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Posts tagged as “University of Alabama Birmingham”

Tuskegee University Scientist Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green Garners $1.1M Cancer Research Grant

By goodblacknews on January 6, 2016

Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green (photo via YouTube)
Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green (photo via YouTube)

When Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green receives invitations to be a guest speaker for professional groups, schools and nonprofit organizations, she almost never turns them down.
“Usually if there is an invitation to speak at a forum like that, I accept it because I feel like it’s a responsibility,” she said. “There are so few of us (black women in STEM fields) I don’t feel like I have the luxury to say I’m too busy.”
By many measures, Green has been extremely busy. One of fewer than 100 black female physicists in the country, she recently won a $1.1 million grant to further develop her patent-pending technology for using laser-activated nanoparticles to treat cancer.
Green earned her master’s and Ph.D degrees at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and is now is an assistant professor in the physics department at Tuskegee University.
Green’s personal history with cancer fuels her drive to find a way to treat it. She grew up in St. Louis and – after the death of her mother and father – was raised by her aunt and uncle, General Lee Smith and his wife, Ora Lee.
When Ora Lee was diagnosed with cancer, “She refused the treatment because she didn’t want to experience the side effects,” said Green. “It was heartbreaking, but I could appreciate she wanted to die on her own terms.  “Three months later, my uncle was diagnosed with cancer.”
Green took time off from school to help him through chemotherapy and radiation treatments. “I saw first-hand how devastating it was, and I could understand why my aunt didn’t want to go through that.”
She earned a bachelor’s degree in physics with a concentration in fiberoptics, and then a full scholarship to UAB. She got the idea to use lasers to treat cancer without the side effects of chemo and radiation.
A physicist’s cancer treatment

A few months ago, Green was awarded a $1.1 million grant to work on a technology that targets, images and treats cancer.  “I was completely overwhelmed with joy, with thanksgiving, humbled at the opportunity that a group of my peers thought that my work was worthy for such a grant,” she said. “This is a huge door opening. It outlines a path to take this treatment to clinical trial.”

Four African-American Students Win Marshall Scholarships

By goodblacknews on December 20, 2015

2016-marshall-scholars-post
(L to R) Quenton Bubb, Robert Clinton, Ophelia Johnson, and Joel Rhone (photo via jbhe.com)

In 1953, the Marshall Scholarships program was established by an act of the British Parliament. Funded by the British government, the program is a national gesture of thanks to the American people for aid received under the Marshall Plan, the U.S.-financed program that led to the reconstruction of Europe after World War II. The scholarships provide funds for up to two years of study at a British university, and include money for travel, living expenses, and books. Applicants must earn a degree at an American college or university with a minimum of a 3.7 grade point average.
The Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission is authorized to award up to 40 scholarships each year. This year 32 scholarships were awarded. It appears from JBHE research, that four of the 32 winners are African Americans.
Quenton Bubb is a senior at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore who is majoring in biophysics. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Bubb hopes to go to medical school and to earn a Ph.D. in molecular biophysics. In England, he will pursue graduate studies in chemistry at the University of Cambridge.
Robert Clinton is a senior at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University. His independent study degree is focusing on the sociology and politics of urban agriculture. In England, Clinton will pursue a master of science degree in sustainable urbanism and a master of research degree in interdisciplinary urban design.
Ophelia Johnson is a graduate of the University of Alabama Birmingham with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the university in engineering. Johnson is a former UNCF Merck Undergraduate Research Fellow and won a Goldwater Scholarship. Johnson will spend a year studying medical device design and entrepreneurship at Imperial College London.
Joel Rhone is a senior at Howard University in Washington, D.C., majoring in English. A native of California, Rhone served as president of the Sterling Allen Brown English Society at Howard. Rhone will conduct research at the University of Manchester on African-American literature, particularly its impact on, and depiction of, the African-American church.
article via jbhe.com