Georgetown U student selected for prestigious Bouchet Society

Anatasha Crawford conducts cancer research at Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center

Anatasha Crawford, a doctoral candidate at Georgetown University, has been named a member of the Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society (Bouchet Society). Crawford is in the Tumor Biology Program at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the Georgetown University Medical Center.

The Bouchet Society is named for the first African American doctoral recipient in the United States (Physics, Yale University, 1876). The Society aims to recognize outstanding scholarly achievement and promote diversity and excellence in doctoral education and the professoriate.

Crawford was selected a charter member of the Georgetown University chapter of the Bouchet Society, established in 2007. Crawford conducts research in the laboratory of Robert Clarke, Ph.D., D.Sc., in the Interdisciplinary Program in Tumor Biology at Lombardi. Her dissertation focuses on how and why cancer becomes resistant over time to therapy, specifically looking at resistance to antiestrogen treatments for breast cancer.

Crawford said her interest in breast cancer research is personal.

“I became very interested in breast cancer research because my grandmother had breast cancer. That was the main reason I came to Lombardi. I wanted to learn in a place that has a focus on cancer research,” she said.

To achieve its goals, the Bouchet Society is developing a network of preeminent scholars who exemplify academic and personal excellence, foster environments of support, and serve as examples of scholarship, leadership, character, service, and advocacy for students who have been traditionally underrepresented in the academy. In the spirit of Edward Alexander Bouchet, inductees into the honor society bearing his name are expected also to exhibit these outstanding qualities.

“Tasha exemplifies professional excellence and embodies the high qualities consistent with membership in the Bouchet Society,” said Clarke, interim director of Georgetown's Biomedical Graduate Research Organization and leader of Lombardi’s Breast Cancer Program. “She brings great honor to our lab and to GUMC. She’ll be a loyal member of the Society and will be a stellar advocate for its mission.”