From the Track to the Lab, Kierra Marshall Exemplifies Meaning of Success

Conducting Alzheimer’s disease research with Professor Julio Ramirez…setting multiple records on the women’s track team…mentoring Wildcats through Strategies for Success…serving on the Student-Athlete Advisory Council. That’s a day in the life of Kierra Marshall ’24, holder of the Virginia and William M. Baker Scholarship.

“This was my third summer working with Dr. Ramirez,” she said. “I came in with a neuroscience interest and planned to pursue an M.D., but after doing a five-week neuro-intensive summer in his lab my first summer, it solidified that this is the kind of research I want to do.”

Like all Davidson students, Kierra’s coursework has been varied, including a couple of non-science courses that left a lasting impression. A discussion-based sociology class on globalization and social change, and an Africana Studies course on racial capitalism and reproduction stand out in particular.

Kierra attended an all-girls high school in Bethesda, Maryland, where her interest in science and animal models began. She wanted to continue this work and, ideally, also continue to run track.

“I’m one of the first from my high school to come to Davidson,” she said. “Counselors thought it was a reach school for me, and I didn’t have a senior track season due to COVID, so we weren’t sure I would get in and be able to pursue everything I wanted to do. I’m glad it all ended up working out.”

It has definitely worked out.

Now in her first semester without strict COVID protocols, she bounces from performing brain surgery on rats to the track, where she is the current holder of the indoor 60-meter and 200-meter records and the outdoor 200-meter and 4x1 relay records.

To discover how you can support Davidson College students like Kierra, please contact Dawn Smith at 704-894-2103 or dasmith@davidson.edu.