Providing Love as a Mother and Hope as a Scientist

By Thomas Maier | STAFF WRITER

September 13, 2001

Dora Menchaca, a research scientist for one of the nation's top biotech firms, flew to Washington for a two-day meeting designed to help get the government's approval for a new prostate cancer drug.

On Monday, Menchaca, a 45-year-old associate director for California-based Amgen Inc., met with officials of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the agency that reviews drugs before they receive government approval for use by the public. But when the meetings ended early, Menchaca called home to her husband in Santa Monica, Calif., to let him know she'd be taking the next available flight.

Fatefully, that return trip was on American Airlines Flight 77 from Washington's Dulles Airport, which smashed into the Pentagon Tuesday.

"She told me she had made arrangements to come back early," recalled her husband, Earl Dorsey, 49, an attorney and private consultant. "I was watching the accounts on TV, and I knew that Dora was on the flight."

Later Tuesday, his fears were confirmed when he learned that Dora, whom he had met when they were both graduate students at UCLA, was dead. Dorsey recalled her success as a research scientist for Amgen and as a wife and mother to their two children - daughter Imani, 18, and son Jaryd, 5.

"Whenever they had a product that was close to approval, Dora would make the trip to Washington" to meet with the FDA, her husband recalled. Her brilliant career included a doctorate from UCLA and a master's in public health from the University of North Carolina. "Dora enjoyed being home, working in her garden and making our house into a home," he recalled.

Dorsey said last night that Amgen provided grief counselors to help him and his children deal with their tragic loss, but he doesn't have the time to think about his wife's killers. "My primary concern right now is how I'm going to tell my 5-year-old son about this," he said with a sigh.