22
COM Outlook . Summer-Fall 2014
cine, medical
acupunc-
ture, sports
medicine, and
neuromusculo-
skeletal medi-
cine. “When I
got there, the
Dixie flag was
flying above
the American
flag. We also had strict curfews, and
the 100 or so African American stu-
dents all ate in a segregated area and
were not allowed to play on any of the
university’s sports teams.”
In addition to pursuing her Bach-
elor of Science degree in Biology at
Ole Miss, Dr. Wallace maintained her
athletic interests by lettering in basket-
ball, softball, and volleyball. As for her
medical school
ambitions, Dr.
Wallace had ev-
ery intention of
matriculating at
the University
of Mississippi’s
School of
Medicine until
she discovered
she had to be
a Mississippi resident to earn admis-
sion. To make it happen, Dr. Wallace
completed the majority of her under-
graduate coursework in three years
and spent her fourth year working in
one of the university’s research labs,
which allowed her to establish her
Mississippi residency.
Unlike most bench research, which
is of little interest to those working
outside the
medical realm,
Dr. Wallace’s
college re-
search fasci-
nates because
it involved
working with
marijuana.
“The University
of Mississippi
was the only place in the United States
at the time that was allowed to legally
grow marijuana,” she said. “In fact, the
university’s marijuana fields were pro-
tected by the U.S. Army. My lab was
filled with marijuana, and it was my
job to extract the THC (tetrahydrocan-
nabinol), feed it to bacterial cultures,
and conduct gas chromatography on
the genetics of the subsequent genera-
tions to see whether it affected the
bacteria’s genetic makeup. Our stud-
ies showed it did not.”
It would prove to be an interesting
experience for a number of reasons,
including one that was both amusing
and abhorrent at the same time. “In
Mississippi the cockroaches are large,
and here I was working with bacterial
medium that was primed with nutri-
ents,” she explained of the unwelcome
intruders. “Each night, I would turn
on the ultraviolet lights to make sure
I killed any other bacteria. And each
morning when I returned, I would turn
on the office lights and watch these
nutrient-enhanced, ultraviolet-irradiat-
ed cockroaches fall off the counter and
stagger around on the floor because
they were stoned from eating little bits
of marijuana. They loved my lab.”
A Career in Kansas
City Beckons
Thanks to a chance meeting that
occurred while she was conducting
her research, Dr. Wallace’s profes-
sional trajectory suddenly shifted
from Mississippi to the Midwest. “I
met Dr. Henry Pace, a pharmacology
professor at the University of Missis-
sippi who had made a connection
with the University of Health Sciences
College of Osteopathic Medicine in
Kansas City, which is now called the
Kansas City University of Medicine
and Biosciences (KCUMB) College of
Osteopathic Medicine,” she stated.
“And his intention was to take some
prospective medical students from
Ole Miss to interview in Kansas City.
That was the first time I ever heard
about osteopathic medicine. I al-
ways planned to go into allopathic
medicine, but when I heard about
osteopathic medicine, I was hooked.
Because I had been an athlete my
whole life, the fact that osteopathic
medicine involved biomechanics
spoke to who I was as a person.”
For years, Dr. Wallace had antici-
pated the day when she would attend
medical school and begin working to-
ward her goal of becoming a pediatri-
cian. But after being accepted into the
Kansas City school and doing her ini-
tial pediatrics rotation, her interest im-
mediately dimmed. “I realized I didn’t
want to be a pediatrician when I did
my first pediatrics rotation because I
liked children, and it bothered me to
see them that sick,” said Dr. Wallace,
Dr. Wallace in her role as acting dean
at what is now called the Kansas City
University of Medicine and Biosciences
(KCUMB) College of Osteopathic Medicine.
