Professional Success and Personal Faith

Alumna Christina Fleming '90 is committed to giving back

By JENNIFER HENGEHOLD

Christina Fleming ’90 decided long ago that if she were ever in a position to give back, she would. It wasn’t only what she refers to as her “Midwestern Catholic values” that led to this decision, but also a stint working on life-threatening disease research with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital early in her career that made her see how one could be both ambitious and altruistic. 

Fleming, who studied biology and chemistry at Saint Mary’s before earning her doctorate from the University of Illinois at Chicago, has enjoyed an exceptional career as a pharmacologist and entrepreneur—a career built on a personal philosophy of helping people, maintaining her faith and values, and simply doing what needs to be done, even if it’s not glamorous or exciting. 

That philosophy has taken her far: after years of lab work in the pharmaceutical industry, she moved into consulting. Today, Fleming is the president and owner of Pharma Phrase LLC, a consulting and medical writing firm, and the founder of Firma Clinical Research, a specialty pharmacy focused on home health care, which she sold in 2018.

Her success has allowed her to realize that early dream of giving back, in two key ways: first, by helping to develop new medicines and therapeutics for people suffering from neurological disorders, cancer, heart disease, and other ailments (including her work as part of the team that developed one of the vaccines for COVID), and second, by supporting Saint Mary’s students as they seek the kinds of learning opportunities that could lead to their own future success. 

Helping Today’s Students Prepare for Tomorrow
Fleming points to her years of Catholic schooling, especially at the college level, as being a key driver of her success. “When I was at Saint Mary’s, I had some really meaningful interactions with my professors,” she recalls. “They were absolutely instrumental in helping me to decide not just what I was going to do in life, but what kind of person I was going to be.”

In 2019, Fleming embraced the opportunity to honor her mentor, Dr. Nancy Nekvasil, by making the lead gift to establish an endowed student and faculty research fund named for the longtime faculty member and interim president of the College. The Nekvasil Fund supports undergraduate inquiry-based learning in any discipline.

“Dr. Nekvasil was my anatomy professor,” says Fleming. “She was this unbelievable, amazing professor, but it was her approach to her work that really touched my heart.” 

In 2025, Fleming expanded her impact by establishing a new endowed fund to support student and faculty research. The Fleming Giesinger Family Endowed Research Fund is designed to underwrite experiential learning opportunities for students across all disciplines. The fund removes barriers to such opportunities in a variety of ways: by providing stipends for work (thereby freeing up students to further their education instead of seeking paid work outside their fields), covering the cost of research materials, funding attendance at professional conferences where students can present their findings and engage in scholarship with other students and faculty, and supporting on-campus housing if needed during the summer months. 

Bearing witness to the fruits of her generosity has been a particular source of joy for Fleming. 

“The students who have received support send these wonderful thank-you notes,” she says, “and their stories just melt my heart.”

The research opportunities funded by Fleming’s endowments are a key component of the Avenue Experience, the College’s unique curriculum-to-career pathway designed to empower young women to live well, succeed professionally, and contribute to the common good. As part of this important work, Saint Mary’s is seeking to expand access to experiential and hands-on learning opportunities to students across every major—further complementing the academic and career advising, professional mentoring, and other support written into the Avenue Experience. 

Learning You Can Make a Gift with Stock
While Fleming may be a highly accomplished scientist, she is not, by her own admission, a finance whiz. 

“I’ve always just kind of worried about medicine and science and hoped that that translated into a way to pay the mortgage,” she says with a laugh. 

So when she approached her financial advisor about establishing an endowed fund at her alma mater, she was surprised when he suggested the best option might be to make a gift with appreciated stock.

Learning about the benefits of gifting stock—which include reducing your taxable income and maximizing your charitable donation—sealed the deal for Fleming. “It was incredibly easy,” she says. “My financial advisor worked with Saint Mary’s to draw up the papers, and that was it.”

Maintaining Her Faith in Challenging Circumstances
What she lacks in financial know-how, she more than makes up for in unabashed faith. 

“I was born and raised Catholic,” she says. “My faith meant so much to me that I sent my son all the way through Catholic schools, from first grade to university. Faith has helped to make me a better person, a good person.”

Fleming hopes that the young women coming up behind her will understand that it is possible to achieve their wildest professional dreams while also remaining true to the values that a Saint Mary’s education fosters. 

In fact, she wrote a book on the subject, Corporate Faith: How to Survive Corporate America and Still Be a Good, Faith-Based, and Moral Person. The book details her decades-long journey through the often toxic world of corporate America and offers instruction for those currently navigating that environment while hoping to hold fast to their faith and morals. 

“The world is a much different place than it was in 1990,” Fleming reflects. “I want these funds to remind students that there are people out there who are supporting them and cheering them on. I want them to know the world still has a lot of good in it and to embrace the idea of paying it forward, so they can see how they benefited from a little help and do the same for someone else someday.”

October 21, 2021