- Groundbreaking research Perhaps she’s channeling Sister Mary Charles Weschler and Dr. Cliford Cox, the Mercyhurst chemistry professors who became her mentors and were ultimately responsible for her scientifc career. They let her – and classmate Kathy Blieszner – work on original research in their laboratories. That’s not unusual now, but it was groundbreaking in the early ‘70s, and it motivated both of them to head to grad school. As Marcia explains, “I didn’t want to just run experiments – I wanted to design them!” After graduating in 1972, Marcia went directly into a Ph.D. program in biochemistry at West Virginia University. She did a three year postdoctoral fellowship with the National Institutes of Health, and then moved into industry and the emerging feld of biotechnology. Over the next 25 years, she worked for half a dozen companies that make biopharmaceuticals, medicinal products that come from biological sources. Over the course of her career, working for companies like Genentech and GlaxoSmithKline, she managed product development, quality control and manufacturing teams. She worked extensively with the FDA to gain approval to market new drugs, and she even helped develop international guidelines for the introduction of biotech products. Marcia worked on many drugs that are now used to treat various forms of cancer, growth defciencies and stroke. One of the drugs she worked on (Activase®) has had great success treating patients immediately after stroke symptoms begin.
Mentoring the next generation Marcia left the corporate world in 2006, retiring as vice president of a biopharmaceutical manufacturing operations group at GlaxoSmithKline. She continued to consult with biotech frms for several years, but most recently has devoted herself to teaching and mentoring the next generation of young scientists at a variety of universities. Marcia refects on her Mercyhurst experience. “Mercyhurst taught me to be a strong woman in science when not a lot of women were entering the science feld. It encouraged me to have my own ideas and speak my mind. I saw a lot of wonderful role models here, like my cousin Sister Marcia McDonald. Sister Marcia is an accomplished Mercy nun and was in charge of admissions at Mercyhurst College for many years. “I’m a scientist today because of three people – Sr. Charles, Dr. Cox, and Sr. Maura Smith, who taught me biology in high school,” Marcia says. “It’s that mentoring – that’s why I’m here to give back to the next generation of scientists. “I hope to spark an excitement about science in my students. …All it takes is one good teacher to spark an interest that will last a lifetime.” What’s her advice to those students? “I tell them to fnd their passion and follow their heart,” she says simply. “There’s no way to look down the road of your career and know what’s going to happen. When I was in grad school, there was no such thing as a biotechnology industry. You have to be fexible and ready to reinvent yourself – and if you are lucky you get to do what excites you.”
’ The family s Chrstmas portrait from 2014 includes Carey Sentman (son Paul’s girlfriend), Marcia, husband Tom Jamrogowicz (holding Pepper); and son Paul Jamrogowicz. Family ties
In 1990, Marcia traveled to Peru to adopt her son, Paul, who’s now 25. She was single, and it was pretty unusual to adopt alone then. “Adopting a baby and having my son was the best single decision I’ve ever made in my life.”Ten years later, she met and married Tom Jamrogowicz, a fellow
chemist at GlaxoSmithKline, and they formed a new family. Marcia and Tom now live in the Philadelphia area, where Paul graduated from Drexel University and is pursuing a career in photography and welding. Marcia has also stayed close to the friends she made at Mercyhurst. “They have been with me my entire life. We’ve seen each other through the ups and downs of careers and families. I have a group of women friends I cherish tremendously. They’re like sisters to me – sisters of my heart.”Tom, Paul and his girlfriend Carey, Marcia’s brothers and sisters and many of those friends were on hand at Reunion Weekend in 2014 when Marcia received a Distinguished Alumni Award for contributions to her chosen feld.
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