Dr. Lydia Villa-Komaroff

Dr. Lydia Villa-Komaroff was nine years old when she first decided she wanted to become a scientist because she liked finding things out. Her uncle, who had a Master's Degree, owned a laboratory and she would go there with him. As she was growing up her parents and grandmother were role models for her. Her mother was a teacher in college and a social worker and her father was a violinist in an orchestra. Her grandmother was more attracted to nature. She had many natural history books and Dr. Villa-Komaroff would read them and immediately became fascinated with science.

Dr. Villa-Komaroff was skeptical of math so, at first, she didn't want to apply to a "high tech" school. She began her college education at the University of Washington at Seattle, but later transferred to Goucher College in Maryland to be closer to her boyfriend, Anthony Komaroff, who had just been offered a job in Bethesda, MD. The two were married after Dr. Komaroff finished her undergraduate degree. When Tony took a residency at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, MA, she decided to look at graduate schools in the area and was eventually accepted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Once enrolled there, she became the third Mexican-American woman to earn a science Ph.D. in the U.S. She also studied biology in graduate school. Setting up labs and working on viruses was one of her obligations alongside teaching students. She says that in getting good grades in college makes it a lot easier to get through college.

She was a founding member of the Society of the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans while she was on the road to becoming a scientist. This was a very major step for Dr. Villa-Komaroff. She felt that she needed to start this group to get more Native Americans and Chicanos involved in the important field of science.

Dr. Villa-Komaroff says that once someone reaches their goals they always have new ones. However, she did say that one of her greatest achievements just happened to be in the field of science. She discovered how to make human insulin in bacteria and did post doctorate work on the subject. Insulin is a chemical made by the body that helps the body use sugar. People whose bodies cannot make insulin need to get it as a shot. She also says that it is an amazing feeling to have something in front of you that you know no one else knows.

Currently, Dr. Villa-Komaroff is the Vice President for Research and Chief Operating Officer (COO) at the Whitehead Institute. A COO is an executive of a corporation who is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the company. Even though it may seem like this is her first time in running a business, it certainly is not. She has studied management at the Sloan School of Management, and before her work at Whitehead, she was the vice president for research at Northwestern University in Chicago. This is when she first learned how to manage an office environment. She looks back on this experience and is glad for all it taught her about management.