Child Prodigy: Youngest African American Accepted into Medical School Studies Cancer Research in Baltimore
September 12, 2023
A child prodigy conducted cancer research this summer at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM). Alena Analeigh is just 14 years old, but she’s already a junior at Arizona State University studying biosciences and the youngest African American to ever be accepted into medical school. She interned in the American Cancer Society Diversity in Cancer Research program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, studying natural drug treatments for ovarian cancer. “She’s used compounds that are found in licorice, green tea, ginseng and has been able to show that some of them can cause the cancer to shrink in size, as well as look at the immune system,” said UMSOM associate professor Tonya Webb, PhD.