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Great Lives from History: Latinos, 2nd Edition

Lydia Villa-Komaroff

by Trudy Mercadal

Molecular biologist, educator, and diversity advocate

Lydia Villa-Komaroff is a molecular biologist of international renown, whose work was instrumental in the landmark creation of synthetic insulin. She has dedicated her lifelong career and retirement years to advocate for diversity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers.

Latino heritage: Mexican

Born: August 7, 1947; Santa Fe, New Mexico

Areas of achievement: Biology; education

EARLY LIFE

Lydia Villa-Komaroff was born in 1947, in Santa Fe, to John Villa, a teacher, and Drucilla Villa, a social worker. Inspired by her mother and grandmother's love for the natural world, Villa-Komaroff wanted to be a scientist from an early age. She has named Madame Curie as her first professional role model, as well as Canadian endocrinologist Hans Selye. Villa-Komaroff would later state that when she got started in science, there were no role models she could relate to as a Mexican American woman of color, but that she was still fortunate in finding mentors throughout her educational path who helped her move up the scientific and academic ladder. These experiences would become influential in her becoming an advocate for introducing and promoting diversity in STEM careers.

LIFE’S WORK

In 1965, Villa-Komaroff enrolled in the University of Washington, Seattle, as a chemistry major, but changed to biology after being made to feel unwelcome due to her gender and, in 1967, transferred to Goucher College in Maryland, where she earned her B.A. As an undergraduate, she worked in Loretta Leive's laboratory at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), who pushed her to apply at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1970, Villa-Komaroff enrolled at MIT to pursue graduate work in molecular biology. That same year, she married Dr. Anthony L. Komaroff, a physician and author. Villa-Komaroff's doctoral dissertation research, which focused on ribonucleic acid (RNA) and poliovirus, was supervised by Dr. Harvey Lodish, founder of Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, and by Nobel Laureate David Baltimore. Villa-Komaroff was also mentored by scientists Mary-Lou Pardue, Lisa Steiner, Wally Gilbert, and Salvador Luria.

Villa-Komaroff began her activism early and, while still at MIT, was one of the founding members of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), in which she remains involved. The organization today has more than 6,000 members and 115 chapters.

After graduating from MIT in 1975, Villa-Komaroff went on to complete postdoctoral work at Harvard University on recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) technology. In 1976, Cambridge banned recombinant DNA lab research, following concerns about public safety and potential disease spread; therefore, Villa-Komaroff accepted a position at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a private, nonprofit institution that focused on research in plant and quantitative biology, genomics, cancer, and other developments in molecular biology and genetics. While there, as Villa-Komaroff has often recounted, most of her experiments failed, which taught her the value of learning from her mistakes and persevering.

After the ban on recombinant DNA research was withdrawn, Villa-Komaroff joined the laboratory of Nobel Laureate Walter Gilbert, one of the first proponents of genome sequencing. While there, Villa-Komaroff authored a report that evidenced the first time a mammalian hormone was synthesized by bacteria, considered to this day a crucial development of contemporary biotechnology. The result was a landmark paper titled “A Bacterial Clone Synthesizing Proinsulin” (1978), a discovery that allowed insulin to be more easily available to diabetic patients. The achievement was especially significant to Villa-Komaroff, since her grandmother had died from diabetes some years prior to her discovery. She and the rest of the team also earned patent royalties on the discovery for a period of 20 years.

Villa-Komaroff then accepted a teaching position at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and, several years later, left to join Harvard Medical School, which offered her more research opportunities. While there, she was featured in a documentary titled DNA Detective, part of a PBS series on woman in science. The program featured her advances in insulin-related growth factor research.

In 1996, Villa-Komaroff left teaching and laboratory research and accepted an appointment at Northwestern University as professor of neurobiology and vice president for research. In 2003, she became vice president for research and chief operating officer of Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Among Villa-Komaroff's many discoveries and achievements, was the application of her early discoveries in recombinant DNA to important questions in fields including endocrinology, biology, cellular biology, and more. With Bruce Yankner, she provided the first evidence that amyloid—a molecule linked to Alzheimer’s—can damage neuronal cells. She also identified several proteins that help vision develop in animals, as well as evidence that the Gap-43 protein is an important factor in the growth of axons in nerve cells.

Besides holding teaching positions at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Northwestern University, in the span of her academic trajectory, Villa-Komaroff published over fifty papers in leading scientific journals.

Throughout her career, Villa-Komaroff won a slew of honors and awards, including the American Association of University Women's Woman of Distinction Award (2013), Top Hispanics of the Decade (2014) by Hispanic Engineer, Distinguished Woman Scientist Award by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (2015), Storied Women of MIT (2017), and others. In 1999, she was inducted into the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Hall of Fame. She is currently a Fellow of the Association of Women in Science, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, on the board of National Research Council Committee on Underrepresented Groups, among others. Although Villa-Komaroff is semiretired, she currently serves on the board of directors of several public and private committees and continues to advocate for diversity in STEM careers through her nonprofit service and mentorship. She travels extensively with her husband, and continues to give public speeches and write.

SIGNIFICANCE

Lydia Villa-Komaroff is a molecular biologist, a professor, a university administrator, and a business executive. She was the third Mexican American woman in the United States to get her doctorate in science. Her contributions have benefited different fields, including biology, neurobiology, and developmental biology. She has also been transparent about frequent failures, and the need to learn from them and persevere. Throughout all, she has been a diversity advocate and mentored many young scientists. She remains interested in increasing diversity in STEM careers and continues to be an inspiration to students and women in science and technology.

Further Reading

1 

American Association of University Women. “The Stem Gap: Women and Girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.” AAUW.org, n.d. https://www.aauw.org/resources/research/the-stem-gap. A report with abundant statistics on the issues and realities of women and girls in STEM fields. It provides a solid background on Villa-Komaroff s career and diversity advocacy.

2 

Bertsch-McGrayne, Sharon. Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, and Momentous Discoveries. Washington, DC: Joseph Henry Press, 2001. Although somewhat dated, the book does a good job of providing a historical and cultural background to the obstacles faced by women scientists, their battles, and achievements.

3 

National Institutes of Health. “Lydia Villa-Komaroff.” NIH.gov, August 9, 2018. https://womeninscience.nih.gov/women_scientists/villa-komaroff.asp. An interview with Villa-Komaroff about her career, trajectory and views on diversity in STEM careers, as part of the “Women in Biomedical Careers” series of the National Institutes of Health.

4 

Smith, Chris. “Notes from the Field: Lydia Villa-Komaroff.” NCSU.edu, November 21, 2019. https://grad.ncsu.edu/news/2019/11/lydia-villa-komaroff. A detailed profile of Villa-Komaroff from the perspective of her academic contributions and work.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Mercadal, Trudy. "Lydia Villa-Komaroff." Great Lives from History: Latinos, 2nd Edition, edited by Trudy Mercadal, et al., Salem Press, 2021. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=GLLatin2e_0554.
APA 7th
Mercadal, T. (2021). Lydia Villa-Komaroff. In T. Mercadal, C. Tafolla & M. P. Cotera (Eds.), Great Lives from History: Latinos, 2nd Edition. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Mercadal, Trudy. "Lydia Villa-Komaroff." Edited by Trudy Mercadal, Carmen Tafolla & Martha P. Cotera. Great Lives from History: Latinos, 2nd Edition. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2021. Accessed October 22, 2025. online.salempress.com.