ATLANTA—More than half the world’s population is at risk of malaria and Morgan (Miller) Milton, who graduated from St. Jude the Apostle School in 2001, is working to identify drugs to combat this deadly disease.

After receiving a bachelor’s and master’s of science at the Georgia Institute of Technology, she enrolled in the biochemistry doctoral program at Iowa State University. Her work focuses on investigating proteins involved in replicating the genome of a unique organelle found within species that cause malaria.

At the end of October, Milton was invited to present her research to top scientists in the field of biochemistry at the Midwest Enzyme Chemistry Conference in Chicago.

Her research may lead to screening for drugs that will inhibit the malaria parasite.

Milton’s mom works at St. Jude the Apostle School. Margaret Miller assists in the fourth-grade classroom.