Gaia Goffe, CC ’11, is a Columbia fencer, an active member of Columbia’s Students for Barack Obama, and an employee of the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions. Now she can add “published author” to her resume.
In her book Between Two Worlds: The Story of Black British Scientist Alan Goffe, the sophomore penned the story of her cousin, a pioneering black British physician who worked to develop safe polio and measles vaccines. A political leader as well as a scientist, Alan Goffe took part in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Freedom From Hunger movement.
Gaia Goffe’s book began as a paper she wrote about her cousin during her senior year of high school. Later, a family friend encouraged her to expand the paper into a book and eventually published it. When she approached Hansib Publications with her idea, she was met with an enthusiastic response.
Goffe described her own life as one that was “between two worlds.” She was born in London and lived there for six years, until her family moved to New York City. As the daughter of a physician and a BBC journalist, she grew up with a passion for both medicine and writing.
“He [Alan Goffe] should be remembered in history because of the important work he did. He is a great role model for African Americans and proof that anything is possible,” Gaia Goffe said. “Through my book, I hope to convey this message of hope and possibility.”
Goffe now lives in Orange Hill, NJ and is considering a major in East Asian Studies while at Columbia.
“I’m not sure what it is I want to do. I’m between worlds myself. I might want to follow medicine, or go into writing. Or maybe law,” she said.
Her father, Leslie Goffe, works for the BBC and wrote a book about 1800s Jamaica.
For Gaia Goffe, her family’s work and accomplishments served as inspiration, and she spent months writing and researching Alan Goffe’s work at the New York Academy of Medicine. She said that her determination was key to her success.
“Determination and initiative are very important. I just approached a publisher and they happened to like my idea, and now it’s a book.”
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