Thornless
If you spy junior Rose Moyo studying for her next molecular biology exam, she could well be wearing something she crocheted and snacking on a lemon curd pavlova she recently pulled from the oven.
Moyo at her favorite spot on campus, the Beanery at the Benton.
Today, Rosemary Moyo ’27 (CLAS) more or less has her future mapped out. The molecular and cellular biology major, with a double minor in bioinformatics and math, plans to explore biotech venture capital. But depending on what happens tomorrow, that could all change.
“I want to contribute to drug discovery, pharmacokinetics, and get that experience because it’s going to be useful back home,” Moyo says.
Back home is Zimbabwe, where Moyo grew up and lived a dozen lives, saved one, and hopes to positively affect even more.
“Funny enough, when I was younger, I wanted to be a doctor of trauma,” says Moyo. After a car accident at age 5 left her with a dislocated leg, the doctor said she wouldn’t walk again, but she defied the odds.
Around age 10, Moyo developed a boil. Having won a science book as a science fair prize, she read up on the painful bump. “I didn’t know which type of microbes caused the boil, but I was so fascinated by it, and that’s when I wanted to be a microbiologist.”
When she was 12, Moyo enrolled in a computer science certificate program. In high school, she excelled in biology, accounting, and communications. A teacher said she should not waste her English skills: “Become a lawyer.” (She never seriously considered it.)
She got hooked on a Korean TV show about doctors in a cardiothoracic surgery unit and was fascinated by school anatomy lessons on the heart, thorax, and lungs. “So I was, like, I want to be a cardiothoracic surgeon.”
Hearts ...
In the six months between high school graduation and arriving at UConn, Moyo worked as a nurse at a local clinic in Zimbabwe. And for the first time, an experience made her not want to pursue a field.
One day a girl arrived seeking medication for menstrual pain. “At least that’s what she said initially, but you could see she was extremely pale, extremely weak. And she had soiled her dress, but she wanted pain meds and to go back to class. And I was just, like, ‘No, I don’t think you’re in a position to go back to class.’”
Moyo looked at the girl’s records and saw that she had been diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy three days earlier and the doctor had recommended surgery. Acting quickly, Moyo informed the head nurse of the situation, and the girl was driven to the hospital.
“When her mom got there, she called the head nurse and thanked the head nurse so much for us referring her to the hospital very soon, because the doctor said she was very, very close to dying,” says Moyo. “That was a lot to take for little me.” (Moyo turned 19 on the job.)
The clinic revealed the level of emotional need patients have on a daily basis, she says. “Do not get into medicine just because you like the title of being called a medical doctor or a surgeon for a specific specialty. You should get in there with a heart for people.”
... and Roses
Now 22, with three years of college behind her, Moyo considers herself a gardener of sorts.
As senior analyst and relations lead for the student-run Hillside Ventures STEM Fund, Moyo has seen firsthand how scientists can commercialize their scientific ideas, particularly for healthcare. She considers Hillside Ventures and the Nexus Health experiential learning program, where she is vice president, as “my own flower gardens.”
We are an hour into this interview, and Moyo pauses.
“When it comes to stuff that I’d love to do just for the love of myself after UConn, I definitely want to pivot to my nonprofit, change it into an incubator, and set up a venture capital chapter with my country for girls to learn more about investing in VC, at least for Africa,” she says.
Did you catch that? On top of everything else, she also runs her own nonprofit, Kudzidza Kuneutano, which is working to increase the number of students participating in, and exposed to, science fairs in Zimbabwe.
True to her nature, Moyo isn’t limiting herself. She also sees a future in bioinformatics, which involves collecting and analyzing complex biological data like genetic codes. And she has ideas for more nonprofits to start.
“It sounds like I don’t unwind. I do unwind!” she pleads. Last spring she took up crocheting and has made cardigans and plushies for friends.
She also listens to audiobooks to relax, sings, and bakes. “Any chance I get, I just bake,” she says with a grin. “Meat pies, tarts, chocolate butterscotch twists. I love making pavlovas, especially the ones with lemon curd and some blueberries. Oh, and banana bread, cakes, chocolate muffins, cookies. I’m very much a baker.”
Her mother, an electrical engineer in Zimbabwe, makes homemade ice cream, and the UConn Dairy Bar’s mint chocolate chip reminds Moyo of home. “I think of my mom when I eat that ice cream.”
Moyo’s lemon curd pavlovas adorned with blueberries and lemon zest.
By Craig Burdick ’96 (CLAS), ’01 (ENG)
Photo by Peter Morenus