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Public-health researcher picked for Athena Award
Marilyn Winkleby founded summer biomedical research program for low-income high schoolers

by Becky Trout

Having grown up in a rural California community with little money, Marilyn Winkleby knows about the challenges faced by those without the opportunities that wealth brings.

She has devoted her career, and her considerable intelligence and passion, to improving the health of low-income communities and families. And, Winkleby founded the Stanford Medical Youth Science Program, a five-week summer biomedical program — offering extensive support — for low-income high school students.

For these and other accomplishments, the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce selected Winkleby to receive the 2008 Athena Award, a national tribute given to women who have "demonstrated excellence, creativity and initiative," devoted time to improving life of others and helped other women leaders.

Winkleby said she was surprised and honored by the recognition, which will place her in an elite group of Palo Alto women including former Stanford Hospital community-relations director Jeanne Kennedy, former mayor and Stanford University executive Jean McCown, Garden Court Hotel General Manager Barbara Gross and jewelry store owner Georgie Gleim, among others.

A researcher at Stanford University for more than two decades, Winkleby, 62, lives in Mountain View with her husband Michael Fischetti, an oncologist. She has three grown children and a 98-year-old mother. And when she's not working, Winkleby loves to hike, read, garden and bake.

Winkleby has a master's degree in clinical psychology, a master's in public health from UC Berkeley and a doctorate in epidemiology, also from Berkeley. She is currently the faculty director of Stanford's Office of Community Health as well as a research professor in the Stanford School of Medicine.

Winkleby is particularly proud of the science program, launched in 1988 after she was approached by two undergraduates with a dream of helping less fortunate high school students explore college.

In the first year, seven students were accepted and volunteers brought them to Stanford in their own cars, Winkleby recalled.

With the blessing of Stanford and the help of eager undergraduates, the program blossomed. Now, about 300 students a year apply to attend the five-week residential summer program. The 24 successful applicants live with 10 undergraduates in a house on campus, spending as much as 11 hours a day doing research, working at the hospital in an anatomy lab with human cadavers, studying for entrance exams and learning about college, Winkleby said. At the end, students present their research to their parents and other supporters.

The science program is particularly searching for students with an aptitude for science — but whose families have little education or access to information about college and the opportunities it offers, Winkleby said.

"We're really looking for students [for whom] we can make a difference in their lives," she said.

Participants come from rural Central California, East San Jose and Native American reservations.

"We don't want the obvious students that are always picked by the teachers," Winkleby said. "We're trying to break the educational barriers."

Program staff members provide extensive support to students, offering counseling, writing letters of recommendation and encouraging an alumni network, which now counts more than 405 students.

All have graduated from high school and 81 percent have earned a four-year college degree, Winkleby's research has found.

Though run out of Stanford, the science program depends on donors and grants for funding, Winkleby said. She is currently hoping to build a $5 million endowment to sustain it in the future.

In addition to her work with youth, Winkleby's research on farm-worker nutrition and the effects of neighborhood and income on heart disease have received national attention.

She's also pleased that Stanford Medical School recently established the Office of Community Health, where she serves as faculty director, making the university one of few nationwide where medical students learn about public health by working in the local community.

The Athena Award luncheon in Winkleby's honor will be held Wednesday, Sept. 10, at the Garden Court Hotel. Tickets are available through the Chamber of Commerce.

Staff Writer Becky Trout can be e-mailed at btrout@paweekly.com.