Anatasha Crawford, a doctoral candidate at Georgetown University, has been named a member of the Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society (Bouchet Society). Crawford is in the Tumor Biology Program at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the Georgetown University Medical Center.
The Bouchet Society is named for the first African American doctoral recipient in the United States (Physics, Yale University, 1876). The Society aims to recognize outstanding scholarly achievement and promote diversity and excellence in doctoral education and the professoriate.
Crawford was selected a charter member of the Georgetown University chapter of the Bouchet Society, established in 2007. Crawford conducts research in the laboratory of Robert Clarke, Ph.D., D.Sc., in the Interdisciplinary Program in Tumor Biology at Lombardi. Her dissertation focuses on how and why cancer becomes resistant over time to therapy, specifically looking at resistance to antiestrogen treatments for breast cancer.
Crawford said her interest in breast cancer research is personal.
“I became very interested in breast cancer research because my grandmother had breast cancer. That was the main reason I came to Lombardi. I wanted to learn in a place that has a focus on cancer research,” she said.
To achieve its goals, the Bouchet Society is developing a network of preeminent scholars who exemplify academic and personal excellence, foster environments of support, and serve as examples of scholarship, leadership, character, service, and advocacy for students who have been traditionally underrepresented in the academy. In the spirit of Edward Alexander Bouchet, inductees into the honor society bearing his name are expected also to exhibit these outstanding qualities.
“Tasha exemplifies professional excellence and embodies the high qualities consistent with membership in the Bouchet Society,” said Clarke, interim director of Georgetown's Biomedical Graduate Research Organization and leader of Lombardi’s Breast Cancer Program. “She brings great honor to our lab and to GUMC. She’ll be a loyal member of the Society and will be a stellar advocate for its mission.”
Crawford graduated magna cum laude from Spelman College in Atlanta,with a B.S. in biology with honors. In 2007, she was selected as a Minority in Cancer Research Scholar by the American Association for Cancer Research.
Crawford credits her own mentor Rebecca Riggins, Ph.D, with helping her advance her research. “I believe that my scholarship, leadership, character, service, and advocacy will help me become an accomplished breast cancer research scientist and more importantly a successful mentor,” she said. She added that she will continue to work in her community and as an advocate for increasing the presence of minorities in Ph.D. programs in the field of biomedical research. The induction ceremony will take place on March 29, during the Yale Bouchet Diversity in Graduate Education Conference in New Haven.
About Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center
The Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of Georgetown University Medical Center and Georgetown University Hospital, seeks to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer through innovative basic and clinical research, patient care, community education and outreach, and the training of cancer specialists of the future. Lombardi is one of only 39 comprehensive cancer centers in the nation, as designated by the National Cancer Institute, and the only one in the Washington, DC, area. For more information, go to http://lombardi.georgetown.edu.
About Georgetown University Medical Center
Georgetown University Medical Center is an internationally recognized academic medical center with a three-part mission of research, teaching and patient care (through our partnership with MedStar Health). Our mission is carried out with a strong emphasis on public service and a dedication to the Catholic, Jesuit principle of cura personalis -- or "care of the whole person." The Medical Center includes the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing and Health Studies, both nationally ranked, the world-renowned Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Biomedical Graduate Research Organization (BGRO), home to 60 percent of the university’s sponsored research funding.