Dr. Nakpangi “Pangi” Johnson grew up in White Plains and is a proud product of the White Plains public school system. As a young teenager, she was heavily involved in Youth Bureau-associated programs and activities and benefitted greatly from them. One of many was with the Youth Employment Service (YES), that helped her to be consistently employed every summer and learned valuable life lessons such as job preparedness and professionalism.

Years later as a member of Reach for Success, she was exposed to many colleges and universities on the east coast and credits the Youth Bureau with introducing her to her beloved alma mater, Virginia State University; where she later obtained her Bachelor of Science in Animal Science/Pre-Vet. She also has a Master’s degree in Toxicology from American University in Washington, DC; and a PhD in Toxicology/Pharmacology from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA.

Dr. Johnson resides in Massachusetts and is an Associate Principal Scientist at AstraZeneca R&D Boston within their Clinical Pharmacology and Safety Sciences department. She leads a team of talented scientists and together they focus on bringing new medicines to patients in need by investigating the safety liability of developing therapeutics.

Dr. Johnson is an avid traveler, having visited over 30 countries; a lover of fashion and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.