Words of wisdom for the next generation of scientists
Dr. Keith Norris shares his life experiences in the final three episodes of 'Become A Researcher'
By Hansook Oh
November 14, 2024
Enhance Science’s original video series, Become A Researcher, ends with the story of a highly accomplished and senior scientist, Keith Norris, MD, PhD.
Norris is a professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Executive Vice Chair for the UCLA Department of Medicine Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. He is the principal investigator for the Diversity Program Consortium’s Coordination and Evaluation Center at UCLA, funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Keith Norris (right) and his sister at their sixth grade graduation.
Norris grew up in Jamaica Queens, New York. In Episode 14, ”Become A Person," Norris shared how his childhood was characterized by his pleasant experience growing up in a neighborhood with a “fantastic energy” against the backdrop of a tumultuous historical period including the Vietnam War, crime, drug use and police violence.
“I did my first eulogy when I was 16 for a friend of mine who died in police custody,” Norris said. “It was an interesting dichotomy.”
Norris said he loved science and math early on. He skipped a few grades in elementary school and entered college at Cornell University when he was just 16 years old. In his junior year, he took his Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), not really knowing exactly what he wanted to do. Then Howard University called to see if he was interested in going to medical school early, and he and some of his friends left Cornell to go straight there.
He had an opportunity to finish medical school early, but an advisor wisely recognized that his maturity did not just yet match his intellectual advancement, and advised him to take his time.
“I was pleased to take my four years and as my mother would say, become a person,” Norris said. “You get focused on just studying and not interacting with people and so yeah, it was good to become a person.
Soon after completing his medical degree in 1980 at Howard University College of Medicine, Norris trained in nephrology—the practice of diagnosing and treating kidney diseases—at the West Los Angeles Veterans Administration-UCLA program. He got involved in research projects looking at the role of Vitamin D and bone disease in patients with chronic kidney disease receiving dialysis.
“We did both clinical work, we did basic science, and that started really making me feel like, ‘wow, I’m a researcher now,” Norris said.
Keith Norris (right) and his mother at his Howard University Medical School graduation in 1980.
In 1995, he was invited to join the inaugural National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative. He spent over a decade helping to transform Medicare-based practice guidelines and performance measures for patients with chronic kidney disease.
Keith Norris (left) and the late Lillian Mobley (right), affectionately known as the matriarch of South Central Los Angeles, who played a major role in the starting of MLK Hospital and Charles Drew University.
He then went to Charles Drew University to serve in many different leadership roles, starting as the Executive Vice President for Research and Health Affairs.
In Episode 15, “Life has a different idea,” he spoke about one of the challenges he faced while at Charles Drew, when the county closed down Martin Luther King Hospital where he was conducting clinical research. Although this ended one opportunity, it also opened another, as he transitioned to doing community partnered research and put his career on a trajectory that would not have occurred without this change.
“What one might think one should be doing, life has a different idea of what you should be doing,” Norris said. “And so you need to think about how you embrace that and take advantage of that, and once you do, it just becomes… an amazing part of a new journey.”
In Episode 16, “Keep doors open behind you,” Norris shared his perspective on hard work and how his success belongs not just to himself as an individual, but is part of a larger story and tradition of passing it forward to the next generation.
Norris’ attributed part of his success to words of wisdom from his grandfather, who had a penchant for hard work.
“He’d say, no matter what happens, that he could always out-work somebody to get to where he had to go,” Norris said. “So that’s just sort of stuck with me, that… if you put in the work, by and large you’ll be able to be successful.”
His view of work ethic is based in community, connection, and history. He said when he thinks about the African-American community in particular, he thinks about how hard it was for those during the civil rights movement to create better opportunities for him.
“I think about people who opened doors for me… while people were having dogs bite them, while they were having fire hoses directed at them,” Norris said. “I don’t have that. I have some, you know, some microaggressions here and there, some bad words, some lack of confidence—that’s like nothing.”
This gratitude for previous generations fuels his work and compels him to do the same for future generations.
Keith Norris (left) as a child with his grandfather.
“Feeling compelled to put in the work… I have a responsibility to hold doors open, to keep doors open for other people coming behind me,” Norris said. “...So that the next generation has something that's even less burdensome to deal with.”
He encourages those who want to become researchers to define their career success by more than just their accomplishments.
“Keep going down that path to be a researcher, but as you do it, always remember to be a person, always remember to keep doors open for the people behind you, and always be thinking about how what you're doing can make the world a better place,” Norris said.
And if you do that you can consider your career a success.”
Watch all three of Dr. Norris' episodes on YouTube:
What does it take to become a scientific researcher? The Diversity Program Consortium’s (DPC) Enhance Science project explores this question in a new video series called “Become A Researcher.”
The series features five biomedical researchers who are at different stages of their careers, from starting graduate school to managing multiple grant-funded projects as accomplished senior faculty. Each of the five researchers are affiliated with the DPC, a network of institutions funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to implement training and mentoring interventions, and to enhance individuals' success in biomedical research careers.
Read all about other researchers featured in the Become A Researcher series:
- Zak Peet — ‘Your life experiences are valuable’
- Cecilia Hinojosa, PhD — 'Why I was put on earth'
- Juan Castillo, PhD — ‘From the Canal to Chemistry’
- Havaevalu Vakalahi, PhD — 'From ancient scientists to the next generation of leaders'
