NIH Black Scientists Association Establishes Memorial Scholarship
The NIH Black Scientists Association has established the Cheryl Torrence-Campbell Scholarship. The scholarships will be awarded annually to minority students in the Washington, D.C., area who are entering their freshman year at a college or university and who will be pursuing a science-related major. The first two scholarships of $1,000 each will be awarded on Saturday, Nov. 20 at the annual NIHBSA Scholarship Dinner Dance fundraiser at Andrews Air Force Base, 8 p.m. to midnight.
The scholarship was established in honor of Dr. Cheryl Torrence-Campbell, an IRTA fellow from 1993 to 1996 in the research group of Dr. Wayne Bowen, NIDDK Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry, where she carried out research on sigma receptors. In 1996, she took a position as assistant professor of biology in the department of biology at Morgan State University, one of the nation's historically Black universities. There she taught biology and physiology and continued her sigma receptor work in her own laboratory as well as in the capacity of special volunteer at NIDDK.
Torrence-Campbell was a dedicated teacher, mentor and role model to minority students. She was involved in increasing the number of minorities, particularly African Americans, entering careers in the biological sciences. She will also be remembered as a servant to the community outside the world of science, particularly for founding a Girl Scout troop at Union Temple Baptist Church in southeast Washington, D.C., along with her close friend, Nancy Blunt. Torrence-Campbell and Blunt were both killed in an automobile accident on Nov. 14, 1998, when trying to avoid a deer on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. For more information regarding the scholarships or the fundraiser on Nov. 20, contact Thelma Gaither at tg5y@nih.gov. For information on the NIHBSA, visit the Web site at http://www.nih.gov/science/blacksci/index.html
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