The Adventures of Meg A. Mole, Future Chemist Meg celebrates the International Year of Chemistry 2011 and Interviews Dr. Sherita D. McLamore-Hines F or the 4th quarter of the International Year of Chemistry (IYC) 2011, I did not go too far from home! My first trip was to visit Dr. Sherita D. McLamore-Hines, a chemist with the Food and Drug Administration (also know as the FDA) in Maryland! She works in the Office of New Drug Quality Assessment. The first thing I wanted to know from Dr. McLamore-Hines was what is the FDA and what does she do there. She explained, If you ve ever heard an advertisement for a drug that says FDA Approved that s my job! As a review chemist at the FDA, my job is to review (look at) new drug applications to be sure that these drugs are safe to go on the market. I only look at prescription medicines, but there are many drugs that you may take without a prescription that are FDA approved. The portion of the application that I look at contains information about the quality of the drug like how and where the drug is made, the formulation, and the tests they have done to ensure that the drug is safe. I have worked on several drugs that have made it to market, but keep in mind that only drugs that are safe and effective will make it to the consumer (that s you!), so not every drug that comes to the FDA makes it to the market. In addition to looking at the drug applications, sometimes we get to visit the sites where the drug is being made. This is always exciting! The part she likes most about her job is investigating the unknown. Next time you are in a doctor s office or a drug store, rember all of the hard work she did to help get all of the new medicines for everyone! Dr. McLamore-Hines says that she was absolutely interested in science growing up. She told me, When I was young, most of my experiments were done in school. My experiments ranged from projects dealing with eletricity to projects with animals. Now, whenever I get a chance to speak to young people and demonstrate my love for chemistry, I like doing experiments with dry ice! She also told me that chemistry and math were her favorite subjects in school. She explained, I loved both science and math in school, but I felt that I had the best future with science because science (specifically chemistry) is everywhere! Yes, she was right- chemistry is everywhere! Personal Profile: Dr. Sherita D. McLamore-Hines Accomplishment you are proud of? My children Birth date? May 14 About your family? Husband, Malcolm, two sons Manaen (18), Dimone (14) and one daughter Jasmine (12).They are my world.
THE ADVENTURES OF Meg A.Mole FUTURE CHEMIST Featured Chemist: Dr. Helen Free Bayer HealthCare, Diagnostics Division, Elkhart, IN Meg In honor of National Chemistry Week, and celebrating health and wellness, I got to travel all the way to Indiana to meet Dr. Helen Free! Dr. Free works for Bayer HealthCare, Diagnostics Division, Self-Testing Segment. I had no idea what self-testing meant, but I was really looking forward to finding out! Dr. Free is an inventor! She has been a chemist for over 60 years. In those years she has invented many products used by doctors offices and hospitals to test urine and blood for diseases. Self-testing, or testing yourself, is very important for people who have diseases. People with diabetes or kidney problems depend on these tests to let them know how their organs are working. Two of the self-tests at Bayer are Clinistix and Multistix. Clinistix let you know how much glucose (sugar) is in your urine! The Multistix strips test for ten different things in your urine including glucose, protein, blood, and other physical characteristics. The scientific name for the chemical compounds you are testing for is analytes. One other test she showed me was called Breeze. It was a small tear-drop shaped instrument that takes a drop of blood and tests it for glucose. It times the test by itself and tells you the amount of glucose in the blood when the test is done! Dr. Free and I read a book that she uses when visiting schools. Dr. Free used to work in a laboratory, but now has an office and computer. She spends a lot of her time talking to children in schools. She wants to let them know what the signs of diabetes are: being hungry all the time but losing weight, being thirsty all of the time and going to the bathroom often. She tells children about what we can do to prevent diabetes and other bad medical conditions. We must eat healthy foods to keep us from getting overweight, or obese as doctors say. We must also exercise by playing active games instead of watching too much TV. Type 2 diabetes used to be found mostly in adults, but is becoming more common in children and young adults because of the increase in obesity in our age group. Dr. Free told me a story about when she gave a talk on the signs of diabetes to a girls science camp. A little girl from the camp told her mother that she had the signs of diabetes. She had remembered the signs from the talk and because of this, her mother took her to the doctor. The doctor tested her blood sugar and found out that it was indeed very high. The little girl helped to diagnose her diabetes just from listening to Dr. Free s talk! American Chemical Society 2004 Membership Division Office of Community Activities 1155 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036 email meg@acs.org or call 800-227-5558, ext. 6187 chemistry.org/kids
THE ADVENTURES OF Meg A.Mole FUTURE CHEMIST Featured Chemist: Dr. Helen Free Page 2 Meg Dr. Free and I use a digital glucometer. Before I left, I asked Dr. Free what made her want to go into science. She said she originally wanted to be an English teacher but changed to chemistry while in college because it was fun and exciting. She has made such significant contributions to our field and has even been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Her decision to become a chemist has helped millions of people and I m proud that she s an outstanding member and volunteer of the American Chemical Society. If you have any questions about my visit, you can write to me at meg@acs.org. Dr. Free shows me how a urinalysis test strip is read. Personal Profile: Dr. Helen Free What is your favorite food? Japanese food What is your favorite color? Red When is your birthday? February 20 What is your favorite pastime? Traveling to other countries. I have been to more than 31 different countries. How big is your family? I have a wonderful large family and we often have family reunions. I have 6 children, 3 stepchildren, 15 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren! Were you interested in science when you were growing up? Yes, I was interested in all school subjects when I was growing up. I always asked WHY did this happen, WHAT causes this, or HOW else could you do that? What do you like about your job? All the different things I get to do. The joy of figuring out how to solve problems in the lab and how to design experiments to answer specific questions that would help people who had different diseases. American Chemical Society 2004 Membership Division Office of Community Activities 1155 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036 email meg@acs.org or call 800-227-5558, ext. 6187 chemistry.org/kids
THE ADVENTURES OF MEG A. MOLE FUTURE CHEMIST I made my NCW 08 journey all the way to Princeton University! I met a scientist there who enjoyed cross country running in high school and is now working hard to create molecules that will be helpful in treating diseases. Dr. Erik Sorensen, a synthetic chemist, was kind enough to invite me to spend the day with him at Princeton. Featured Chemist: Dr. Erik SorensEn Dr. Sorensen s laboratory focuses on mixing chemicals together to try to create ones that are the same as those found in nature. Some of the molecules that they are trying to create are those that are found in bacteria, trees, the ocean, etc. The molecules he is most interested in are those that might be useful for treating diseases. Aside from working in the laboratory, Dr. Sorensen spends a lot of time in his office and at the library. I was able to visit some of the wonderful libraries at Princeton during my trip. When asked what he liked most about his job, Dr. Sorensen told me he enjoyed the opportunity and freedom to generate ideas about chemistry and then seeing if those ideas can be realized. Also, he really enjoys contributing to the I watched carefully as Dr. Sorensen prepared a solution in his laboratory. chemical education of young students and being around them when they do their own discoveries. One of Dr. Sorensen s high school students placed 2nd in the Westinghouse [now Intel] science contest! He said it is very satisfying when they go off and get good jobs, etc. When kids take medicine, they should think about how it was created or discovered. Dr. Sorensen has been very successful in his research career. One interesting project he was a part of while he was in graduate school was being part of a team that synthesized a drug called Taxol. Taxol is effective for several types of cancer and has saved many lives. Dr. Sorensen and his team were the first to synthesize it, and there was lots of media coverage. Now it is made semi-synthetically from a renewable sources. The source is in the needles of a tree related to the original tree species in which Taxol was found. American Chemical Society Office of Community Activities 1155 16th Street NW, Washington DC 20036 1-800-227-5558 www.acs.org/outreach
THE ADVENTURES OF MEG A. MOLE FUTURE CHEMIST Although a highly successful chemist, Dr. Sorensen did not find his interest in the sciences early on. His favorite pastimes included drumming and cross country running, and he did not find his passion for chemistry until his college years. Dr. Sorensen told me he had a fantastic teacher during his junior year in college. It was then that he became fascinated by the world of chemical reactivity and the threedimensional nature of molecules. To read more about Dr. Sorensen s research, a full article is available at: http://preview.tinyurl.com/6o5k7t Featured Chemist: Dr. Erik Sorensen Did You Know? A synthetic chemist makes molecules from smaller ones that already exist. Dr. Sorensen and I took a break to pose for a quick photo. Personal Profile: Dr. Erik Sorensen Favorite food? My mom s macaroni and cheese When is your birthday? December 27th Favorite Pastime? Drumming and running What is an accomplishment you are proud of? My students and their accomplishments About your family? I m married (to a chemist) and have a 3-year-old daughter American Chemical Society Office of Community Activities 1155 16th Street NW, Washington DC 20036 1-800-227-5558 www.acs.org/outreach