Kamala Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan, had an impressive net worth as a biomedical scientist.
Recently, Vice President Kamala Harris accepted her political party’s presidential nomination on the final night of the DNC in Chicago.
Highlights
- If Kamala Harris got elected, she would be the first Indian American president of the United States.
- Shyamala Gopalan amassed a net worth of around $400k at her passing.
- She was a scientist at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research for over a decade.
Moreover, Harris promised to be president for all Americans while describing the November election as the most important in the life of our nation.
Kamala detailed why she believed another Donald Trump presidency would have serious consequences, promising a tax cut for the middle class, border security, and restoring reproductive rights. She added,
if Donald Trump were to become president again, he and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion; enact a nationwide abortion ban; force states to report on women’s miscarriages and abortions “with or without Congress”; and create a national anti-abortion coordinator.
Kamal Harris
However, she is the first Black woman and Asian American to lead a major party ticket. If elected, she would be the first woman and Indian American president.
Despite Being Born In A Middle-Class Family, Shyamala Amassed An Impressive Net Worth After Becoming A Scientist
Kamala Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was estimated to have a net worth of around $400k at her passing in 2009.
Her primary source of income was as a biomedical scientist at the Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory. At the time, she had an annual salary of around $50k.
When Shyamala applied for the Master’s program, her parents used their retirement savings to pay tuition and board fees during the first year.
US Presidential candidates and their scientific relatives:
— Paul Halpern (@phalpern) July 21, 2024
Dr. Shyamala Gopalan, the mother of Kamala Harris, was a respected biomedical scientist at LBNL.
Dr. John Trump, the uncle of Donald Trump, was an accomplished radiation physicist at MIT.https://t.co/625vEDxdqg pic.twitter.com/6KnyRM2cJM
Moreover, her family lacked a phone line at home, so they communicated with Shyamala through an aerogram.
On the other hand, her ex-husband, Donald Harris, has an estimated net worth of around $1 million as of 2024.
Her daughter Kamala Harris has an impressive net worth of $3.4 million, which she primarily earned as Vice President of the United States.
Insights On Shyamala Gopalan’s Career And Achievements
After earning a Ph.D. in nutrition and endocrinology at UC Berkeley in 1964, Shyamala conducted research in UC Berkeley’s Department of Zoology and Cancer Research Lab.
For 16 years, she served at Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research and McGill University Faculty of Medicine.
Moreover, she served as a peer reviewer for the National Institutes of Health and as a site visit member for the Federal Advisory Committee.
My mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was a scientist who had two goals in life: to cure breast cancer and to raise her two daughters.
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) March 18, 2024
As @POTUS signs a new Executive Order to expand and improve research on women’s health, I am thinking of her. pic.twitter.com/FdFQ39pC3Y
Gopalan also worked on the President’s Special Commission on Breast Cancer and mentored dozens of students in her lab.
Her research programs led to advancements in the knowledge of hormones in breast cancer.
In addition, her work in isolating and characterizing the progesterone receptor gene in mice changed research on the hormone responsiveness of breast tissue.
Additional Information
- Shyamala Gopalan passed away due to Colon cancer in Oakland on February 11, 2009, at the age of 70. Kamala carried her mother’s ashes to Chennai and dispersed them in Indian Ocean waters.
- Gopalan was born to her father, P.V. Gopalan, a civil servant, and her mother, Rajam.
- A gifted singer of Carnatic music, Gopalana won a national competition as a teenager.
