International Women In Science Day Technically Feb 11, 2020 #LatePost

Shout out to all the Women in Science! It’s so imperative to have diversity and representation among minorities in research. Plenty and I mean PLENTY of money goes into research but if we don’t participate in the research study who is the drug really going to cure? 

As scientist and healthcare professionals we have to deal with the preconceived notions patients may have regarding the healthcare system. I have had multiple conversations with patients and family members alike that refuse to go to the doctor for certain symptoms because there is some type of remedy they have for it or they’ll say, “I don’t want to be experimented on.” As a cancer research intern in heath disparities and just being a black woman, I know about the prior injustices in biomedical research that negatively impacted minority populations such as the Tuskegee Experiment and the immortal cancer cells of Henrietta Lacks.

Because of this, I use every opportunity to educate the communities I serve on the importance of sustaining their health in an effort to build trust and to eliminate or at least alleviate some of those preconceived notions people have about healthcare.

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I earned my Bachelor of Science in Biology at Florida Memorial University. For my senior project I conducted research on invasive plant species by creating plant extracts which inhibited bacterial growth.

While applying to medical school, I became a clinical research assistant for the University of Miami in the Department of Pediatrics’ Batchelor Children’s Research facility. The research conducted was a 10 year NIH funded project investigating the cause of coronary atherosclerosis in HIV infected pediatric patients. The investigation was to determine whether our patients developed coronary atherosclerosis spontaneously or as a result of prolonged use of a particular HIV medication.

As a student at Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science, I became a member of the Critical Exploration of Academic Literature (CEAL) an organization that analyzed research projects and made paper presentations based on those studies.

Later, I became a cancer research intern for the Division of Cancer Research and Training-CDU/UCLA Cancer Center Partnership and conducted research in the field of cancer health disparities. I performed basic laboratory techniques involving cell culturing, nucleic acid and protein extraction, purification and analysis. I prepared weekly project-related reports, presentations and attended Cancer Journal Club presentations.

Our research focused on the health disparities faced by minority populations specifically in aggressive forms of breast cancer. I studied the differences in cancer biology among minority populations and other socioeconomic factors that contributed to their health disparities.

Our approach was to study these designated pathways and use various inhibitors and knock out genes in specific cell lines to create novel treatments to target these pathways in cancer cell development. Following my training in research I was given the opportunity to present for the division’s Cluster and Axis Cancer Journal Club Series on Health Disparities and participate in the NIH/National Cancer Institute’s Partnerships to Advance Cancer Health Equity Investigators Workshop 2016 in Rockville, Maryland.

I still continue my involvements in research now as a medical student, it’s just more so clinical research instead of bench research (traditionally called “bench” research because you’re doing research in a laboratory setting with lab benches).

Diversifying medicine can breakdown barriers that exist by building trust between the patient and the researcher.

The bottom line is people are more likely to trust someone that looks like them, sounds like them and grew up in the same culture.

As a black woman in medicine and science I strive to build that relationship with all my patients so we can move towards changing the negative perception of physicians, healthcare and medical research as a whole. 

-Future Dr. Jones ❤