Cheryl's History

Cheryl Faye Schwartz

Born on October 26, 1947 7:08 PM EST, Philadelphia, PA to Samuel and Minnie Schwartz

When I was a child, I was always very curious. However, because I was not taken seriously, most of the time, I began to learn where and how to find answers. This is what prepared me for a career as a researcher. Because of an unusual hypersomnia syndrome, I developed ways of learning outside of a structured classroom. In 1974, after receiving medication for the problem, my career as a researcher really took off. However, by then, circumstances prevented me from finishing my education so I continued to learn as I needed the information.

Working in an academic environment is quite a challenge when one does not possess a formal education. In science, if you do not have a Ph.D. or an MD degree, most people assume you're stupid. Once in a while, however, you find someone who believes in you and gives you the chance to prove what you can do. This first happened for me in 1967 when I began to work for Dr., Leonard H. Cohen at the Institute for Cancer Research in Fox Chase, PA. Whenever I would ask Dr. Cohen a question, he would ask it back to me. This frustrated my 19 year old mind! At that time, I didn't realize that he was trying to train me to think like a scientist. Dr. Cohen recognized my potential and, like a father, gave me guidance and direction. In 1971, shortly before the birth of my daughter, I co-authored a scientific paper which, at that time, was something totally unheard of for a person without even a B.S. degree to do. I worked until 2 hours before my daughter was born and then I did not return to work because that's what women in the US did, back then. However, 8 months later, my husband left and I was forced to find a job. After spending a year working in the Biology Department of University of Pennsylvania, I suddenly found myself looking for employment because our funding had been cut. It was then that I was fortunate enough to be hired by someone who would allow my scientific ability to blossom. That person was Dr. Robert Colman. Initially, he did not recognize my abilities and it took me 2 years of keeping a couple of steps ahead of him before he finally realized that I had the ability to do scientific research. That was 25 years ago. Since then, I have authored and co-authored more than 50 scientific papers, lectured Nationally as well as Internationally, and have developed diagnostic tools that have earned patents. I had an accident on January 6, 1997 that changed my whole life. I lost partial use of my right arm and shoulder and this accident also greatly aggravated my fibromyalgia. I was no longer doing the job of 3 people so the man who inspired my research started setting me up to be fired. It was a difficult reality to face -- to be betrayed by someone you trusted. I wasn't going to let my good name and reputation become soiled by Robert Colman (I no longer address him as "doctor" because that is something I used to do out of respect), so I resigned as of August 27, 1999 -- exactly 32.5 years since my first day working in a research laboratory.