Marian Johnson-Thompson
Molecular virologist, research director, and professor Marian Cecelia Johnson-Thompson was born in Boston, Massachusetts on December 9, 1946. She grew up in Rivera Beach, Florida. After graduating from high school in 1956, Johnson-Thompson enrolled at Howard University and graduated from there with her B.S. degree in microbiology in 1969 and her M.S. degree in microbiology in 1971. She went on to earn her Ph.D. in molecular virology from Georgetown University Medical School in 1978.
Upon graduation, Johnson-Thompson was hired by the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) where she became a Professor of Biology in 1995. She also served as an adjunct professor of Pharmacology at Georgetown University, and as an adjunct professor in the Department of Botany at Howard University. In addition, Johnson-Thompson held appointments as a visiting scientist at the Lawrence Livermore Radiation Laboratory, and as a molecular virologist at the National Cancer Institute. In 1992, Johnson-Thompson was appointed as the Director of Education and Biomedical Research Development for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). While there, she developed K-12 STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education programs as well as minority training programs. Her major initiatives include the Bridging Education, Science and Technology (BEST) Program, Advanced Research Cooperation in Environmental Health (ARCH) program. Her publications include over forty-five articles, book chapters and abstracts that focus on training, mentoring, and developing public policy to advance underrepresented groups in STEM fields. In 2004, Johnson-Thompson was named Professor Emerita of Biology and Environmental Sciences at UDC and she began serving as an adjunct professor in the School of Public Health at the University of NC-Chapel Hill.
Johnson-Thompson served as chair of the NIEHS Institutional Review Board for the protection of human subjects. At the national level, she served as a member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Human Subjects Research Advisory Committee and the Trans-NIH Human Microbiome Working Group. Johnson-Thomson is a life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and the International Congress of Black Women. In 1978, she was a founding member of the National Network of Minority Women in Science.
Her awards and honors include the Alice C. Evans Award from the American Society for Microbiology in 2004 for her contributions to the advancement and full participation of women in microbiology. Johnson-Thompson was elected as a Fellow in the American Academy of Microbiology in 1998 and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2001.
Marian Johnson-Thompson was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on May 7, 2013.
A2013.112
Female
5/7/2013
Johnson-Thompson
Married
Cecilia
Georgetown University
University of Maryland
Marian
Boston
JOH43
Spring
Massachusetts
Jamaica
To whom much is given, much is required.

North Carolina
12/9/1946
Durham
United States
All Food
Molecular virologist Marian Johnson-Thompson (1946 - ) , Director of Education and Biomedical Research Development for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, is Professor Emerita of Biology and Environmental Sciences at the University of the District of Columbia.
National Institute of Health (NIH)
University of the District of Columbia
Pharmacology Dept., Georgetown University
Lab of Bio Chemistry, National Cancer Institute, NIH
Howard University Department of Botany
Space Sciences Div, General Electric
Red
Tape: 1 Story: 1 - Slating of Marian Johnson-Thompson's interview
Tape: 1 Story: 2 - Marian Johnson-Thompson lists her favorites
Tape: 1 Story: 3 - Marian Johnson-Thompson describes her mother's family background - part one
Tape: 1 Story: 4 - Marian Johnson-Thompson describes her mother's family background - part two
Tape: 1 Story: 5 - Marian Johnson-Thompson describes her mother's growing up in Texas
Tape: 1 Story: 6 - Marian Johnson-Thompson describes her father's family background
Tape: 1 Story: 7 - Marian Johnson-Thompson describes her father's education and his employment at the USO in Galveston, Texas
Tape: 1 Story: 8 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about her father's medical training
Tape: 2 Story: 1 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about her father's medical practice, his death and the help that she received from his friend
Tape: 2 Story: 2 - Marian Johnson-Thompson describes how her parents met
Tape: 2 Story: 3 - Marian Johnson-Thompson describes her parents' personalities and who she takes after
Tape: 2 Story: 4 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about her siblings, and living with her father in Clewiston, Florida, in the first grade
Tape: 2 Story: 5 - Marian Johnson-Thompson describes her earliest childhood memories
Tape: 2 Story: 6 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about spending her childhood in Boston and Florida, and her parents' complicated relationship
Tape: 2 Story: 7 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about starting school in Boston, Massachusetts and Clewiston, Florida
Tape: 2 Story: 8 - Marian Johnson-Thompson describes the sights, sounds and smells of growing up
Tape: 2 Story: 9 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about being aware of her parents' complicated relationship as a child
Tape: 2 Story: 10 - Marian Johnson-Thompson describes her experience in the fourth grade in Miami, Florida
Tape: 3 Story: 1 - Marian Johnson-Thompson describes her experience in grade school in Clewiston, Florida
Tape: 3 Story: 2 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about living with her stepmother, and her father's death in 1961
Tape: 3 Story: 3 - Marian Johnson-Thompson describes her experience in high school
Tape: 3 Story: 4 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about her father's microscope, and her extracurricular activities in high school
Tape: 3 Story: 5 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about applying to Howard University, and her stepmother's denial of her family's inheritance
Tape: 3 Story: 6 - Marian Johnson-Thompson describes her experience at Howard University and talks about her godparents
Tape: 3 Story: 7 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about her teachers and scholars at Howard University
Tape: 4 Story: 1 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about HistoryMakers LaSalle Leffall, Georgia Dunston and Agnes Day at Howard University
Tape: 4 Story: 2 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about HistoryMaker LaSalle Leffall at Howard University
Tape: 4 Story: 3 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about anthropologist Montague Cobb, the rise of Black Power in America and the civil rights era in the late 1960s
Tape: 4 Story: 4 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about pledging Delta Sigma Theta sorority, and how it helped her to improve her academic performance at Howard University
Tape: 4 Story: 5 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King
Tape: 4 Story: 6 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about the political activism at Howard University in the 1960s
Tape: 4 Story: 7 - Marian Johnson-Thompson describes her decision to pursue a master's degree in microbiology at Howard University
Tape: 4 Story: 8 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about her master's thesis research on the ultrastructure of the fungus, Neurospora crassa
Tape: 4 Story: 9 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about being appointed as an instructor of biology at the University of District of Columbia
Tape: 5 Story: 1 - Marian Johnson-Thompson describes her decision to pursue a Ph.D. degree at Georgetown University - part one
Tape: 5 Story: 2 - Marian Johnson-Thompson describes her decision to pursue a Ph.D. degree at Georgetown University - part two
Tape: 5 Story: 3 - Marian Johnson-Thompson describes her doctoral dissertation work on the effect of 5-azacytidine on Simian Virus 40 DNA replication and conformation
Tape: 5 Story: 4 - Marian Johnson-Thompson discusses the eradication of smallpox in 1979
Tape: 5 Story: 5 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) as the place where she advanced scientifically
Tape: 5 Story: 6 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about meeting her husband
Tape: 5 Story: 7 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about her involvement in teaching and administration at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC)
Tape: 5 Story: 8 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about her involvement with the National Network of Minority Women in Science
Tape: 5 Story: 9 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about teaching part-time at Howard University
Tape: 6 Story: 1 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
Tape: 6 Story: 2 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about the etiology of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
Tape: 6 Story: 3 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about becoming a full professor at the University of the District of Columbia and her research and teaching roles
Tape: 6 Story: 4 - Marian Johnson-Thompson describes her appointment as Director of Institutional Diversity at the NIEHS
Tape: 6 Story: 5 - Marian Johnson-Thompson describes the NIEHS Advanced Research Collaboration for Environmental Health (ARCH) Program
Tape: 6 Story: 6 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about the Environmental Justice Program, and the importance of standard guidelines for research on human subjects
Tape: 7 Story: 1 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about research on the Epstein-Barr virus in Uganda
Tape: 7 Story: 2 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about the awards and recognition received for her career's work
Tape: 7 Story: 3 - Marian Johnson-Thompson reflects upon her legacy
Tape: 7 Story: 4 - Marian Johnson-Thompson describes her hopes and concerns for the African American community
Tape: 7 Story: 5 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about microbiologist William Hinton and the controversy surrounding his will - part one
Tape: 7 Story: 6 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about microbiologist William Hinton and the controversy surrounding his will - part two
Tape: 7 Story: 7 - Marian Johnson-Thompson reflects upon her life's choices
Tape: 7 Story: 8 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about Henrietta Lacks, HeLa cells, and author, Rebecca Skloot
Tape: 8 Story: 1 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about her family
Tape: 8 Story: 2 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about her involvement with mentoring
Tape: 8 Story: 3 - Marian Johnson-Thompson talks about how she would like to be remembered
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