"I was accepted to Ivy League schools including Yale and the University of Pennsylvania, but there was something very special about UMBC and the Meyerhoff Program."

UMBC: You graduated from UMBC as a Meyerhoff Scholar. Explain what that is and how you became involved in the program.

CW: I learned about the Meyerhoff Program through my parents. They had an opportunity to meet Dr. Hrabowski and I became part of the third Meyerhoff class, an M3. I think the thing that impressed my parents and then me was that there were a lot of students who had been accepted to many different universities and had their choice of secondary education, but they chose to attend to UMBC. They were also all interested in science and all minority students, which was very unusual. So a lot of the students seemed just like me.

I was accepted to Ivy League schools including Yale and the University of Pennsylvania, but there was something very special about UMBC and the Meyerhoff Program. It seemed that it would give me the skills I needed to pursue medical school and graduate school. The other schools had the name and the long history of education, but the thing about UMBC was that they seemed to have a vested interest in my future career in science. The key thing also was the family atmosphere; I thought I would have a lot of assistance, not just from the administration and the faculty, but from the students as well.

UMBC: Have you continued a relationship with UMBC since your graduation?

CW: The thing that is nice about UMBC is that it doesn't just stop at UMBC. Ten years later I still keep in touch with current Meyerhoff students, and now I'm a mentor, but I also still have my friends and colleagues from the original M3 class. When I was in graduate school and I had an experiment that wasn't working or a difficult class, I always had that support I needed from my Meyerhoff family. And I can see down the road now that I will still have that core group of people from UMBC to encourage me and let me know I can dream big dreams and actually have them fulfilled.

UMBC: How far back can you trace your interest in science and medicine?

CW: I always wanted to be a doctor and I've been interested in science since I was 9 years old. We had a science fair that I won, and after that every year I did a science fair project. So I started thinking of ways to include science in my life and I thought being a doctor would be wonderful.

UMBC: The Meyerhoff Program is unique in that it benefits minorities and others interested in pursuing math and science study. How did this program benefit you personally?

CW: I think that, as a minority in America, you're already unique, but there are not many women interested in science either. So as a double minority--both a woman and an African-American--in science, you already feel isolated because you have few mentors to look up to. What I found from day one in the Meyerhoff Program was the opportunity to meet people with M.D.s and Ph.D.s, people who had already achieved what I wanted and who could give me guidance as to how to get to the next step. If you're interested in sports, you have a lot of role models, whereas if you are interested in math and science, even if you aren't a minority, people tell you how difficult it is. In the Meyerhoff Program, there was a great sense of belonging. And we were able to rely on each other for support and information about specific programs so that math and science subjects didn't seem so difficult. Being a Meyerhoff Scholar, I also had wonderful opportunities. I was able to have my first serious research project at Johns Hopkins during my freshman year at UMBC, thanks to my Meyerhoff mentor.

UMBC: What are you working on now?

CW: At this point, I've finished both my M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. And I've already completed my internship, but I had a special opportunity to do a post-doctoral fellowship in conjunction with Dr. Solomon Snyder at Johns Hopkins and also Dr. Thomas Hokfelt at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, that I am pursuing now.

UMBC: When you complete your fellowship, what is your next step?

CW: I'm going to pursue the field of molecular imaging in medicine, which is basically a combination of neurology and radiology. I definitely want to stay in academic medicine and become a full professor of science. My long-term goal is to eventually become the director of the National Institutes of Health or the dean of the Hopkins medical school.

UMBC: You are very dedicated to academic medicine. What is it about that field that appeals to you?

CW: Working in the research lab, I have a chance to also do some clinical work. And I realize being a physician on a day-to-day basis, you get to touch the lives of patients, whereas being a physician-scientist, you are able to make a difference not only in an individual's life, but in masses of people and change the way a certain disease is diagnosed and treated. Ten years ago, there were limited treatments for Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and other neurological deficits, and I thought it would be my opportunity to change the world and to develop a new treatment and maybe even a cure for some of these diseases. Now I look back and realize that I was idealistic; but even now, the small aspects of the project I'm working on could five or ten years from now impact the way we manage patients with these diseases.

UMBC: Young girls and minorities are still not entering math and the sciences in large numbers. What would you want those young people to learn from your example?

CW: That's something I'm very interested in changing. I teach sex education through a program at Johns Hopkins. It's not just a chance to give the young ladies and young men the correct facts about sex education, but with the high teenage pregnancy and STD rates in inner city Baltimore, it's an opportunity to empower adolescents to make good choices about the benefits of waiting to have sex in order to pursue career opportunities. Every time I teach a class the kids are all like, "Wow, you're a doctor... how long were you in school?" As women, we are encouraged to go into social studies and English and men are encouraged to study math and science as early as elementary school. You need to have a diverse group of people at every level of your education to encourage and believe in you, and you have to not be concerned with the issue of time and the length of time you need to be in school in order to pursue your dreams.

UMBC: Do you have other interests outside of your scientific work?

CW: Oh yes! What keeps me interested in science is my balance between work and family. I've been married for two years and my husband and I like to travel to relax from work. We've been to Africa, Central America and did a backpack trip around Europe. We are going to Sweden soon for our next trip. I also love to scuba dive and read novels and biographies, and I love to cook a variety of international dishes.

UMBC: The Meyerhoff Program has its own mantra, "Hold fast to your dreams," that is repeated quite often. What has that phrase meant to you?

CW: "Hold fast to dreams" means that the road to success is not straight--there are curves, potholes, stoplights and bridges to cross. I think that you determine your course on the road by holding fast to your dreams, meaning overcoming the fear of failure, believing the words of people who believe in you, learning to sacrifice, being focused and disciplined and exceeding the expectations or limitations that others set through determination and perseverance. Our dreams are our ultimate destination and without them, the trip loses its purpose.