S3 Episode 13 - Simpler Times

Dr. Dionna Williams is an Autistic and first-generation academic and martial artist. Dionna received their MSc and PhD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and completed her postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins University.

Dionna has received many prestigious academic fellowships and awards for her research accomplishments and commitment to diversifying academic medicine.

She is currently an Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology at Emory University where their research interests center on the intersection of HIV and substance use, focusing on identifying immunologic and pharmacologic means to increase the neurologic health of people living with HIV.

While Dionna amassed academic and professional accomplishments they struggled with what she once considered to be a collection of seemingly unrelated quirks and social discomfort.

While Dionna was always aware of these differences, they became less of a hindrance to interacting with people as she learned to suppress the things that made her most different from others. However, these strategies eventually became less effective and at the most stressful time of their life Dionna began therapy.

It was through this experience that they received an autism diagnosis at the age of 35, which has been life changing.

Since this realization one and a half years ago, Dionna realized all the ways in which she lived an inauthentic life and they are now committed to living a life of their own accord, unmasked, and open about the joys and challenges faced as a neurodivergent scientist from a low-income background raising the most amazing 3-year old.

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