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Ms. Doris Wong

Oral History

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Wong: Not really, no. My mother only had a high school background, and my father was not schooled here so I just was always interested in animals and nature. I enjoyed bugs and stuff like that. So, basically, I probably inclined towards biology a little bit before I went to college. I don’t want to neglect to mention that my brother, Robert Chang, eight years my junior, attended and graduated from The Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science. He worked in retail pharmacy for part of his career and later became one of Maryland’s State Drug Inspectors to check on compliance of drug stores, hospitals, drug companies to State laws.

Valera: While in Philadelphia, what were your early school experiences like or your early memories? Any that you’d want to share?

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Wong: That was Merck, Sharp, and Dohme, headquarters in Philadelphia. Probably not there now. So, then I got married and came down to the Washington area. My late husband, Ronald, also a graduate of PCP&S, had his career in Retail Pharmacy, working for Peoples Drug Stores, now known as CVS. On another note, his younger brother, Dr. Vernon Wong, was for a short time the Scientific Director of the National Eye Institute at NIH in the 1960’s.

Valera: Oh interesting, so all in Philadelphia and down here. I do have a question about while you’re navigating all these careers. Early in your career, what was it like as an Asian woman during this time in science? Did you have any impressions or what was that like?

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