By all accounts, Oumiekhari Fatty-Hydara ’27 is proving to be a fast-learning young scientist with unlimited potential. But as the daughter of Gambian parents who emigrated to Anchorage, Alaska, in the 1990s, her abilities were sometimes underestimated in elementary school.
“Until third grade, I was relatively mute,” she recalls. “I was just too shy to be able to talk, so my teachers often thought there was something wrong with me.”
Fatty-Hydara was sent to remedial speech classes until a perceptive teacher realized that she belonged, instead, in a program for gifted and talented children.
“I was hyperfixated on things and especially intrigued by science,” says Fatty-Hydara. “I was super-obsessed with stars and the cosmos, and if I wasn’t going to pursue a career in medicine, I planned to pursue a career in astrophysics.”
She’s taking the former route. Fatty-Hydara plans to become a cardiothoracic surgeon while doing research in regenerative medicine, a career choice shaped, in part, by the heart ailments of family members, including her father, who died suddenly while visiting Gambia this summer.
“I have a ferocity for excellence,” she says. With the steadfast encouragement of her mother, Fatty-Hydara became the second Black valedictorian in her high school’s 54-year history, and received an Equal Opportunity School America’s Student Impact of the Year award in recognition of her campaign for education equity.
She says she didn’t have the chance to take chemistry or calculus in high school because of scheduling issues and therefore has had to work “10 times harder” than many of her peers to excel in Dartmouth’s rigorous premed curriculum.
“I know that this is all a part of my journey, and it’s built an immense amount of empathy for the people that come after me, to be able to tell them, yes, it’ll be hard, but I was able to do it, and you’ll be able to do it too,” she says.
Bing He, an associate professor of biological sciences, calls Fatty-Hydara “a deeply motivated and hardworking student” who, after overcoming academic and personal challenges in his introductory biology course, including an ankle injury and the death of her grandmother, earned a Course Citation for Excellence.
In He’s more advanced cell biology course, “Oumie delivered an excellent final presentation synthesizing primary research articles and using carefully hand-drawn pathway diagrams to explain the underlying biology. Her clear, confident communication of scientific concepts, with creativity and style, really set her apart,” He recalls.
With help from Dartmouth NEXT, including classroom support from Teaching Science Fellows, Fatty-Hydara says she has gained the confidence to apply and deepen her skills beyond campus. In 2024, at the University of Washington, she interned with a team conducting the largest real-world clinical analysis of photon therapy versus proton therapy in patients with Stage 3 locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
“I learned how to read CT scans and navigate the electronic medical record as I attended patient treatment sessions and observed clinicians,” she says. “On my first day I got to palpate a patient’s tumor before they decided they wanted to undergo radiation treatment, and again when they received their final treatment.”
Fatty-Hydara says the research project “solidified her love for medicine.” She recently shared her findings at the American Society of Radiation Oncology, where she was one of only two undergraduate presenters. In May she presented at the Karen E. Wetterhahn Symposium, and, with NEXT funding, to the American Association for Cancer Research.
In an internship sponsored by the Center for Career Design, Fatty-Hydara spent the fall term working in a cancer lab at the Mayo Clinic. There, she has been learning techniques at the forefront of translational immunogenomics by participating in projects using cell-free DNA for early cancer detection, minimal residual disease detection, and treatment response.
“My next adventure will be sponsored by Scholars Programs, Undergraduate Research, and Fellowships at Dartmouth, as I begin stem cell research here at Dartmouth, making my dreams to pursue regenerative medicine a reality,” says Fatty-Hydara.
“Oumie is all about excellence,” says her principal mentor, Charles Thomas Jr. ’79, a professor of medicine and chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology and Applied Sciences at the Geisel School of Medicine. “She’s a team player, and everyone that meets her is impressed with her. Could she come back here and be the head of the Department of Surgery in 25 years at Dartmouth? The answer is yes. We just want to continue to make sure she gets the opportunities.”
Ansley Booker, the inaugural Penny and Jim Coulter 1982 Executive Director of Dartmouth NEXT, says those opportunities are already on the rise.
“Oumie captivated the audience at the annual Black Alumni at Dartmouth Association’s alumni mixer at Martha’s Vineyard this summer with her astonishing background and profound understanding of cancer research,” says Booker. “Her commitment to advancing science reflects her determination to engage in vital research that can change lives, and her unmatched level of self-efficacy and commitment to care will lead her far. In fact, she is already working on a project with the Dartmouth Cancer Center to bring radiation cancer treatment to Gambia.”
Fatty-Hydara’s biggest pleasure in life might surprise early elementary teachers who worried that she was unable to speak.
“I love to talk,” she says. “Some people recharge by being in solitude, but I recharge by being around people that I care about and that care about me.”
She also loves to ski, write poetry, and advocate for educational equity.
“So many people have nurtured me and seen my potential at Dartmouth, and that’s really helped thrust me to the point where I am right now,” says Fatty-Hydara. “Believing in yourself is one thing, but having people around you believe in you—and not just believe in you, but provide the resources to help make your dreams a reality—that’s what really sets Dartmouth apart.”
