“Excellence Unveiled at UNC with Chancellor Lee Roberts” is a series on 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Each episode shines a light on members of the Carolina community and the outstanding work they do. Listen to the full episode below, or read the complete transcript.
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In the fourth installment of Excellence Unveiled, listen to Jasmine King, a research assistant professor in the UNC-NC State Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, discuss cutting-edge cancer treatments, advancements in women’s health, and what brought her to to her current vocation.
Jasmine King, research assistant professor in the UNC-NC State Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering
“The research that I’m currently involved in [is] centered around cancer research in women’s health. As a graduate student, a lot of my work centered around optimizing drug delivery strategies for brain cancer. This is really near and dear to me, particularly because I grew up in a rural area where a lot of people didn’t really have access to care, particularly Black women. For me to be working in the area of women’s health and then pairing that with cancer research, particularly breast cancer research, and really wanting to delve into cervical cancer. I’m just super excited to do the research that I do. I think that there is a huge unmet need for women’s health, and what better way [than] to have women researchers working in women’s health?
I was raised by my grandmother, who didn’t have more than a fifth-grade education, so I knew for myself that I either wanted to be in the medical field or in the research field to increase access to care for women or increase research opportunities that would target Black women, in particular, or women as a whole. Being raised by my grandmother and seeing her battle with breast cancer, colon cancer and a lot of other chronic conditions, for me, I knew that I would pursue a field, whether it was centered around the medical field or research.
To be able to be where I am today, making a change and trying to bridge the gap and increase access to care for women’s health, I’m just super excited. And I hope that I can continue on the path and make a particular product that can actually be on the market one day.”
Click here to learn more about the UNC-NC State Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering
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