I am a
PHYSICIAN SCIENTIST
At Diosa Ara
Yamicia Connor, MD, PhD
This scientist was part of our original collection.*A few features may be different.
Yamicia Connor
She/Her
“It is not the kids who need to change; it is the system that needs to change.”
Since she was a little girl creating plays for all of her friends to perform in, Dr. Yamicia Connor has always been the type to go above and beyond. Especially if it makes people’s lives a little bit better.
She knew she wanted to be a doctor, but at some point in high school she realized that she didn’t actually know what doctors did. After landing a spot in a coveted program that brought students to MIT, a whole new world of possibilities opened up. And a whole new goal.
She discovered the scientific side of medicine, and a few years later, she became a student in that same program that inspired her.
Soon, she was asked to begin tutoring other students who could one day follow in her footsteps. True to her nature, this wasn’t quite good enough. There was more need than she could fill, and rather than wait for someone else to do it, she created a program to hire and train a full team of tutors to support the kids. All the while, in her own classes, she was learning everything she could about science and medicine.
By graduate school, a new challenge had caught her attention: women’s health.
She learned that some cancers specifically impact women’s bodies, and many of these are very poorly studied. That means that the outcomes for the women who develop these cancers are much worse than they could be.
If she became a doctor, as she’d planned, she could treat the cancers, but would be limited by the lack of knowledge currently available. And if she became a scientist, she might be able to push our understanding forward, but science is slow, and it could take a very long time to see results.
Neither option was quite good enough on its own. So naturally, she chose both.
Today, Dr. Connor still goes above and beyond for the people in her life. Whether she’s planning elaborate parties for her friends, continuing to mentor students, filling in the gaps in our knowledge of how women’s cancers work, or helping patients to heal with the best tools available, one goal still drives her:
Don’t give up until it’s good enough.
Notable Accomplishments:
MD & PhD in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics at Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
AACR Woman in Cancer Research Scholar Award
The
basics:
Expertise: Women’s Cancer Researcher
Title: Physician Scientist
Institution: Diosa Ara
I am a party-loving doctor who’s fighting to cure cancer in women.
ENTERTAINING FRIENDS
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COOKING
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VOLLEYBALL
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RELAXING AT HOME
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SUPPORTING STUDENTS
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ENTERTAINING FRIENDS • COOKING • VOLLEYBALL • RELAXING AT HOME • SUPPORTING STUDENTS •
things I love:
WHAT I DO
i am a PHYSICIAN SCIENTist
My goal is to seek new knowledge about women’s health, health equity, and cancer through research.
I study cancer cells in a lab.
I work at a hospital where I use microscopes and computers to study cancer cells. I also work with patients to test new cancer treatments.
I examine every cell very carefully.
Cancer cells are like aliens and they highjack other cells. They adapt very quickly, so they can be difficult to treat. There’s no one cure for cancer.
I work between science and surgery.
I’m trained as both a medical doctor and a researcher, which gives me unique insights and tools to both work with patients and study questions about improving human health.
MY WHY
Studying both medicine and science can be a very valuable way to learn how to fight diseases.
I WANT TO KNOW:
How do we tackle the cancers that specifically affect women?
How do we use medicine to improve the lives of women?
MY ADVICE
a little about me
I have very different personalities when I’m at work and when I’m at home.
I'm someone who thrives on balance and variety. On one hand, I love dressing up for nights out with friends and being social. On the other, I'm equally content curled up at home on the couch listening to Beyoncé. While my spelling may not always be spot-on, my passion for grilling and cooking is unmatched. I was a pretty serious kid growing up. I even once competed in a robot competition.
MY PATH TO SCIENCE
A Unique Kid
Growing up in Florida, I was a serious kid who stressed about the little things. I was into my schoolwork and loved to put on plays with my friends where I orchestrated the whole thing and assigned everyone a role. Even though I was very focused and independent as a child, I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up.
Taking Advantage of Opportunities
My first job was at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville Florida, where I learned about the technical side of science. I worked there during my senior year of high school. I thought I wanted to be a doctor, even though I really had no idea what a doctor actually did. I just wanted to help people and thought that was a way to do it.
Going Above and Beyond
While in high school, I attended a program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston. I loved it and ended up going there for college, where I earned degrees in Biology and Chemical & Biological Engineering. When I was asked to help tutor kids, I realized there was a need for more tutors. So I started “Tech Tutors” which brought experts together to tutor kids, help with career planning, and consult with schools on programming.
Focusing on Women
I went to grad school to get both a M.D. and Ph.D. so that I could study medical conditions and work directly with patients to test treatments. I became insterested in cancer, specifically women’s cancer, because it’s so complex and hard to study. I realized the was a huge gap in our knowledge of cancers that affect women.
From the Lab to the Patient
I now work on research that directly impacts cancer treatments for women. I want to fill in gaps in our understanding of how cancer works. I plan to continue to work as both a scientist, which will enable me to research problems, and as a medical doctor, which will improve my ability to design studies that are practical and can directly help patients.
I study Physician Science
Physician Scientists devote regular components of their professional effort seeking new knowledge about health, disease, or delivery of patient care through research.
INTRODUCING
MEDICAL RESEARCH
What is medical research? Why does it matter?
Did you know that, back in the 1800s, doctors used to treat patients with fevers and some other ailments by letting leeches “suck the bad blood” out of their bodies? Thankfully, this practice is no longer common as we now understand more about how the immune system works to reduce fevers without getting rid of our blood. But where do our doctors get their updated knowledge on how to take care of us when we get sick? The recommendations taught in medical schools for how to treat illnesses, including cancer, are changing all the time. This is thanks to ongoing medical research, or experimental medicine.
Medical conditions are complex and need to be studied in both clinical and laboratory settings to truly understand what makes people sick so that we can help them get well. In a clinical setting, one way this happens might be by tracking the symptoms and conditions of many patients throughout the course of their illness to try to understand how one set of ailments leads to another, and which interventions helped. In the laboratory setting, this might mean collecting tissue samples from cancer patients and examining them under a microscope in the laboratory to better understand how the cells divide and multiply to create tumors, and what sorts of drugs or other treatments can stop or slow this uncontrolled growth. This medical research then feeds into pharmaceutical research that helps develop drug treatments to cure diseases.
These are all scientific methods that help our doctors know what to expect when we get sick and what to do to help us get better.
Career Resources
Every scientist’s path is unique, and the right resources can make all of the difference. Below are a selection of resources that may be helpful for those who are interested in areas of science that are related to Yamicia’s work.
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Industry careers
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Career paths
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Careers in cancer research
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Computer science meets cancer research
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Chemistry meets cancer research
“You may not always be the best, but you know you [can] always strive to be the best.”
— Yamicia Connor, PHD
KEEP EXPLORING
Here are some resources we recommend for diving deeper into themes from this story.
Medical & Health Sciences
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