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23
COM Outlook . Summer 2012
transferred to the FBI laboratory in Wash-
ington, D.C., and conducted forensic DNA
testing in criminal cases. In this endeavor, I
conducted DNA testing on items of evidence
mostly from sexual assault or homicide
cases and followed up by testifying around
the country in criminal trials in both state
and federal court.
“At that time, using recombinant DNA
techniques in forensic cases was in its
infancy, and the goal of the DNA Analysis
Unit was to have DNA evidence admitted in
every court in the land and used on a rou-
tine basis,” he added. “After completing my
training, I was the seventh agent certified by
the FBI to conduct the testing and present
the evidence in court. While I was learning
recombinant DNA techniques in the FBI lab,
I realized how these practices would have
been very useful in my prior research as
well as their growing importance and use
in medicine, especially in diagnostics and
research. This helped renew my interest in
pursuing a career in medicine or a related
field. Because I had a desire to obtain some
position in a science-related field after
leaving the bureau, medicine became my
number one choice.”
Unlike Dr. Coffin, who was interested in
science and medicine from an early age, the
late-blooming Dr. Potter was already in her
late 20s before she even decided to enroll in
college. “My life changed when I learned my
baby brother, Vernon, was interviewing at
medical schools,” said Dr. Potter, who earned
her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine in
1994 and her M.B.A. in Global Business from
the University of Phoenix Graduate Business
School in 2005. “This made me pause and
take account of my life as I approached 28
years of age. My youngest brother was going
to fulfill his highest dream, yet I had yet to
earn a college degree. I knew something was
definitely wrong with this picture.”
Over the ensuing years, Dr. Potter
quickly made up for lost time, majoring in
History and Philosophy of Social Sciences
and Medicine while earning her bachelor’s
degree from the University of Chicago in
1989, as well as assisting in several behav-
ioral drug studies. After receiving her Ph.D.,
she maintained a prolific research career
over the next two decades that included
working as a research scientist at Rush
Presbyterian–St. Luke’s Medical Center in
Chicago, a research scientist/grants writer
for the University of Miami School of Medi-
cine’s Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, and
as an Alzheimer’s disease research scientist
at Mount Sinai Medical Center’s Wien
Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory
Disorders in Miami Beach.
Surprisingly, for someone who had
spent so many years earning numerous
accolades for her work in the research
realm, Dr. Potter admitted to never feeling
an intrinsic sense of fulfillment regarding the
research process. “Certainly I had a good
run, working with many talented scientists
in neuroscience research,” she explained.
“However, during these many years, I was
not truly happy. For example, coming out
of Johns Hopkins Medical, I was privileged
to interview with Toshio Narahashi, Ph.D.,
the world-famous discoverer of the tetrodo-
toxin channel, for a postdoctoral position.
However, I turned it down on the advice of
colleagues who said I could ‘not sit still long
enough to do cell patch-clamping.’ Similarly,
a couple of years ago, a famous researcher
who developed a memory test administered
in many countries, asked me, ‘Elizabeth, if
I set you up with your own lab and every-
thing you needed to conduct research on a
“In a society where
70
is considered the new
50
and TV icon Betty White
is as scorchingly hot as ever at the frisky young age of
90
, is it any wonder that
educational choices that once were almost exclusively the domain of the
under-30
set are now being pursued by distinguished professionals nearly twice that age?”
Pictured (clockwise from left) are: Dr. Robert Coffin, Dr. Elizabeth Potter, andDr. Joshua Kretchmar;
Dr. Potter receiving OMM training from David Boseler, D.O.; Dr. Kretchmar during his military
incarnation; and Drs. Kretchmar and Potter during a photo shoot at NSU’s Alvin Sherman Library.