Scientist Is the First Black Student at Yale to Win a Ph.D. in Neurobiology

This spring Paulette McRae became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in neurobiology from Yale University. McRae, a native of Montclair, New Jersey, is a 2002 graduate of Rutgers University. McRae originally had planned to go to medical school. But at Rutgers she was struck by the lack of African Americans teaching at the college level. She had only two black professors at Rutgers and both were in African-American studies courses. This led McRae to change her plans and pursue a career in the academic world.

McRae has accepted a postdoctoral position at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where she will conduct research on epilepsy.

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