Mr. & Mrs. Robert Meyerhoff dreamed along with Dr. Freeman Hrabowski of developing a pool of talented minority scientists and engineers that would provide a diverse impact on the world's scientific community.
Twenty years ago, Dr. Hrabowski, Susan Boyer, Don Pearman and I were making plans for the first nineteen Meyerhoff Scholars, the M1s. Today LaMont Toliver, the Meyerhoff staff, faculty members, current Meyerhoff students, Meyerhoff alumni and the Meyerhoff Parents Association make up the more than 300 people who are helping select the 60-member Meyerhoff class of 2013, the M21s.
Today we have more than 600 Meyerhoff Alumni, 53 Ph.D.s, 21 M.D./Ph.D.s, 74 M.D.s, 115 M.S. degrees and 250 currently enrolled in graduate and professional schools. What an amazing accomplishment!
What is your Dream for the Meyerhoff Scholars Program? Let me know what you see Meyerhoff alumni doing tomorrow.
Dr. Paula Whittington (M9) '01, biological sciences, was recently lead author on a Cancer Research article announcing a potential new vaccine for a type of breast cancer.
Dr. Whittington completed her Ph.D. in 2007 at Wayne State University where she is currently enrolled in an M.D./Ph.D. program. She is now finishing her medical degree, which she hopes to earn in 2010.
Learn more about Dr. Whittington's research by clicking on the links below.
Research Cancer, Serving the Uninsured
Dr. Chester Hedgepeth (M1) '93, biological sciences, earned his M.D./Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 2000. He is the first African-American to earn both degrees from the University and is currently a second-year internal medicine resident at Harvard University's Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Dr. Hedgepeth plans to pursue a fellowship in cardiology.
Dr. Lance Hester (M1), earned a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1994, both an M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Northwestern University, and a certificate in telecommunication science, management, and policy, also from Northwestern.
Currently, he is a member of technical staff in Motorola Lab's wireless solutions research group. At Motorola, he has been instrumental in creating next generation low-power low data rate wireless sensor link and network layer algorithms. He has authored/co-authored over 13 conference and journal publications and has 7 United States patents. His current research interests include peer-to-peer short-range wireless communications and mobile wireless social networking.
In addition to his work at Motorola, Dr. Hester is an adjunct professor at Florida International University's College of Engineering, located in Miami, Florida.
Dr. Rachelle Salomon (M7) '97, biological sciences, was one of more than a hundred recognized at the national symposium of the Leadership Alliance this past summer. The Leadership Alliance marked a milestone by celebrating the attainment of 100 Ph.D.s and M.D./Ph.D.s since the program’s launch in 1993.
Dr. Salomon earned her Ph.D. at Brown University in biological sciences in 2007.
To read more about the Leadership Alliance event and milestone, visit the "Diverse Issues in Higher Education" website below. The article was published in the 9/18/08 issue (vol.25, no.16).
Dr. Oliver Myers (M1) '94, '96 M.S., '07 Ph.D., mechanical engineering, accepted a position of assistant professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Mississippi State University.
Dr. Keisha John (M12) '03 biochemistry and molecular biology, successfully defended her thesis and will earn her Ph.D. from the Watson School of Biological Sciences at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories.
Dr. John, who completed her Ph.D. in four years, is the first African-American to earn her degree at the institution. After she graduates in April, Dr. John plans to join Dr. Mary Beth Hatten's laboratory at Rockefeller University.