COSAM News Articles 2024 01 Emily Roarty shares her scientific journey at this year’s Anne Phillips Sassaman Lecture

Emily Roarty shares her scientific journey at this year’s Anne Phillips Sassaman Lecture

Published: 04/02/2024

Emily Roarty ’01 gave the annual Anne Phillips Sassaman Lecture on Monday, March 11, 2024.

An alumna of Auburn University, Roarty earned a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology before pursuing her doctoral degree at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

“I came to Auburn with a dream of helping others,” said Roarty.

As a student at Auburn, she was inspired by Michael Wooten’s genetics course and gaining hands-on experience working in the lab of Doug Goodwin, who is now chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

“The passion for science… was infectious,” she added about the professors who changed her thought of becoming a physician.

Working in Goodwin’s lab gave her “the perseverance to be a scientist” and he even was “the first person I called after I took the GRE.”

Roarty shared insight about her career and explained that she took time to learn where gaps were in her experience and where she could develop in the future.

She shared insight about how the MD Anderson Cancer Center began to collaborate on a new Cancer Moon Shots initiative in 2012.

Learn more about her role as vice president of strategy and impact at MD Anderson and watch her entire talk about Collaborative Science Strategies for Conquering Cancer: