Gerald Jones

DISRUPTOR

Gerald Jones, Doctor of Medicine (MD) Program, Class of 2025

This Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) Trailblazer just finished an American Cancer Society (ACS)-funded internship with the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNL), where he collaborated with some of the nation’s finest scientists on cancer experimentation. As a child, Gerald Jones was groomed for greatness by his grandmother, a breast cancer survivor who sparked his interest in cancer research. She would say, “baby, you can do anything that you YOUNG put your mind to, you are going to be a doctor as long as you believe that you're going to be a doctor.” She would then remind him of the Biblical verse in James 2:26 “...faith without works is dead” and then this woman of God would say “start working,” and he did! Mr. Jones was also influenced by his high school chemistry teacher, who had emigrated to the United States after fleeing from Nigeria with nothing more than the clothes on his back. He later launched a successful business, all the while making sure to emphasize to the public and his students that he didn’t do this on his own. The teacher would say, “there’s no such thing as a self-made man, there is always a village behind us.” Those pearls of wisdom are what keeps this HUBZone Trailblazer, Mr. Jones, grounded. This Trailblazer, Gerald Jones, was the first medical student to participate in the FNL’s Academic Summer Trainees Program. He was able to explore another dimension of his medical education by working behind the scenes. He said, “what I enjoy most is the ability to go beyond what I learned in textbooks. To explore the process of obtaining information that eventually is put into textbooks, things like using computer clusters, visual molecular dynamics, structural predictions, simulations, biochemical structures, and cancer cell mutations.” His internship moved him from the theoretical to the experimental side of his education. This exposure kindled his interest further in autoimmunity, as well as in cancer research, and he is hoping to find a good balance between research and clinical duties.

Leadership: Lessons & Experience

Mr. Jones learned to not be afraid to ask for help. A request for help is a strength, not a weakness. He said, “there’s a myth about physicians, that because of their position they know everything. There is always something new to learn. You’re never going to know it all.” He was grateful to have had a superb mentor at FNL in Dr. David Bell. When Mr. Jones didn’t understand something, Dr. Bell graciously walked him through it without judgment or shame. Mr. Jones learned the value of learning from his peers, no matter their level of training. He said, “You can learn not only from your professor or scientists, but you can learn from others in the training pipeline.” The second lesson was that science is a collaborative endeavor. It is critical that the team communicate in order to facilitate the discovery process. Breakthroughs are stifled when folks become “lone wolves” in the research process. Mr. Jones said, “You can’t do everything by yourself to move from theoretical to practical; others may have the tools you need for what you have in mind. We are all vital to the research process. Keep everybody in the know, ask everyone for their insights.”

It took a village to design and implement a program that would allow talented students like Mr. Jones to soar. It started with ACS providing the funding and infrastructure for four historically Black medical schools, including Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Howard University, Meharry Medical College, and Morehouse School of Medicine. Led by Dr. Ellie Daniels, ACS established a Diversity in Cancer Research (DICR) program, working with ACS stakeholders to help improve and accelerate diversity, equity, and inclusion in the cancer research field. Before starting the program, Dr. Daniels talked to all the universities to determine their interest level. She knew buy-in was critical to the success of the program. Their participation helped ACS design cohorts that reflected both the students’ and the faculties’ workload.

MSM leveraged their participation in DICR to launch an internship program through the Partnership Development Office (PDO) at FNL. Mr. Jones was joined by three other MSM students: two pursuing Master of Science in Biotechnology degrees and one Ph.D. candidate in Biological Sciences. The success of the program has led to FNL dissertation committee participation and discussions to continue projects into the school year. Dr. Daniels is continuously looking for more partners for the thousands of HBCU students dispersed throughout our nation. Champions like FNL’s Dr. Ethan Dmitrovsky, Dr. Vladimir Popov, and Ms. Crystal Canja, all of whom work tirelessly to provide MSM’s students with experiential learning activities.

MSM

MSM has been producing talented medical and health professionals for almost half a century, with almost 800 students graduating yearly (90% of them are African American). Over 50% of the students are in MD programs like Mr. Jones; the others are dispersed in public health, health informatics, and biotechnology. MSM’s Master of Biotechnology program happens to be ranked #1, out of 155 similar programs, in the United States – ahead of Harvard and John Hopkins. Dr. Lillard has helped lead this extremely competitive ACS/FNL initiative, along with Dr. Brian Rivers, Director of the Cancer Health Equity Institute at MSM. The demand for internships is tremendous, but their availability is very low. Every year, Dr. Lillard has hundreds of students eager to participate in similar programs – and they are all ready to roll up their sleeves and put their intellect to work. Dr. Lillard is hoping that much like FNL and ACS, HUBZone and 8a biotechnology and health informatics companies will be their next wave of collaborators.

James W. Lillard, Ph.D., MBA Senior Associate Dean,Research, Innovation and Commercialization, MSM

ACS

Championing cancer research for diverse students, Dr. Daniels is expanding the national cancer research opportunities at HBCU Dr. Elvan "Ellie" Daniels, Senior medical schools. She Vice President, Extramural Discovery Research American Cancer Society, Inc. said, “Our idea was to dedicate funding to put a stake in the ground. We do not want this to be a moment –we want to create a movement.” In 2021, ACS had a big idea to increase diversity in the workforce while navigating the challenges of the Pandemic. With everything going online and the diversity numbers already being dismal, they acted fast. ACS started several programs. One of their largest was DICR, which includes talented students like Mr. Jones. He is part of their beta test group at MSM. This summer and for the next 10 years, ACS will be working with their academic partners to substantially increase the number of underrepresented minority college students on an annual basis exposed to the cancer research field. By 2024, DIRC hopes to have launched more than 100 new cancer research careers. ACS is raising funds to enhance the student experience to support their participation networking with other students, writing manuscripts, and presenting their research at scientific conferences.

THE PUCK

How Cybersecurity is Facing its Biggest Change Yet: Looking Forward

As Editor in Chief, I had the opportunity to survey our membership about the impact of Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) on HBCU and HUBZone partnerships. They are witnessing what many would argue is the most significant cybersecurity rule change ever. The DoD is nine months away from mandating its new cybersecurity regulations for every DoD contractor, and the stakes are high. According to the proposed regulations known as CMMC, contractors who don’t achieve a certain level of certification will not be able to win DoD contracts. And they don’t expect these dramatic changes to be contained to the DoD. This will severely limit the HUBZone/HBCU industrial base. One of our members, Captiva Solutions, which has been providing cybersecurity solutions and training services, gave me some insight on where they believe the “Puck Is Going.” As an insider, Captiva anticipates the DoD’s regulations will serve as the pioneering model for numerous other agencies, as well as governmental bodies throughout the country. What can HBCUs and HUBZone businesses do? Captiva Solutions CEO Eberechi Ugwu-Amole’s best advice is to get started now, in order to understand what changes are proposed by the DoD and how they will impact your organization. Since the CMMC will change how the DoD works with every contractor and subcontractor, it is important to know what the new regulations dictate if you plan to do business with the DoD. Ultimately, the DoD wants us to better protect our national security. In order to accomplish this, our community must recognize and address technology risks, thereby avoiding potential threats to critical data and infrastructure. Headquartered in a HUBZone, Captiva Solutions is making sure that the HUBZone/HBCU industrial base does not shrink. They are successfully assessing organizations’ security posture to ensure CMMC compliance. Since Captiva Solutions literally wrote the CMMC book and is a Licensed Training Provider, they plan to be there when the puck ultimately arrives.

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