Amina S. Woods, PhD Developed a Sterling Reputation for Laboratory Work

    PIKESVILLE, MD, January 16, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Dr. Amina S. Woods has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.

Offering more than 50 years of expertise in health care and academia, Dr. Amina S. Woods is distinguished among scientists and educators, alike. Throughout her abundant career, she has specialized in immunology, pharmacology and molecular sciences research and education.

Today, Dr. Woods excels in her post as an adjunct professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, which she began in 2013. Since 1979, Dr. Woods has built a prolific career at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in a variety of roles. She started out as a laboratory coordinator and supervisor for the Division of Clinical Pharmacology and advanced to a post-doctoral fellow and research associate for the Oncology Immunology Department. By 1997, she had joined the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences as a research associate turned adjunct assistant and associate professor.

Alongside her dedication to Johns Hopkins, Dr. Woods has also served as the director of the structural biology unit at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health, from 1999 until 2021, at which point she became a special volunteer. She also contributed to the Taipei Medical University as a visiting professor from 2010 to 2013. In the earlier years of her career, between 1969 and 1979, Dr. Woods gained insightful experience as a chemistry associate of the Clinical Chemistry Laboratory at Johns Hopkins Hospital, supervisor of the Enzymology Laboratory and laboratory scientist II of the Clinical Chemistry Laboratory at the University of Maryland Hospital and teaching assistant in the Chemistry Department at the University of Maryland.

In her career-related endeavors, Dr. Woods has authored numerous scholastic articles, more than 18,000 scholarly citations, presented at various conferences and has obtained multiple patents. Likewise, she was an editorial board member of the Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry from 2007 to 2012. Notably, in 2021, the American Society for Mass Spectrometry honored her with a special dinner at the time of her retirement. Many of her former students were in attendance, even those no longer in the field, which she considers the greatest pleasure of her work.

Well-regarded for her contributions to the field, Dr. Woods has received multiple awards, including numerous NIDA Paper of the Month Awards, the Investigator Recipient of the Woman Scientist Achievement Award from the NIH and the NIDA in 2011 and the Acknowledgement for Contributions in Developing the Field Award from the American Society for Mass Spectrometry in 2021. Alongside these accolades, Dr. Woods is most proud of discovering a way to block neuronal cell death in traumatic brain injuries using a specific peptide, and of her important work on biological magnets as observed in proteins, which was supported by a grant from the Jackson Foundation. Additionally, she is honored to be the first scientist in the field to have studied brain lipids and developed a methodology portraying where the various lipids are located within the brain.

Dr. Woods attributes much of her success to her colleagues and mentors, including Dr. Littman who is highly regarded in the field of chemistry. She also credits her loving husband, who supported her decision to return to school, as well as her genuine love of science, especially chemistry. To prepare for her career, Dr. Woods earned a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Loyola University Maryland in 1972 and a Master of Science in pathology from the University of Maryland Medical School in 1975. In 1992, she obtained a Doctor of Philosophy in pharmacology from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

About Marquis Who's Who®
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® now publishes many Who's Who titles, including Who's Who in America®, Who's Who in the World®, Who's Who in American Law®, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare®, Who's Who in Science and Engineering®, and Who's Who in Asia®. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.

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