NCC Names 2021 Outstanding Alumnus

Matthew Whitaker, 2021 Outstanding Alumnus

Nash Community College has selected Matthew Whitaker of Snohomish, Washington as its 2021 Outstanding Alumni Award recipient. The award honors an outstanding alumnus annually in recognition of the contributions they make in their profession and community. Matthew Whitaker graduated from Nash Community College in 2008.

As a student, Whitaker was inducted into the Gamma Beta Phi Honor Society and was named NCC Biology Student of the Year and Associate of Science Student of the Year. He was the recipient of the Hospira Foundation Scholarship.

Whitaker presented his research at the NC Undergraduate Research Symposium and the National Undergraduate Research Conference. His experiment explored the identification, isolation and cloning of prolactin genes in zebrafish.

After earning Associate in Science and Associate in Arts degrees at NCC, Whitaker graduated from East Carolina University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and completed a Masters Degree in Science in Regulatory Science at Johns Hopkins University.

Whitaker works as a Quality Assurance Senior Manager for Bristol Myers Squibb formerly Celgene/Juno Therapeutics. In his role, he provides technical and compliance guidance and leads quality assurance processes supporting risk management and inspection readiness.