Alumna Helene Galang (’96, biology) came to Cal Poly Pomona planning to become an accountant. Some of her friends from high school also attended CPP and her circle of friends grew when she joined the Barkada Filipino American Student Association. Barkada in Tagalog literally means “a group of friends.”
The club staged a play and Helene was a dancer in the production. The training she got while preparing for the play resulted in Filipino dance getting added to the curriculum. Her dance moves must’ve impressed a certain actor in the production. It was her future husband, Dexter Galang (’95, urban and regional planning, ’03 master’s in architecture).
It didn’t take long for Galang to realize that accounting wasn’t for her. She said, “I took a biology course and I liked it. I thought, yes, I can do this. I always had an interest in medicine. My mom was a dietician and there were nurses in the family.” She switched majors to biology.
After volunteering to work with her mom at the John Douglas French Alzheimer’s Foundation she realized that medicine was not her calling. Galang got involved in research under Professor Emerita Pamela Sperry and the hands-on experience piqued her interested. “I learned gel electrophoresis and became more interested in research.”
Other memorable experiences included working in the chemistry stockroom prepping equipment for classes and conducting research on detecting blood with luminol. She co-authored and published a paper on the research with Professor Emerita Barbara Burke.
Galang proudly shared that Cal Poly Pomona provided a great education to both her and her daughter Chloe, who also majored in biology and graduated Cum Laude in 2024. Chloe now works as a research lab assistant at UC Riverside.
After graduating, Helene Galang went to work for Beckman Coulter as an application scientist and later moved into marketing. She’s been working in sales for 20 years now but still makes it a point to learn about technology, sequencing, and spatial biology. Currently she’s an Account Executive for Empire Genomics, a company that specializes in FISH probes (Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization). She’s the account manager for gene specific probes, dyes for looking at cells. “We like to think of it as fighting cancer, one slide at a time,” Galang said.
GIVING BACK
“I believe in giving back. If I can share something that helped me, I want to share that experience,” said Galang. She is proud to serve as President of the Cal Poly Alumni Association and encourages alumni to join.
“We’re dedicated to creating opportunities for engagement, networking, and for fostering the pride we have for our alma mater. Our initiatives include career readiness programs, community volunteer days, professional development opportunities, chapter events, and various other ways to connect with the Bronco family. The opportunities to get involved are numerous.”
A student recently told her that he had been looking for a sense of community and participating in the Alumni Association is where he found that sense of belonging.
There are numerous ways to participate. A couple of them are joining the Bronco Mentoring Network, which is ongoing, and Dining with Broncos which is now accepting host signups for the event that happens in February. To find out more, visit the Alumni Association website.
