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Shyamala Gopalan (December 7, 1938 – February 11, 2009) was a biomedical scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, whose work in isolating and characterizing the progesterone receptor gene has stimulated advances in breast biology and oncology. She was the mother of Kamala Harris (former vice president of the United States who also served as attorney general of California and senator,) and Maya Harris, a lawyer and political commentator.
Shyamala went to the MEA school in Delhi and received her Higher Secondary Certificate in 1955. She studied for a Bachelor of Science in Home Science at Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi. Her father thought the subject—which taught skills considered helpful in homemaking—was a mismatch for her abilities; her mother expected the children to seek careers in medicine, engineering, or law. In 1958, aged 19, Shyamala unexpectedly applied to the master's program in nutrition and endocrinology at the University of California, Berkeley, and was accepted. Her parents used some of their retirement savings to pay her tuition and board during the first year. Lacking a phone line at home, they communicated with her by aerogram after she arrived in the U.S. She earned a Ph.D. in nutrition and endocrinology at UC Berkeley in 1964. Shyamala's dissertation, which was supervised by Richard L. Lyman, was titled The isolation and purification of a trypsin inhibitor from whole wheat flour. Note: her given name "Shyamala" is put in the last name field, while her patronymic (father's name), "Gopalan", is put in the first name field. The name form given is "Shyamala, Gopalan".
The children also visited their father's family in Jamaica during their childhood.
Wanda Kagan, one of Kamala's high school friends in Montreal, described how after she told Kamala her stepfather was molesting her, Shyamala insisted she move in with them for her final year of high school. Kagan said that Shyamala helped her navigate the system to get the support she needed to live independently of her family.
Death
Shyamala died of colon cancer in Oakland on February 11, 2009, at age 70. She requested that donations be made to the organization Breast Cancer Action. Later in 2009, Kamala Harris carried her mother's ashes to Chennai on the southeastern coast of peninsular India and dispersed them in the Indian Ocean waters.
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Selected publications
Categories: 1938 Births, 2009 Deaths, 20th-century Indian Women Scientists, 20th-century Indian Scientists, 20th-century American Women Scientists, 21st-century American Women Scientists, American Civil Rights Activists, American Women Activists, Cancer Researchers, Deaths From Colorectal Cancer In California, Harris Family, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory People, Academic Staff Of Mcgill University, University Of Illinois Urbana-champaign People, Mothers Of Vice Presidents Of The United States, Scientists From Chennai, Delhi University Alumni, University Of California, Berkeley Alumni, University Of California, Berkeley Faculty, Tamil Scientists, Women Scientists From Tamil Nadu, American Hindus, Tamil Brahmins, Indian Emigrants To The United States, Indian Expatriates In The United States, Naturalized Citizens Of The United States, Lady Irwin College Alumni
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