in 1965, she entered the university of washington in seattle as a chemistry major. when an advisor told her that "women do not belong in chemistry" she switched majors, settling on biology. in 1967, she transferred to goucher college in maryland, when her boyfriend moved to the washington, d.c. metropolitan area to work at the national institutes of health. it is believed that she applied to john hopkins university, but was not accepted because they were not accepting women at that time. in 1970, she married her boyfriend, dr. anthony l. komaroff, and the couple moved to boston.