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Hadiyah-Nicole Green is in a league of her own.

She was the second African-American woman to receive a doctorate in physics from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. And today she’s an assistant professor at Tuskegee University and stands as one of fewer than 100 black female physicists in the U.S.—in a field that is still dominated by white men.

And now Green has added another notch to her belt: She is the winner of a $1.1 million grant to develop a cancer treatment involving lasers and nanoparticles, AL.com reports.

After losing her aunt and uncle—who raised Green after the passing of her parents—to cancer, she took a particular interest in research. And Green subsequently decided to use her background in lasers and optics to explore treatments for cancer.

In the interview with AL.com, Green described how she felt after learning that she’d won the prestigious award.

“I was completely overwhelmed with joy, with thanksgiving, humbled at the opportunity that a group of my peers thought that my work was worthy for such a grant,” she said. “This is a huge door opening. It outlines a path to take this treatment to clinical trial.”

Source: The Root