Brooke Ellison

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Brooke Ellison (born October 20, 1978) is the first quadriplegic to graduate from Harvard
University. In 2000, she was selected by her fellow students to speak at the University's
commencement ceremonies.

Ellison was struck by a car in 1990 while crossing a street on her first day of junior high school,
leaving her paralyzed from the neck down. Ellison graduated from Ward Melville High School
in 1996 with high honors, and was accepted by Harvard. She graduated magna cum laude from
Harvard with a bachelor of science in cognitive neuroscience in 2000, and a master's degree in
public policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government in 2004. Ellison is currently a
doctoral candidate in political psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Contents
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 1 The Brooke Ellison Story

 2 Candidate for State Senate
 3 References
 4 External links

[edit] The Brooke Ellison Story

Ellison is portrayed by Lacey Chabert and Vanessa Marano in The Brooke Ellison Story. The
2004 TV movie was directed by fellow quadriplegic Christopher Reeve, star of Superman. It is
also notable for being Reeve's final directing project. The film aired after Reeve's death.

Lacey Chabert portrays the ups and downs that Brooke Ellison goes through as the normally
difficult challenges of life are multiplied by the people who stand in Brooke's way.

[edit] Candidate for State Senate

Brooke Ellison ran for State Senate in 2006 but was defeated by the Republican incumbent, John
Flanagan. Ellison has not commented on whether or not she intends to run for office again. One
of Ellison's principal issues is her support for embryonic stem cell research. She serves on the
advisory board of the Genetics Policy Institute.