Karen Stone's Biography

If Guy Lease's one word to discribe his life is luck, mine is blessed.

Right after graduation I started UH in the fall (after being an elevator operator all summer-that is a profession that is long gone).  I immediately went to the UH placement center for a job.  While I was sitting there a lady from the VA Hosp. called with an entry level laboratory technican position.  Because I had pleaded, nay-badgered, Mr. Teter into letting me be the 1st female chemistry lab assistant she let me apply for the position which I got.  I worked there for 3 1/2 yrs.  We were trying to find a biochemical reason for schizophrenia.

While I was at the VA I got involved with Theater, Inc. which was, if I may say so, the best theater in town for doing musicals.  I started on the follow spot and ended up doing the lighting with a staff of 2-3 under me.  It was all volunteer except for the leads.  I was there for 2 yrs, long enough to get over most of my extreme shyness.

After the VA I went to work at Baylor College of Medicine doing cancer research.  I stayed there for 10 years and then moved here to Phoenix in 1976.

I now work for the National Institutes of Health at the Phoenix Indian Medical Center doing diabetes research on the Pima Indians.  They are a tribe outside of Phoenix, whose diabetes rate is at or above 50% which is the highest incidence in the world.  I have been here 24 yrs and still find my work fascinating and I love it.

While working for NIH I have become a Christian in what was a most unusual way (I was reared Jewish).  So I, like Julia, see the Lord's hand on my life, every step of the way.