Dr. Aleisha T. Dobbins, who received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Howard University in November 2004, became the first recipient of the Council of Historically Black Graduate Schools (CHBGS) UMI/ProQuest Doctoral Dissertation Award at the recent Annual Meeting of CHBGS in Little Rock, Arkansas .

Dr. Dobbins, whose dissertation title is “Complete Nucleotide Sequence of the Salmonella Enterica, Serovar Tyhimurium LT22 Bacteriophage SP6“, has mapped the complete genome sequence, annotated, and performed the initial comparative genetic analysis of the Salmonella phage SP6. Future long-term implications of this research include, but are not limited to, possible insights into methods of preventing salmonella food poisoning, a major health hazard.

Pictured (l-r): Dr. Aleisha Dobbins' father, J. Stephen Dobbins; Dr. Dobbins; her stepmother, Margaret Dobbins; and Dr. Matthew George, Jr., chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Howard University and Dr. Dobbins' thesis advisor.

Present at the ceremony were Dr. Matthew George, Jr., Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Howard University and Dr. Dobbins' thesis advisor; her father, J. Stephen Dobbins, and stepmother, Margaret Dobbins, of Cincinnati , Ohio.

The Award, which is accompanied by a monetary award of $1,000, will be presented annually for the best doctoral dissertation at an HBCU. The Award was presented jointly by Cathleen May, Director of dissertation publishing, UMI/ProQuest, which underwrites the Award, and Dr. Chandra Reddy, Dean of the Graduate School at Alabama A&M University and Awards Committee chair for the CHBGS.

Dr. Suzanne Bean, Coordinator of Graduate Studies at the Mississippi University for Women, commented at the ceremony: “You could immediately tell that Dr. Dobbins is a true professional and very much in command of her subject.”

Since her graduation, Dr. Dobbins has been employed as a Clinical Trial Specialist for Amgen Inc., the largest corporation in the biotechnology industry.