The Sway | February 2026

Bison Trailblazers | Dr. Eric Afoakwah | The Quality Architect Transforming Clinical Research

by Anna De Cheke Qualls | When Dr. Eric Afoakwah begins to talk about his work, his tone is steady and unhurried—the voice of someone who has learned to think several moves ahead. From his home base in Washington, D.C., he reflects on the systems, people, and pressures that shape clinical research today. His style is part engineer, part mentor, part strategist, and entirely committed to one mission: building quality frameworks that protect patients while propelling new therapies toward approval.

Word to the Wise | Melissa Tucker

by Anna De Cheke Qualls | Melissa Tucker’s story begins far from the corporate boardrooms and university strategy sessions where she now spends much of her time. “I was born in Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, and raised in Houston, Texas,” she recalls, a dual upbringing that taught her to see community and opportunity through more than one lens. Growing up between those identities, she says, “shaped how I view community, culture, and opportunity.” Even as a young girl, her mind gravitated toward the human systems around her—“education, leadership, and the systems that influence people’s life and career outcomes.” 

Bison Trailblazers | Building the Mathematical Mecca: Howard’s Half‑Century of Innovation, Scholarship, and Leadership

by Anna De Cheke Qualls | By any standard, 1976 was a threshold year. When Howard University launched the nation’s first PhD program in mathematics at a historically Black college or university, it didn’t simply add another graduate credential. It built a durable pipeline—one that would carry generations of Black mathematicians into research, classrooms, laboratories, agencies, and leadership roles around the world.

But the story of Howard mathematics is older than the modern doctorate. It’s a narrative of continuity—of ideas, people, and purpose—running from the late nineteenth century to today’s research-active department. That throughline begins with Kelly Miller, a foundational figure who helped shape mathematics and science education at Howard at the turn of the 20th century. Often cited as perhaps the first African American to undertake graduate study in mathematics, Miller’s influence extended beyond pedagogy; he laid intellectual and institutional groundwork for a department that would become nationally significant.

Word to the Wise | Dr. Tracey Thomas

By Anna De Cheke Qualls | Dr. Tracey Thomas’s journey into science began long before she ever stepped into a laboratory. Raised in Birmingham, Alabama, by a registered nurse and a Social Security Administration accountant, she grew up in a home where education was treated as both an opportunity and a responsibility. Her childhood curiosity—often expressed through taking apart household objects just to put them back together—hinted at an early fascination with how things worked. But it was her late father’s battle with cancer, and his eventual passing, that transformed that curiosity into a profound scientific drive.

That drive carried Thomas through a rigorous biology curriculum and into a doctoral program at Howard University, where she earned her PhD studying cell signaling and calcium mobilization. A postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine followed, allowing her to delve deeper into cellular mechanisms by examining HIV–host cell interactions. Like many young scientists, Thomas initially imagined a future rooted in academia. Yet a pivotal AAAS Science Policy Fellowship revealed a broader landscape—one where her strengths in strategy, communication, systems thinking, and translating complex science for decision‑makers could have wide‑ranging impact.