Meet ‘The Doctors Cecil’ – 1 family, 2 generations, 4 VCU doctoral degrees

By Sian Wilkerson

Like father, like son … and like mother, like daughter. At Virginia Commonwealth University, doctoral studies are a Cecil family tradition that now spans four decades.

“There’s just a nice ring to ‘The Doctors Cecil,’” said Colleen, who in 2028 expects to earn her M.D. from the School of Medicine – as her mom, Mary Reilly Cecil, did in 1990. “And we’ll have VCU to thank for that group title.”

Colleen’s brother, Thomas, also knows something about following parental footsteps. This past December, he received his Ph.D. from the Department of Chemistry in the College of Humanities and Sciences – as his dad, Todd, did 35 years earlier.

“Whenever [this] topic comes up … I joke that my parents must have just pressed copy and paste for us,” Colleen said of the parallel parent-child journeys. “I got my mom’s face and her love of medicine, and my brother got the same taste in music and the same knack for analytical thinking that my dad has.”

In fact, all four Cecils majored in chemistry during undergraduate studies at various schools before doctoral paths diverged between medicine and analytical chemistry at VCU.

Walking the same halls as his dad – and even having some of the same professors – was “fun and a little weird,” Thomas said. “I definitely have seen the things he talked about, and can go, ‘That was the lab he worked in.’”

The family path to VCU

Back in 1986, it was love – and chemometrics – that brought Todd Cecil to Richmond.

While he was an undergraduate at the University of Iowa, a professor mentioned VCU’s interesting work in chemometrics, which applies engineering mathematics to chemical problems.

“I was dating somebody who was down in Virginia as well and looking to go to medical school,” he said of Mary. “She got into MCV and I said, ‘Well, maybe I can get into VCU, [there’s] a good professor and it’s a good school.’ So I applied and they let me in.”

In following his future wife to VCU, Todd worked with advisor Sarah Rutan, Ph.D., now an emeritus faculty member in the Department of Chemistry. At the time, she was just starting her career.

“Todd was my second Ph.D. student and was one of those early students who really were key in helping launch my career,” Rutan said. “I was able to attend Todd and Mary’s wedding, and that was special to be included.”

Decades later, Todd reached out to Rutan to let her know that his son was considering graduate studies at VCU. Thomas, who earned his undergraduate degree from Wake Forest University in North Carolina, was happy to find himself on familiar – and familial – ground for his doctoral studies in analytical chemistry, starting in 2020.

“A lot of the other schools are very material-science-oriented, and VCU had much more analytically oriented research that I enjoyed and wanted to pursue,” he said.

Rutan even collaborated with Thomas’ advisor, Maryanne Collinson, Ph.D., chair and professor in the Department of Chemistry, as he worked toward his degree. “I certainly haven’t worked with two generations [of one family] before,” Rutan said.

For Colleen, the MCV Campus has felt just as familiar.

“It is pretty amazing to be able to say that my mom and I learned these same lessons as the same place just 35 years apart,” she said. “As I prepare to enter rotations, I look forward to hearing more about my mom’s experiences and seeing all the ways they overlap and diverge from mine.”

Mary, who practices family medicine, noted that while both of her kids learned about VCU through their parents, their accomplishments are their own. “You can only do it for yourself,” she said about Colleen retracing her footsteps. “VCU opens more doors for them to find their own path.”

Change and evolution at VCU

When it came time to start applying to medical schools, Colleen knew that VCU had to be on the list.

“Watching and learning from my mom all these years, I know how wonderful of a doctor and person she is, so if VCU played any role in shaping her, I knew I’d be lucky to go here,” she said.

And while parts of VCU have remained the same for the generational journeys, others are almost beyond recognition – in good ways.

Todd, who now works as deputy director in the Office of Science in the Center for Tobacco Products, part of the Food and Drug Administration, noted how VCU has expanded since the 1980s, including in areas close to his heart.

“The chemistry department has gotten so much better,” he said. “It was good then – we had some really good professors, but we were small. And it has just gotten better and better.”

With Thomas’ recent graduation, it now falls to Colleen to officially join the ranks of ‘The Doctors Cecil’ in several years. Despite the similarities in their journeys, there was never any pressure, she said – just a family passion for the same types of puzzles.

“To me, continuing this lineage isn’t necessarily about the careers my brother and I ended up in,” Colleen said, noting how the problem-solving of chemistry has always linked father, son, mother and daughter – even as their doctoral directions split. “It’s about the way my brother and I get to continue the same pursuit of knowledge and ‘figuring it out.’”