A master’s degree despite detours: one alum’s inspiring story

Author: Kanaga Rajan
April 25, 2023
mentor and mentee in the lab with pipette
Photo Credit: Paul Asper

Science communicator Yimy Antonio Villa (M.S., ’21) tells today’s students it’s never too late to finish what you started.

In 2020, science communicator Yimy Antonio Villa returned (virtually) to his alma mater, San Francisco State University, to speak to students about his career. His main message: you have to take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way. Not long afterward, he got a chance to practice what he'd preached. 

Villa had been offering advice via Zoom to students in San Francisco State’s California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Bridges to Stem Cell Science program — a graduate program Villa himself had to first drop out of nearly a decade ago. After his talk, he got a message from the University’s CIRM Bridges Director Lily Chen.

Read the SF State News story