Summary
Becky Murray, Ph.D. is a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Honors College at the University of Nevada, Reno. As an instructor for HON 109, the first-year experience course, she utilizes their expertise in academic research, fellowship writing, advocacy, and teaching to promote Honors College students’ academic and personal development. Becky is passionate about helping students feel empowered to overcome challenges and develop the confidence needed to excel in their studies and beyond. Becky is also currently pursuing a Master of Social Work at the University.
Becky earned a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Virginia and has many years of experience performing academic research. As an undergraduate at the University of California, San Diego, and a Post-baccalaureate Scholar at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), they studied Plasmodium falciparum, the pathogen that causes malaria, to discover new treatment targets and determine modes of infection. During their PhD program, they researched an interaction between a Chlamydia protein and a human protein that occurs throughout the bacteria's lifecycle. Becky was the recipient of several fellowships and awards including an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31 grant), University of Virginia Infectious Diseases Fellowship, and the University of Virginia Wagner Fellowship Award.
Becky's research interests are varied and some of them bridge the gap between their previous studies in infectious diseases and their current path towards social justice, advocacy, and therapy. They include social determinants of health outcomes, racism and misogyny in medicine, childhood poverty outcomes, sex education, neurodivergence, PTSD and non-PTSD trauma, gender and sexuality, implicit bias, and systemic discrimination.
Education
Ph.D., Microbiology, University of Virginia