Lataisia Jones becomes first African-American student to earn Ph.D in Biomedical Sciences

Dr. Lataisia C. Jones has become the first African-American student to graduate from Florida State University with a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences. She bravely follows in the footsteps of those women who have come before her, while creating her own path in the field of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).

There’s a long history of love between Jones and the STEM field. Her mother discovered her affinity for science when she pulled her off the basketball team for being too talkative in her science classes. After completing an internship during her freshman year of college, she was confident in her pursuit of a career in the STEM field.

Prior to beginning her time at Florida State University, Jones attended Virginia State University on the pre-med track. Virginia State University is an HBCU—historically black college or university—located in Petersburg, Virginia with currently approximately 4,600 students. Her Ph.D. research is about evaluating neurological movement disorders using bimolecular techniques. It covers anything and everything that applies towards advancing the medical field. It’s this broadness that Jones loves the most about the STEM field.

According to the FSU College of Medicine as of 2014, amongst the 4,923 graduate students in U.S. neurobiology/neuroscience programs, only 163 were black or African-American.

“My goal is to always connect with Virginia State University and leave a lasting impression,” Jones said. “To have minorities feel brave enough to succeed in a world that is dominated by others. It brings me so much happiness when others look at me and say, ‘Tay did it, so I can do it too.’ It’s something about the foundation that I was provided at VSU that gave me the gas in the vehicle to attain one of my goals.”

“The people who inspire me first and foremost are my family,” Jones said, who is the only person in her family to earn a Ph.D. “My mom retired from the military, and during her time she was a Senior Chief. At the time, it was dope to see a black person excel like that.”

“Black Girl Magic” which has been popularized as a social media hashtag, is a phrase that captures the essence of black women, their unlimited capabilities and accomplishments. When it was time to show the world that a black woman is capable of being classy, graceful, educated, but still has room to grow, Michelle Obama rose to the forefront. When it was time to show the world that black women can break barriers in music and videos, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Rihanna and Beyoncé stepped …

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