Who is Evangeline Motley?
From Researcher to Role Model
Evangeline Motley was born in
South Boston, Virginia, which is located in Halifax County. However, she
grew up in Dry Fork, Virginia, which is in Pittsylvania County and is
located 8 miles from Danville, Virginia. She tends to tell people that she
is from Danville because it is the closest city to her home.
She became interested in
science at an early age. She wrote science reports about astronomy and
grew plants in elementary school. She remembers learning about George
Washington Carver and all of his uses for the peanut.
In high school, she
took all of the science courses and thought they were very interesting.
Since she was doing very well in those science courses, her mother
suggested that she pursue a medical career. Other family members began to
spread the word that she was going to become a doctor. While this put
pressure on her to excel, she didn’t worry too much, because she knew
her family would be proud of her regardless of her career choice. She
graduated from Tunstall High School in 1976 as the valedictorian of her
class.
College Years
Evangeline wanted to
stay close to home and go to an in-state university. She had visited the
University of Virginia in Charlottesville as a high school student and
thought the campus was beautiful. She knew it was a very good school and
felt it would be a rewarding challenge to attend this school.
When she was accepted to the University, she was ecstatic. The
academic level of the school was overwhelming. However, she rose to the
challenge and received a Bachelors of Arts degree in Biology in 1980. When Evangeline was still in
college, a recruiter came from a pharmaceutical company, Burroughs
Wellcome in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, to talk to the
students about opportunities in industry. She was intrigued with his
presentation and thought it would be interesting to work as a research
assistant at a pharmaceutical company.
It was then that she decided to work as a researcher and not pursue
medical school.
After graduating from the
University of Virginia, her first job was in a research laboratory in the
Anesthesiology Department at the University of Virginia Medical Center.
She did microcirculation studies in animals, thus giving her exposure to
physiology. To learn more,
she took a course in Anatomy and Physiology at Piedmont Virginia Community
College. After being a research assistant for about four years, she
decided to go to graduate school.
Graduate School/Postdoctoral Training
In 1984, she left the medical
center to attend Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Her goal was to obtain a Masters Degree and work in industry.
When she arrived at Howard, she was told that the department
preferred students obtain their PhDs in Physiology and Biophysics. It was
ironic that she ended up doing her dissertation research at SmithKline
Beckman Pharmaceuticals in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. She worked there
one summer while a graduate student and it was arranged for her to
complete her PhD there. She graduated in 1991 and went to the University
of Cincinnati in Ohio for postdoctoral training. She remained there for 2
years.
Not the Job She’d Planned For
Dr. Motley had hoped to find
a job in industry. However, the opportunity presented itself for her to
take an academic position. She had said that she wanted to be a researcher
and not a teacher. Yet
several of her co-workers had told her that she would be a good role model
for minority students and should teach at a Historically Black College or
University. Consequently, she
applied for a position at Meharry Medical College and was hired as an
Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology in January 1993. In
2001, she was promoted to Associate Professor and the department is now
called Anatomy and Physiology.
Dr. Motley teaches physiology
to medical, dental, and graduate students.
She has a research laboratory and has trained three PhD students.
All three have gone on to continue their training in postdoctoral
positions.
Her research is in the area
of cardiovascular physiology, specifically hypertension research. As a
result, she has been asked to review research grants for potential funding
by the American Heart Association.
She serves on many committees
both at the department and the institutional level. She has also been
active in APS, serving on the Porter Physiology Development Committee,
which awards grants to minority graduate students.
Outside Interests
For fun, Dr. Motley plays
tennis, loves to travel, and reads books. She also likes photography and
arts and crafts.She enjoys participating in
charitable walks for the American Heart Association and the Diabetes
Association. In her spare time, she tutors elementary and high school
students at her church.
Words of Advice
A graduate student in
physiology has already made a career choice to study physiology. Graduate students should make sure they are aware of the
graduate and postgraduate opportunities available to them. They should
take classes and attend meetings in their areas of interest.Students should be sure to
attend the Experimental Biology (EB) meeting. There are travel awards
available for minority students at the graduate level to attend EB or
another of the APS fall conferences on specialized topics.
Recent Publications
1. Motley, E.D., R.J. Paul, and
M.A. Matlib. Role of Na+-Ca2+ exchange in
the regulation of vascular smooth muscle tension.
Am. J.
Physiol. 264: H1028-H1040,
1993.
2. Frank,
G.D., E. Eguchi, T. Yamakawa, S. Tanaka, T. Inagami and E.D. Motley. Involvement of reactive oxygen species in the activation of
tyrosine kinase and extracellular signal-regulated kinase by angiotensin
II. Endocrinology 141:
3120-3126, 2000.
3. Frank,
G.D., S. Eguchi, T. Inagami, and E.D. Motley.
N-Acetylcysteine inhibits angiotensin II-mediated activation of
extracellular signal-regulated kinase and epidermal growth factor
receptor. Biochem. Biophy. Res. Com. 280:
1116-1119, 2001.
4. Eguchi,
E., P. Dempsey, G.D. Frank, E.D. Motley, and T. Inagami.
Activation of MAPKs by angiotensin II in vascular smooth muscle
cells: metalloprotease-dependent EGF receptor activation is required for
activation of ERK and p38 MAP kinase, but not for JNK.
J. Biol. Chem. 276: 7957-7962,
2001.
5. Motley,
E.D., S.M. Kabir, A.L. Hicks, C.D. Gardner, C.M. Reynolds, K. Eguchi,
T. Yamakawa, G.D. Frank, and S. Eguchi.
Lysophosphatidylcholine inhibits insulin-induced Akt activation
through protein kinase C-a in
vascular smooth muscle cells. Hypertension
39: 508-512, 2002.
6. Reynolds,
C.M., S. Eguchi, G.D. Frank, and E.D. Motley.
Signaling mechanisms of heparin binding epidermal growth
factor-like growth factor in vascular smooth muscle cells.
Hypertension 39: 525-529,
2002.
7. Motley,
E.D., C.D. Gardner, C.M. Reynolds, A.L. Hicks, K. Eguchi,
G.D.
Frank, and S. Eguchi. Angiotensin
II inhibits insulin-induced Akt activation in the vasculature through
protein kinase C-a. Hypertension
41: 775-780, 2003.
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