Portland Magazine
April 1, 2023
With characteristic humility and trust, Sr. Angela Hoffman, PhD, leaves UP for a new chapter as prioress of her Benedictine community.
Story by Anna Lageson-Kerns ’83, ’14
SR. ANGELA HOFFMAN joined the faculty at University of Portland in 1989 as a biochemistry and chemistry instructor. In the early ’90s, she began working with undergraduate and high school students who were interested in taxol (paclitaxel), a natural-source cancer drug derived from yew tree bark and used in fighting breast, ovarian, and lung cancers, as well as Kaposi’s sarcoma. Through lab experimentation, Hoffman and her students ascertained that taxol could also be exported into a culture medium from the cuttings of yew trees. This new discovery led to the first of four of Hoffman’s patents. She proudly shares ownership of this first patent with her students.
As she contemplates packing up her office, Hoffman estimates that in addition to the more than 6,500 undergraduate students she has taught, she has worked on research projects with at least 300 undergraduates and nearly 100 high school students. Among her honors, she has been named an American Chemical Society Fellow, a Fellow with the American Association for Advancement of Science, an Oregon Academy of Science Outstanding Higher Ed Teacher, and was given an honorary doctorate from St. Martin’s University. But she isn’t concerned with her legacy. She likes to fly under the radar; she says, “The point is: what can you discover? And who can you help?”
Hoffman’s commitment to her students is well-recognized on campus. Mellonie Mwawai, a research mentee of Hoffman’s at UP and a 2021 graduate says, “literally everyone loves her!”
An immigrant from Kenya, Mwawai struggled with self-identity her freshman year. Hoffman was Mwawai’s first-year general chemistry instructor and perceived she was in distress. Hoffman showed Mwawai a plant from her campus greenhouse and invited her to begin a research project using it. Mwawai recognized Plectranthus amboinicus, a plant that grows in Kenya. “My grandma used it as a food additive and a medicine for stomachaches and open wounds. It was like the ibuprofen and Tylenol for everything.” The research project gave Mwawai a sense of purpose. Working with the plant “was like something from home. And that switched my perspective on everything,” she says.
Hoffman has also participated in the Pollentia Undergraduate Research Expedition, an archeological dig located at the site of an ancient Roman city in Mallorca, an island off the coast of Spain. Over several summers, Hoffman and her students collected dirt samples from ancient Roman and Christian graves and are using the dirt to grow bacteria. Their research hypothesis is that, because the bacteria are derived from soil that is centuries old, they have not been exposed to modern microorganisms. Focusing on the actinomycetes bacteria, the slowest-growing bacteria, they will explore whether these bacteria could possibly yield new antibiotics.
Lara Shamieh, PhD, a mentee of Hoffman’s since her high school days, believes that Hoffman’s faith drives her humility. “Sister Angela truly believes that everyone has God-given talents and it’s our responsibility to take those talents and give them back to God for the betterment of society,” Shamieh says. “Even with her research, even with her science, she’s giving that back to God.”
Hoffman explains how she is able to comfortably navigate her life as a Catholic nun and a scientific researcher: “You can’t believe in science. In religion, it’s believing. In science, it’s finding evidence for—they’re not conflicting, they’re different ways of looking at the same thing. Whatever God puts into creation, it’s for us to find. And there’s plenty out there that nobody knows about yet!”
ANNA LAGESON KERNS ’83, ’14 is the associate director of digital alumni engagement at the OHSU Foundation. An expanded version of this piece appeared in OHSU’s School of Medicine alumni magazine, Bridges.
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