Black History Month 2022: past motivations
We are celebrating Black History Month by interviewing those who are a part of the Black community and work within the field of STEM, as we want to allow more diverse voices to be heard and acknowledge those whose achievements need honoring.
In this piece, we are focusing on people’s stories and their past motivations in life that have led them to where they are today. We posed the question:
‘Please tell us about yourself and who or what has inspired you to pursue your career in STEM?’
Nicole Fleming, PhD
Scientist II/Bioanalytical Project Manager
Bioagilytix (NC, USA)
My name is Nicole D. Fleming, and I am from St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. After graduating from the University of the Virgin Islands (go Bucs!) (VI, USA) with a Bachelor of Science in Biology, I earned my PhD in Pathobiology and Translational Science at UNC-Chapel Hill (go Heels!) (NC, USA). I would describe myself as the perfect blend of an outdoorsy type of person and someone who likes to relax indoors with music, a good book or family/friends. My pursuit of a career in STEM was triggered by a combination of sheer curiosity and having invested teachers and mentors throughout my undergraduate journey. As an athlete and science major, I was intrigued by the body’s ability to adapt and aggressively fight off invaders, while still being vulnerable to the outside world. I wanted to know more. With heart disease being the leading cause of death globally and a high prevalence rate amongst the Black community, I decided to focus my PhD work on cardiovascular diseases. As a Black scientist, I was dedicated to making a difference even if it was one successful experiment, one informative presentation, or one published paper at a time.
Maria Dixon, PhD
Scientist Training Program Manager
Bioagilytix (NC, USA)
I am Dr Maria Smith Dixon, a proud native of Jackson, Mississippi. I received a bachelor of Science and master of Science degree in Biology from Thee Jackson State University (MS, USA), a Historically Black College & University (HBCU). In 2012, my husband and I moved to Lexington, Kentucky to complete my Doctor of Philosophy degree in Microbiology at the University of Kentucky (KY, USA). Upon completion of my doctoral studies, we moved to Durham, North Carolina to pursue my postdoctoral studies at Duke Cancer Institute and North Carolina Central University (NC, USA) with a focus on the aggressiveness of inflammatory breast cancer in African American women. Growing up in the heart of Mississippi, I witnessed an increase in obesity, diabetes and teenage pregnancy in my community. Throughout my youth, I competed and won local and national science fairs and in participated various summer science enrichment programs. However, in high school, my grandfather was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). I quickly became engulfed in learning about this rare disease. I believe this experience was the pivotal moment for me to actively pursue a career in STEM.
William Njoh-Paul
Lab Analyst
ICON plc (KS, USA)
My name is William Njoh-Paul and I am a Lab Analyst at ICON Plc (KS, USA). I have a bachelor’s degree in Biology (pre-medicine) and a master’s degree in Microbiology. I am Nigerian by origin and spent a major part of my childhood in Lagos, Nigeria. Growing up in a developing country, life was a bit more challenging. Things weren’t always as easily accessible. Even the most basic amenities, such as regular electricity and clean water were considered a luxury. It was tough, but my parents worked hard to make sure we had all we needed to thrive in a country where the odds are naturally stacked against you. In hindsight, these challenges were the tools that have helped shape my mentality and resilience to be a better, stronger person today.
Tinaya Gray
Senior Director, Project Delivery
ICON plc (NC, USA)
My interest in STEM began as a child, learning about science through television watching the science segments on Sesame Street and Wild America on the weekends. I would endlessly harass my mother with the why questions and eventually included how. I had amazing science teachers who taught me that STEM fields are dedicated to answering those questions and are always in pursuit of learning more to improve upon the way we do things, which impacts every facet of our lives. I was hooked.
Eventually landing at Rutgers University (NJ, USA) with degrees in biology and African American studies, I secured an externship at Bristol Meyers Squibb (NY, USA) combined with a job at the Eagleton Institute for Public Polling (NJ, USA) working in HIV prevention programing, which swayed me toward clinical research. I’ve spent the last 24 years working in the field of clinical research and see my career as a way to advance public health for all, especially those historically underserved.
Coming from a lower socio-economic background, I was encouraged to pursue a career that would be in demand and thus provide stability. Since our society relies on math and science in so many ways to function, the stability and opportunity in this field were attractive.
I was encouraged early in middle school by both math and science teachers to continue my studies in the field, which I think was also important. Anyone with a career in STEM has to embrace that they will be continually learning and has to have the interest and stamina that learning is the formula for success in the field. That interest came from having a parent die during the AIDS epidemic. At the time of my father’s death, half of all AIDS-related mortality was in African Americans and was almost 10 times that of other groups struggling with the disease. From our experience, I knew that was due to a host of factors including access to consistent treatment, perception within the health field and options, as well as stigma. I wanted to be a part of changing that in the public health field.
Rebecca Wates, PhD
Senior Program Manager
KCAS (KS, USA)
I was born in rural Oklahoma, USA to a large farm family (I’m the youngest of 13 kids!). My parents relocated to Kansas City (MO, USA) when I was a toddler and I grew up there graduating from Lincoln College Preparatory Academy (MO, USA) with an International Baccalaureate Diploma. I chose an HBCU, Dillard University in (LA, USA) to pursue my bachelor’s degree in Biology pre-med and loved every second of my 4 years there. Although I grew up dreaming of becoming a neurosurgeon, it was at Dillard where I met my first mentors, Dr Duane Johnson and Dr KiTani Parker Johnson, and discovered my love of research. They encouraged me to pursue internship opportunities each summer during my college years (Emory University (GA, USA), Roswell Park Cancer Institute (NY, USA), University of Missouri (MO, USA)) and sparked in me a love of discovery at the bench. I followed in their footsteps, earning my PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Missouri in 2012.
Brennon Marcano,
Chief Executive Officer
The National GEM Consortium (VA, USA)
I am the CEO of The National GEM Consortium (VA, USA), a 45-year-old non-profit organization that provides fellowships to underrepresented minorities in STEM to pursue their masters and PhDs in STEM fields. Being the CEO of a non-profit that is dedicated to science and technology and whose vision is scientific impact, fills me with pride because I come from a STEM background myself. I was trained to be a Java programmer and received my Masters of Science in Technology Management from Columbia University (NY, USA). The majority of my career was spent on Wall Street, where I worked in a technology or technology management capacity until I made a pivot, a little over a decade ago, to the non-profit sector where I still apply many of the lessons that I have learned from working in the private sector. Pursuing a career in and around STEM did not happen overnight but rather was a culmination of an ongoing curiosity that was planted in me since I was a child. My mother saved up money to make, what was back then, a grand purchase…she bought the A-Z collection of encyclopedias. I read them all and they filled my mind with questions that I have never stopped trying to answer today.
Blessing Okai
Lab Data Analyst
Q2 Solutions (Aberdeen, UK)
My name is Blessing Okai, I’m a Nigerian. I am 26 years old, born to a medical doctor father and an academic mother. I have five sisters and I am the youngest of the bunch. I have a bachelor’s degree in Information and Communication Science from the University of Ilorin, (Ilorin, Nigeria) and a master’s degree in Data Science from the Robert Gordon University, (Aberdeen, UK). What inspired me to pursue my career in technology? I’m not entirely sure. I remember trying to decide what to study as my major in university and it was a tough decision. The only thing I could think of then was that I was good with computers, and so picking a course that was technology related seemed like the sensible choice. Looking back now, I’m glad I made that decision. It has opened a lot of doors for me, and I’ve met some amazing and intelligent people who have continued to encourage me and who I have, in turn, encouraged as well.
René Fuanta
Biochemist and Assistant Professor
East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania (PA, USA)
I am René Fuanta, a native of Cameroon. I obtained my bachelor’s in microbiology and parasitology from the University of Buea (Buea, Cameroon) and PhD in biochemistry from Auburn University ( AL, USA). A biochemist and faculty at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania (PA, USA). I am a first-generation faculty. Five siblings – four brothers and one sister, so you can picture the chaos in the house as we grew up. Thankfully, my lone sister is the oldest, so she’ll ‘mom’ us when we get out of line. She is dubbed ‘capitaine’. I’ve always had an inquisitive mindset, asking questions to myself and my siblings on a wider range of topics, some of which, looking back now, I giggle at. I remember at around 5 or 6 years old, asking my brother why I don’t see plants as they grow, why does a chameleon change its colors? I remember him digging deep into his junior high science repertoire to find answers for me. He would always take out time to respond to my questions. My interest in STEM was spurred by example and chronic demonstration of patience from my older siblings. I was fortunate to have older siblings that were in STEM – medical and physics. They were great examples and I am fortunate to have them as role models.
Olivier Heudi
Laboratory Head
Novartis Pharma AG (Basel, Switzerland)
My name is Olivier Heudi. After completing my PhD in biological sciences at the University of Angers (Angers, France) I decided to pursue a postdoctorate, first in the US and then in the UK, where I joined GSK (Stevenage, UK) under the program, EU Marie Curie fellowship. After two years at GSK, I moved to Nestle Research Center (Lausanne, Switzerland) as Research Investigator in the food and ingredient group, where I managed the vitamins laboratory. Thereafter, I joined the Novartis Institute for tropical disease (Singapore) where I contributed to setting up the bioanalytical laboratory, including the training of students and personnel. From there, I decided to return to Europe and I joined Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research (Basel, Switzerland), the DMPK lab where I developed and implemented innovative methods for monoclonal antibodies quantitation by LC-MS/MS. Coming from a low-income country, I personally felt that coupling fundamental and applied research would help resolve healthcare problems that are encountered in those countries. As result, one can anticipate a better quality of life in those countries. Hence, accessing new technologies and implementing them within under-developed countries will definitely offer an obvious advantage. This has motivated me to jump into the analytical field and to increase my knowledge in hyphenated techniques such as liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry.
Wonu Adebimpe
Senior Scientist
Recipharm (Queenborough, UK)
My name is Wonu Adebimpe, I am from Lagos, Nigeria and I am a Pharmaceutical Scientist. I currently work as a Senior Scientist for the Swedish company Recipharm (Stockholm, Sweden). The company is a contract and development manufacturing organization (CDMO), that focuses on providing pharmaceutical solutions and testing to clients/other pharmaceutical companies that do not possess the same capabilities.
Having grown up in Nigeria, I saw a lot of poverty around me and people dying for reasons that are non-existent in developed parts of the world, all because of poor healthcare facilities. Seeing people experience these issues growing up coupled with my empathetic nature, created a sort of responsibility within me to strive to provide better healthcare in the world and generally help improve people’s lives.
Aside from having a passion to help others, my favorite book as a child was my science encyclopedia. I carried this everywhere I possibly could and read every chance I got, learning about all things science.