decisions and their effects all the time. These stories crop up in the news from time to time as well. So, to help make a difference and to help leaders and aspiring leaders in forensics do the best job that they can for the public, whom we serve, I founded FLTC on the principle of improving the state of leadership in forensics with engaging and effective classes and workshops. I’m excited about the team we’ve put together, and our programs start later this year. We will also be offering individual consultations if a client wants a more individualized approach to their career development.
Given my love for music and education, in my retirement, I have started doing some amateur electronic music production in my spare time. I also began candidacy for my Executive MBA degree with Quantic School of Business and Technology.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth or straight path; I don’t believe anything worth fighting for will be a smooth road. For me, a lot of the challenges have been self-doubt, societal pressures, and wondering if I have made the right choices in life. However, the hardest battles that I had to overcome and must overcome every day are the health issues that I am experiencing. Going through so much loss in such a short period of time has really shifted my perspective on life, and it has made me realize that I need to fight for what I value. Before these challenges, I had essentially hollowed myself out, accepting values that other people found important to them as my own. I learned the hard way that doing so is self-defeating and erodes on you as a person, especially if those values directly conflict with your own. It was a hard lesson, but I am so grateful I went through it; I am who I am today because of those lessons.
As you know, we’re big fans of A Lasting Strength. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Our mission at A Lasting Strength is to raise the public’s awareness of ALS with community outreach and to help pALS (patients with ALS) change what it means to be living with this disease by providing resources and financial support. We want to help these patients to continue living a meaningful and purposeful life despite such a grim prognosis; I firmly believe that keeping your mind active, growing your knowledge, and testing the limits of your imagination are immensely helpful in preserving the quality of life and perhaps even longevity. We accept grant applications from ALS patients who need technology or equipment to improve their quality of life or who want an experience that would otherwise be unattainable due to financial constraints or physical limitations. We also offer a Mobility Rental Program for residents of San Diego and Orange Counties. The aim of this program is to provide affordable mobility assistance to those who need it. Right now, we have only wheelchairs, but we are always open to acquiring different devices based on what somebody might need.
Our team is a close-knit, rag-tag bunch. We might not have the resources of the larger ALS organizations out there, but we have the same drive and passion to help where we can. We are also well-suited to each of our positions: Kyle is the Director of Technology, and he works with the UC San Diego Health System, supporting their technology assets and users. Michael is the Director of Finance, and he currently works as a Candidate Experience Coordinator with Cisco Hire & Engage through Randstad Sourceright. He was a mathematics instructor for students and has a passion for teaching as well. I am the Executive Director, and I have found my love for entrepreneurship in retirement! I am immensely proud of the teams I have gathered at both of my companies, A Lasting Strength and FLTC. I feel like we can make a good impact on the world around us in the best possible way together, rather than separately.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
When I was about 4 or 5, my family had two golden retrievers, Lucky and Jennie. I remember one time I tried to ride Lucky like a horse. So, I got up onto his back and my mom was out in the yard working on a woodpile. I knew she was about to call the dogs over, so I was in luck! When she called the dogs over, Lucky bolted over to my mom, and I was left in the air like Wile E. Coyote. I tumbled to the ground in a heap. I hadn’t realized how slick a Goldie’s fur is!
Contact Info:
- Email: donate@alastingstrength.net
- Website: https://www.alastingstrength.net/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lasting.strength/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lasting.strength
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/alstrength_sd
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXt3XefXG0sqXkaWz4McL0g
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/a-lasting-strength-san-diego
- Other: https://support.alastingstrength.net/
Image Credits
Personal Photo – Stephen Lu Additional Photos – Scott Hoopes
