In Philadelphia area, these 5 African-American scientists have found a high trajectory

Here are five African-American scientists in the Philadelphia area to keep an eye on.

* Larry Gladney, Ph.D. in physics. Gladney, 53, is a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania.

His research focuses on measuring "dark energy," a hypothetical form of energy that scientists believe is increasing the rate of expansion of the universe.

Gladney grew up in East St. Louis, Ill., in a pretty tough part of the town.

"The safest place to be was in the library," he said. At age 12, he picked up a book on physics. "It was the equivalent of a religious epiphany," he said.

* Chad Womack, Ph.D. in biomedical sciences. Womack, 45, is founder and president of TBED21, or Technology Based Economic Development for the 21st Century. He wants to help cities use the biomedical and life-sciences industry as a tool for economic development.

He grew up in East Mount Airy, attending Germantown Friends and Masterman Middle School. He graduated from Cheltenham High after moving there with his family.

Womack earned his Ph.D. from Morehouse School of Medicine and has done extensive international research on HIV/AIDS.

He credits his mother for taking him to the Franklin Institute when he was a child, stimulating an early interest in science.

* Michael D. Brown, Ph.D. in physiology.Brown, a researcher and professor at Temple University's College of Health Professions, is studying how exercise can help fight hypertension, or high blood pressure, particularly in African-Americans.

For Brown, 50, the research is personal. His grandmother and father suffered from hypertension, a leading cause of stroke, heart disease and kidney failure.

Brown published a study in 2007 that found exercise was less effective in reducing hypertension in blacks than in whites.

Brown is now looking at why blood vessels in African-Americans constrict more than in other groups. The constriction helps cause blood pressure to increase.

* James Cornish, psychiatrist and researcher, is an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania in Penn's Treatment Research Center.

He's trying to find ways to help people fight drug addiction. Cornish is also director of the Opioid Treatment Program at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Born in Pittsburgh, Cornish, 64, grew up in Philadelphia, graduated from West Philly High, and earned his medical degree at Jefferson Medical College.

He is testing a longer-acting form of the drug naltrexone, marketed under the name Vivitrol, which blocks the effect of opioid drugs, such as heroin and codeine, in the brain.

* Patrick M. Oates, Ph.D. in physiology and molecular biology. Oates is president and chief executive of Orisun Therapeutics, an early-stage pharmaceutical company that is seeking to market compounds used for the treatment of neuropathic (or brain) pain.

Oates, 46, grew up in East Oak Lane and attended public schools, graduating from W.B. Saul High. He earned his undergraduate degree in animal science at Tuskegee University and his doctorate at Howard University.

-Valerie Russ