Marian Johnson-Thompson

Johnson-Thompson was born in Boston. She moved to Riviera Beach, Florida as a child, where she attended high school. As an undergraduate student at Howard University, Johnson-Thompson specialised in microbiology, and graduated with a master's degree in 1971.[1] She moved to Georgetown University for her graduate studies, where she focussed on molecular virology.[1] Only a few years after segregation, Johnson-Thompson was the first American-born Black person to complete the graduate programme.[1] She completed her doctoral research in the Georgetown University Medical Center in 1978.[2]

Johnson-Thompson's research spanned several different aspects of virology. Initiatlly, she studied the mechanisms of action of the azacytidine against SV40. She has also investigated the impact of UV laser therapy on the stability of viral DNA, a proposed treatment for human papillomavirus infection. She has studied the molecular mechanisms that underpin breast cancer, showing that women of colour were most likely to suffer from environmental-induced breast cancer.[3] This study alerted her to the need for minority sciences to be better represented in medical research.[3]

After retiring from University of the District of Columbia in 1994, Johnson-Thompson joined the National Institutes of Health as the Director of Education and Biomedical Research Development at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences,[1][4] where she was responsible for clinical trials, including the Sister Study, which looked to understand the environmental causes of breast cancer.[4] She found that African-American women were more likely to have more delayed cancer treatment diagnoses, as well as more prolonged treatment.[5]

Johson-Thompson established a scholarship at Howard University which supports women scientists from marginalised groups.[1] The scholarship was named after Marie Taylor.[1] In 1997 Johnson-Thompson established the Bridging Education Science and Technology Program at Hillside High School, introducing high school students to molecular biology.[1]

• 1975 Outstanding Young Woman of America[6]
• 1998 Elected Fellow of the American Society for Microbiology[1]
• 1999 ONI Award from the International Congress of Black Women[7]
• 2003 Thurgood Marshall Alumni Award[8]
• 2004 Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science[1]
• 2004 Appointed Professor Emerita of Biology and Environmental at the University of the District of Columbia[9]
• 2004 Appointed adjunct Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of NC-Chapel Hill[9]
• 2004 American Society for Microbiology Alice C. Evans Award[10]
• 2012 Elected to the Board of Trustees at Howard University[4][6]
• 2018 Appointed Vice Chair of the North Carolina Environmental Justice and Equity Board[11]

• Johnson‐Thompson, Marian C.; Guthrie, Janet (2000). "Ongoing research to identify environmental risk factors in breast carcinoma". Cancer. 88 (S5): 1224–1229. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0142(20000301)88:5+<1224::AID-CNCR8>3.0.CO;2-H. ISSN 1097-0142.
• Newman, Lisa A.; Pollock, Raphael E.; Johnson‐Thompson, Marian C. (2003). "Increasing the pool of academically oriented African-American medical and surgical oncologists". Cancer. 97 (S1): 329–334. doi:10.1002/cncr.11027. hdl:2027.42/34372. ISSN 1097-0142. PMID 12491497. S2CID 21616777.

Johnson-Thompson is married with two children.[1]