2003 Valedictorian Erika Danna

Class of 2003 Valedictorian Erika Danna
2003 Valedictorian Erika Danna  
Class of 2003 Valedictorian Erika Danna balanced academic excellence, research experience and community service while at UMBC. She accumulated a 4.0 GPA while working in Dr. Suzanne Rosenberg’s lab since June 2001 as one of the first students in the Department of Defense-funded Breast Cancer Undergraduate Research Experience (BCURE) program.
A biological sciences major, Danna presented her research findings at two major national scientific meetings, as well as four UMBC-sponsored research symposia. She also was part of the BCURE program’s Race for the Cure team to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research. Danna has also been active in other service and extracurricular activities including Garden Harvest, the Golden Key Honor Society and Community Service Corps.
When she first came to UMBC, Danna was focused on becoming a physician, but she was gradually drawn to a biomedical research career. Danna credits her UMBC teachers and mentors with influencing her.
“At UMBC I enjoyed learning about how scientific discoveries are made, and I became very interested in participating in research myself,” she says. Danna, a native of Ellicott City, Maryland, will begin her doctoral studies in immunology at Stanford University in the fall.
“Erika is a real go-getter student,” says Rosenberg. “She has taken great advantage of her time in the laboratory and she has a terrific future ahead of her in research.”