17-Year-Old Black American Woman Who Became a PhD, This She Worked Harder Than Studying

Dorothy Jean Tillman II Earns PhD at Age 17
Excelled Academically from a Young Age... Studied High School at 7
From a Family of Human Rights Activists, Helping Marginalized Youth

A Black woman in the United States has attracted attention for earning a doctoral degree at the age of 17.

On the 19th (local time), the AP news agency reported that Dorothy Jean Tillman II, from Chicago, graduated from the doctoral program at Arizona State University's College of Health Solutions at the age of 17 on the 6th.

17-Year-Old Black American Woman Who Became a PhD, This She Worked Harder Than Studying

Dorothy Jean Tillman II. [Image source=Instagram]

Tillman showed academic excellence from a young age. She was already studying high school subjects at the age of 7 and began taking college-level exams. At 10, she took her first college course, earning a bachelor's degree from Excelsior College in New York in 2018, two years later, and then a master's degree from Unity College in Maine two years after that.

In 2021, she began studying integrated behavioral health at Arizona State University, a field that considers both physical and mental health in treatment, becoming the youngest doctor in this field within three years. She researched the stigma issue, one of the reasons why college students experiencing mental health problems do not receive treatment.

Besides her studies, she founded a startup to foster STEAM leadership and devoted much time to running camps. STEAM is an interdisciplinary educational curriculum integrating science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. Through this, Tillman helps marginalized youth not only in Chicago but also in Ghana, South Africa, and other places build STEAM careers. As the granddaughter of Dorothy Tillman, who participated in human rights movements alongside Martin Luther King Jr., she credited her family for supporting her journey. She said, "What makes dreams come true is teamwork."

Tillman expressed her ambition to continue developing the camps and apply her research on integrated behavioral health to real-life situations. She also said she wants to expand the camps for more children and do more work with African children. She said, "I haven't been able to do other things because of studying, so I'm happy to finally have some time."