Catching up with Ama, 2018 Session 2!

Ama, an Yleana alum from 2018, is now a rising senior at Smith College pursuing a chemistry major, biology minor, and on a pre-pharmacy track! Alyssa was lucky to catch up with Ama recently and is excited to share what she’s been up to since attending Yleana!

Ama was already interested in chemistry back in Ghana before moving to the United States. “It's something that I knew I always wanted to pursue further in my career, but I think I fell much more in love with it when I came to Smith.” After declaring her major in spring 2020, the pandemic prevented her from getting the hands-on experience she was looking forward to. “Most of my chemistry classes and even labs were over Zoom; that was so sad.” Seeking further opportunities, Ama applied and was selected for a 2021 Summer Research Fellowship through the American Society of Pharmacognosy to work with a medicinal chemist in Utah.

That's when I really realized; this is what I want to do. I really liked the chemistry - not just the lecture side of it, but because I also actually like to do the labs. During that experience [in Utah], I realized I also liked the biology aspect. This summer, I'll go back to Utah to finish the project I started and will come back to Smith to begin preparing for my thesis for my senior year.  

Are you wondering what a medicinal chemist is? Alyssa didn't know - she asked Ama, “Is a medicinal chemist someone who makes medicine?”

Not exactly. They are more into the discovery of medicine. One of the things that I used to do was collect samples from the Great Salt Lake to see what pharmacy pool agents could be found in the sediments. Then we would isolate them. It's like the first stages of drug discovery, where we discover the pharmaceuticals and then pass it on to the pharmaceutical sciences for them to start actually making drugs.

That’s so interesting, Ama! Is the research in Utah similar to your research at Smith?

At Smith, my research is more geared towards cancer cells. Our main aim is to find a way to deliver drugs to cancer cells without harming the healthy cells because chemotherapy also harms the healthy cells. We make these conjugates and polymers carrying the M protein and the drug to hopefully deliver it to these cancer sites and terminate cancer cells from producing.

Wow - that's so cool! You could save someone's life.
I'm so proud of you, Ama, and for you! And I’m so glad you landed at Smith!

Yeah, I'm glad I came here! I didn't envision myself at Smith at first, but when I got here I realized the support was very good and I think, maybe I would have never gotten this support anywhere else if it was not Smith. I'm really glad I did come to Smith.

Tell me more about the support!

I really get a lot of support from the chemistry department - they're very supportive with what goes on with students. They try to reach out to see how everything is going outside of school. They're always trying to find solutions - like if something is going wrong or you need a way out of it, they find ways to encourage you and give you solutions. I think that extends to the Smith community as a whole.

Do you know what you want to be when you grow up yet?  (I still don't!)

I have a good idea. After Smith, I'm looking to apply to pharmacy school. There, I hope to work in a pharmaceutical research lab and drug discovery to start making drugs that could target sicknesses like tuberculosis and HIV. I think cancer is a good segue into learning more about stuff like this. So that's what I'm hoping to do when I grow up.

Do you have a favorite memory of Yleana?

Yes! I'm in touch with most of the people I met in Yleana. Mame and I are still very close and Michaela and I are also very close. I love the friendships and the relationships that I made! Another one of my favorite things was the entrepreneurship workshops where we would present on different topics. I think that really made me who I am in terms of being able to express myself and my public speaking skills. I can translate that into my life now because I do a lot of presentations talking about my research. That's one of the things I'm really glad we had the chance to do.

That makes me so happy Ama, that Yleana helped you in that way!

Yes! I really speak a lot, and being able to present your research on its own - is just different. You're presenting science, like a whole different language, to people who might not speak that same language. Being able to do that - to talk about my idea and why it is important - these were skills that I really took from Yleana. I think that was my favorite thing.

Please know that we are here for you for whatever - if there's any way that we can help, let us know. Because we love you and we are so proud of you; I'm so proud of you! I'm so proud of everything you've achieved - that you're a hard worker and have this amazing resilience. That's going to set you up for success for your whole life. Congratulations!

I feel like if it wasn't for Yleana, some of the skills I possess now would never have come out. It’s always been to my advantage that I had the opportunity even to participate in Yleana and I'm pretty sure it was a one-step to get nominated to Posse and for Smith even to consider my application. I want to say a big thank you for that opportunity.

As they said their goodbyes, the very last thing Ama said was, "I love you!"

WE LOVE YOU TOO, AMA! <3 <3 <3