Alissa Myrick, PhD
Molecular & Cell Biology, UC Berkeley
BSP Class of 1996
by Sandra Takei, current BSP Member
After about a week of e-mail tag, BSP alumna Alissa Myrick and I were finally able to find time for a phone interview for the first ever BSP student profiles. I called Alissa in her home in San Francisco as she was on her way to a Giants game. Alissa also gave the keynote address at the Fall 2004 BSP Orientation.
Sandra: Okay, so let's start with the easy stuff.
Alissa: Sounds good to me.
Sandra: Where are you from?
Alissa: A little bit of everywhere actually. My father worked for the US State Department in the Foreign Service, so my family spent a lot of time traveling outside the US. For example, I was born in France. Then we moved to Jamaica, then Panama, and finally Australia where we lived for about 5 years. My parents split up around that time. My mom moved to Berkeley and I went to high school in Oakland. But my dad still traveled so I got to spend my summers in Greece.
Sandra: Wow, so you really have grown up everywhere. A lot of people would envy you.
Alissa: True, but you can't help who your parents are. Mine just happened to travel a lot and were able to give me these incredible opportunities to see the world.
Sandra: That's amazing. So what was your favorite place to live?
Alissa: I think I'd have to say Sydney, Australia. We lived there for about 5 years. The scenery is amazing and people have a really cool attitude to life down there.
On Family, Biology, and UC Berkeley
Sandra: Are you an only child or do you have siblings?
Alissa: I've got 2 older brothers. Both of them are Cal alumni actually. One majored in Conservation and Resource Management, I think, he studied ecology while he was at Cal and my other brother majored in Asian studies.
Sandra: Was that what made you want to go to Cal?
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Alissa: It might have had something to do with it.
Sandra: So what did make you decide to go to Cal? Did you apply anywhere else?
Alissa: Yeah, I did. I applied a few universities but I really wanted to go to Brown, I was accepted there and I liked the school a lot but it came down to finances. I was awarded the Regents scholarship so Berkeley seemed like the best choice so that my Mom could still put me through school without placing too much of a financial burden on her.
Sandra: What year did you graduate?
Alissa: I graduated in December of 1996 majoring in molecular and cell biology with a cell and developmental biology emphasis.
Sandra: Do you remember what got you interested in biology?
Alissa: I pretty much knew that I wanted to study biology in high school. Although I "discovered" that I had an interest in infectious disease while I was an undergraduate at Cal. Like most freshmen, I was pre-med.
Sandra: Then what changed your mind?
Alissa: At Cal there were basically 3 things that happened to me that changed my mind about going to medical school. The first thing was that I got involved with the Multicultural AIDS Peer Education Program (MAPP) at the Tang Center. I was interested in MAPP because I wanted to learn more about HIV/AIDS and public health prevention strategies. MAPP was an awesome experience because I got to see first-hand how public health can help prevent the spread of disease—I also saw how important health education is—in terms of giving people the choice to practice safer behavior...plus it's always fun to hand out condoms on Sproul! The second thing I did at Cal that got me thinking was doing research on breast cancer with a professor I'm not sure is still there, Dr. Nandi.
Sandra: We actually had a couple BSPers working in his lab but he's retiring soon.
Alissa: I expected that he'd be getting close to retirement. It doesn't surprise me that there are other BSPers working there either. One of the senior researchers, Raphael Guzman, has been involved with BSP from the beginning.
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The last and probably the most important thing was BSP. I don't know if students still do this but I used to go into John's (the BSP director) office just to talk. John's great and he really cares about the students. Talking to John helped me refine my focus. I'd tell him what I was interested in and he'd take a minute and say "You know Alissa, you say that that you want to go to medical school but from what you're telling me it doesn't sound like this is really the area that you're interested in." That got me thinking and he was right. So, I decided to do graduate work in public health instead of medical school. I did my graduate work at Harvard and got my Ph.D. in biological sciences in public health.
On BSP
Sandra: Taking a step back, how did you find out about the BSP?
Alissa: I was in the very first BSP class. I guess that was about 10 years ago now. At the time the BSP was just getting started and John basically contacted all the groups on campus that promoted diversity in science: PDP (Professional Development Program), MESA and a whole bunch of other programs. The PDP provides academic support for students of color. They do things like teach these intense math courses since students of color typically score lower in math. I guess the PDP gave John their mailing list and I got a letter in the mail. Then we met up and had lunch in the GBC, Golden Bear Café, and talked about the program, and what I wanted to do. I liked what I heard so I became a BSPer.
Sandra: Any fun BSP memories you'd like to share?
Alissa: Wow, I could really embarrass a lot of people here. No, I think that since this is going on a public webpage I'd better not.
Sandra: I can respect that. What do you think was the biggest thing you took away from the program?
Alissa: I'd have to say, without a doubt, it is the people, the friends I made. I made some really awesome friends who are still my friends and now are my colleagues and peers. It's amazing how strong a support network that the BSP provided. I can still call up the people I was in the BSP with and we're all in the same boat. I call up my friend Fred to talk about graduate school and careers and we'll say, "Alright, we'll take each other to dinner when this is all over." Having that kind of support network opens so many doors later on.
Sandra: What are you working on now?
Alissa: Well, right now I'm doing a post-doc in Phil Rosenthal's lab. I've always been interested in infectious disease, since I did my undergraduate work at Cal. I'm weird I love interdisciplinary work. I also like to study diseases that disproportionately affect people of color. I studied malaria during my PhD, and was interested in continuing in malaria or some other infectious disease for my post-doc. So I looked for a lab that was great with advanced molecular biology but also strong clinical work. My current project is trying to define the molecular mechanisms of drug resistance by studying patterns we identify from field isolates and correlating clinical data. I recently spent 2 months in Uganda collecting samples for some preliminary studies and I'll probably be going back sometime next year for a more extensive study.
Last Word
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Wow, you're kind of putting me on the spot. Hmmm…last words. Ok, I've got it. Probably the best advice I can give undergraduates, or anybody, is: when you're trying to figure out what you want to do, don't think in terms of categories or careers. I know that's something that is really easy to do at a place like Cal. Really list what's important to you, whether that be a stable career so you can support your family or a career where you can help others or make a difference in the world. Rather than saying "I want to be a doctor" think about what's important to you like "I want to help people, I want to make a difference in the community, I want to help people who look like me" or whatever your passion is. Do what's important to you and see where that takes you. At Cal, especially, it's easy to get caught up in an identity when the people around you, counselors and parents, want to know exactly what you want to do with your life, right now. Doing the things that are important to you and listing what you want to do will save you a lot of pain later on. People just don't fit into simple boxes.
