by Hannah Brechka

Dr. Victoria Prince’s résumé is stacked with her prestigious accomplishments. Dean and Director of the Office of Graduate Affairs, Professor in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago, post-doctoral fellowships at Princeton University and Guy’s Hospital in London. The list goes on! Dr. Prince stands out on the page as one of the most influential and powerful women in the University of Chicago’s Biology community, but to her students and colleagues, she’s Vicky.

In the spring of 2014, I was lucky enough to take Vicky’s Vertebrate Development course, co-taught by her long-time colleague and friend Cliff Ragsdale. I had at that point only known her as Dean Prince, but she insisted that everyone refer to her by her endearing nickname, immediately putting everyone at ease around her. Vicky makes you feel like her equal; that you are colleagues, and not a subordinate. Her teaching style is casual, but she expects nothing but the best from her students.

My relationship with Vicky has developed and grown since that course. She agreed to be on my thesis committee, and has offered me opportunities to be an advocate for the Biological Sciences Division (BSD) that I am immensely grateful for. It was a pleasure to sit down with her for this article, as I got to learn about her hopes and dreams and how she found her path to where she is now when she usually spends her time aiding graduate students with their dreams. I learned that she has always loved science and that she has followed her intuitive nose and her colleagues’ encouragements to her current position. Luckily for all BSD graduate students, her friend Cliff Ragsdale suggested that she apply for a position at the University of Chicago. Even though all she knew about the city was what she saw on E.R., Vicky has flourished here moving up the ranks from Assistant Professor to Committee Chair to Dean of Graduate Affairs with grace.

Vicky divvies up her time between leading a productive developmental biology lab, teaching courses and running the University of Chicago’s BSD graduate program. While she finds juggling her three distinct roles difficult at times, she commits her immense intellect and seemingly endless capacity for empathy to each. These three roles keep her busy but she reveals that, “the gratifying part is being able to interact with really smart young people, and seeing them grow and do well”. This sentiment embodies Vicky as a mentor, educator and leader. For her, students take priority.

Her laboratory is full of bustling students and bubbling fish. Vicky’s early post-doctoral work on chicken embryos kindled her passion for embryology, but her career was launched with the risky move of using zebra fish as a model organism for understanding basic developmental processes. While now considered one of the best tools for easy access to early stage embryos, prized for their optical clarity and speed of genetic manipulations, at the time there were few researchers and even fewer tools for working on Danio rerio. Vicky’s contributions to the scientific field have allowed the humble zebra fish to become one of the major players in the world of model organisms. “I’m not lying awake at night thinking about my Nobel Prize,” Vicky states bluntly, “and honestly I think some people are. They’re worried about their legacy; they want to get that external recognition…I’m fueled by local people in my field saying ‘that was a good experiment.’ I strive for that”.

As Dean, Vicky has brought many changes to the science graduate students in the BSD, but one in particular has had huge benefits for her students: the myCHOICE program. MyCHOICE (CHicago Options In Career Empowerment) was developed to broaden the experiences and training science graduate students and postdocs receive at UChicago. MyCHOICE is funded through an NIH Broadening Experiences in Science Training grant that has three principal investigators in addition to Vicky and a dedicated steering committee of faculty, staff and trainees. “I just got the nicest email from a student who is about to graduate. He’s got a job offer that wouldn’t have been possible if he hadn’t had this internship through myCHOICE,” she recalled, voice gushing with enthusiasm, “Yay!” It isn’t just these big programs where Vicky’s impact will be felt, but through the small interactions and support she gives to each student under her care.

Vicky may never get a Nobel Prize for her scientific endeavors, but it wouldn’t surprise those who know her if she did. Her unrelenting curiosity and high expectations for herself and her students means no prize could adequately capture the immense impact that Vicky has had. Her legacy is the young scientists from the University of Chicago who will go on to become leaders tomorrow because she made us her first priority. And we are all very grateful to her.

By Katarina Kotnik Halavaty, PhD

For more than a decade Kelly Fahrbach successfully paved her biomedical research career in academic settings – all went well, but something was missing. At the time, Kelly was a young research assistant professor and admitted that she needed more variety, more dynamic in her everyday schedule, which pushed her to switch her professional path. She now enjoys working as a medical writer at Stem Scientific that is part of Ashfield Healthcare Communications.

“My whole life I was interested in biology,” she says. In her first year of undergraduate school she didn’t know which direction in biology she wanted to go. Kelly was on her search to find the right professional path, and she therefore applied for a summer internship at Loyola University in Maywood, Illinois. As a laboratory technician she, for the first time, was exposed to virology research. “I really liked virology but I also became interested in cancer research.” She wanted to learn more about cancer virology, and so she decided to go to graduate school. She joined Professor Kathleen Rundell’s laboratory at Northwestern University where she had an opportunity to mesh cancer research with virology. Kelly was enjoying science, but at the same time she was also thinking about her future plans. “At first I thought I wanted to become a teacher for undergraduate students, and I therefore looked into gaining some teaching experience.” During her last year of graduate training she began part-time lecturing at National-Louis University in Chicago. In 2004 Kelly graduated and obtained her Ph.D. At the time she wasn’t certain whether to proceed with teaching or not. “I felt I was still more interested in hands-on science than in teaching, and I therefore decided to do a short postdoctoral training.” After having several interviews for a postdoctoral position, she chose to join Professor Thomas Hope’s laboratory at Northwestern University to learn about HIV. “This was the only lab that didn’t do any cancer biology among all I applied for; however it offered a clinically relevant research which I found more interesting than a basic science lab.” During her postdoctoral training in the Hope lab Kelly continued to teach as a part time adjunct biology instructor. After three years of lecturing she realized that she wasn’t ready to go into teaching full time. She liked science, but she did not want to become a principal investigator. Kelly, again, was on her search what to do next. Around that time her mentor, Professor Thomas Hope approached her and suggested that she become a junior faculty member. “This was a chance that I did not want to miss! It opened up new opportunities for me to apply for several grants and take on a leadership role.”

Kelly was promoted to a research assistant professor. “It gave me some time to enjoy research and being comfortable with having a family. Tom was very supportive and I was able to succeed as a working mom in an encouraging environment with a highest quality of research being performed”, she explains. Kelly applied for several grants, gained a lot of new research experiences and became an expert in microscopy. In her new role she also took on additional responsibilities such as mentoring graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, co-implementing the lab website, and promoting methods to improve safety, internal communication, and data reporting in the laboratory. She joined the Young Investigator Editorial Review Board of AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses Journal to peer review manuscripts in the HIV/AIDS research field. Professionally Kelly was in full bloom! She published three first-author articles and co-authored a publication in peer reviewed journals. Despite her fruitful career in an academic environment four years later Kelly was reconsidering what she wanted to do in her future. She felt that she was working hard but she didn’t have as much to show as she would like to have. “I wanted to see more results at the end of my day; the outcome of my daily experimental work did not satisfy me any longer,” she says.

Kelly began planning to leave the bench: “I started exploring alternative Ph.D. careers.” Listening to her inner voice she knew that she loved working in a team and managing projects. While networking with people from different backgrounds she came across the medical communications field. “This was a breakthrough!” she says. “I always enjoyed analyzing data, writing grants, articles, abstracts, safety protocols… but not planning or carrying out the same experiments day after day” she further explains. Kelly applied for numerous positions including writing, safety and project management, and communication jobs. In the end, she landed an associate medical writer position at Ashfield Healthcare Communications. “I am very happy that I made this change!” In her new role Kelly writes manuscripts and reviews for peer review. She develops abstracts, posters, and slide presentations for international congresses along with developing strategic documents for pharmaceutical companies. “I love the variety! I no longer need to repeat same things again and again as I had to do at the bench. Now, the pace is faster than before, and I am learning new things every day! This gives a lot of dynamic to my everyday work.”

Tailoring her professional path according to her needs and wishes was a long term process. Kelly admits that transitioning from academia to industry was not easy: “Getting my foot in the door was the hardest.” Working with clients, learning new terminology associated with the field, and becoming familiar with new protocols could sometimes be a bit challenging. “The Hope lab prepared me well for my next step – even for my new professional adventure,” she says. “Tom gave me several opportunities to play different roles inside the lab and gain a wealth of knowledge.” Kelly presented at conference calls, communicated with IRB safety and ethics approval committees and mentored graduate students, postdoctoral candidates, and technicians. Looking back, she is proud of all her accomplishments and academic achievements!

As a successful career woman, Kelly established a great balance between her work and her family life. She has two daughters who keep her busy, but also motivated. Kelly strives to spend time with her family and loves going camping and fishing with her daughters and her husband, enjoys baking, running, and has recently taken up painting and trying to learn the violin. It gives her new energy to work hard in her profession. Kelly notes, “I am incredibly fortunate! Having a supportive network at home and all of my past experiences, many of those in the Hope lab, were a major help in getting me where I am today. Now at my new job, the team I work with is fantastic! My co-workers are also very supportive.” With all her positive experience Kelly would like to share her encouraging thoughts with others: “If you are not happy with what you are doing, don’t ever think it is too late to make changes in your life in order to be successful and happy!”

Psychologist helps NASA build teams for mission to Mars

By Kristin Claes Mathews

Sometimes, coworkers just seem to click. They get along, are productive and help each other out of tight spots. That might seem like serendipity, but DePaul University’s Suzanne Bell knows there is a science to building a team that thrives. An industrial organizational psychologist, Suzanne’s research will help NASA build the right team of astronauts to send to Mars.

Suzanne is an associate professor in DePaul’s College of Science and Health and specializes in team composition. Since January 2016, she and her collaborators have been have been collecting data on teams in the Human Exploration Research Analog environment at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. She analyzes how factors like team members’ personality, demographics, values and background can predict the success of a team. Their research on crews in this simulation environment will help NASA predict how a team might function in isolation for long durations in space.

“I develop the science behind identifying the right mix of people for a situation,” said Suzanne. “Future space travel is a really exciting application of this science.”

Applying research for deep-space travel

Psychology first stood out to Suzanne when she was an undergraduate. “I liked the idea of using the scientific method to translate the way people think and behave, turning it into data and analyzing it.” Business and finance were also early education interests, and she said they layered together naturally into her chosen field, which examines how people think and behave in the workplace.

“Industrial organizational psychologists are applied scientists. We balance science and practice, so everything I do needs to have a practical application to it.”

Her work with NASA will help them “get the right people in the right place.” She explained that her specialty, team composition, is an important consideration for optimal performance in almost any team context. Its importance is certainly heightened for deep-space travel.

“On Mars you will have the crew, mission control on a communication delay, and whatever technology support that’s been created. The crew will need to live and work well together. They’ll need to adapt to whatever challenges come their way” she explained.

In her previous research, Suzanne has studied how teams interact in extreme conditions like those deployed to Afghanistan, as well as in more traditional office environments.

Strong mentors

Suzanne earned her master’s and Ph.D. in Industrial & Organizational Psychology from Texas A&M University and her bachelor’s degrees in history and psychology from Olivet Nazarene University.

An advisor in graduate school, Dr. Winfred Arthur, Jr., was a strong mentor to Suzanne. “One of the things I really appreciated was that he not only mentored me to build my expertise in areas he researched, but he also supported me when I wanted to explore areas that were a little bit different from what he studied, or when I wanted to bring in new types of statistical analyses.”

She draws on that experience when mentoring students. “I am always mindful when students are coming from different backgrounds and making sure that I get them in touch with the resources they need.”

Involving girls and young women in the sciences is important to Suzanne. “The NASA project is really great because it’s something tangible and very specific that little girls can hook onto and dream about. It’s really a pleasure to do research like that, inspiring little girls to be astronauts or the scientists who study astronauts.”

Looking forward, Suzanne plans to take a “deeper dive” into team composition and to leave a legacy with her research.

“When I look back on my career, I want to think that I’ve changed the way people think about a topic,” she said. “I want to create theory and research that really helps shift people to think in more team-based ways when they organize work.”

Focus in the lab and on the playground

Outside of the classroom and her lab, Suzanne enjoys being with her two young sons, playing outdoors and exploring the city. “I enjoy gardening and working in the yard. I sit at my desk for way too many hours, so I like to be physical when I’m outside of work.”

Finding work-life balance is all about focus for Suzanne, and she shared a bit of what she has learned:

“Particularly as a woman, there’s so much on our minds all the time: all the things that need to be done to run the lab, or all the things required for kids, if you have them. So my advice would be to focus on whatever you are doing, and do it fully. Don’t worry about the other things until it’s time to worry about them.”

When she is at work, Suzanne becomes fully engrossed in teaching and research, but as soon as she arrives at home, she switches her attention completely to “the home life.” “It’s not always possible to compartmentalize with that, but whenever I can, I do. It helps me feel, at the end of the day, that I am able to do both well.”

To learn more about Suzanne’s research, visit http://depaulne.ws/BellMars.

By Carol Hughes, MLSt

Neuroscientist Dorothy Kozlowski has been interested in brains since her high school days on the South Side of Chicago. For a science fair project, she used a “primitive EEG machine” to record and analyze readings from friends as they listened to music. The project showed that music her friends preferred resulted in more relaxed EEG patterns than music they didn’t like. The project made it to the Illinois State Science Fair, but more importantly, sparked Dorothy’s interest in neuroscience.

But it was as an undergraduate at Knox College that Dorothy caught the research bug. Initially, a biology major with plans to go into medicine, she had an opportunity to do undergraduate research examining neural development with Professor Heather Hoffman, now Chair of Psychology at Knox. That experience inspired Dorothy to enter the field of psychology and ultimately attend graduate school instead of medical school.

Curiosity about brain plasticity

A turning point in her studies came in grad school when she and others began to explore if the adult brain could change and be plastic, and if so, how. That curiosity and a genuine desire to make her research clinically relevant, directed Dorothy’s research focus to traumatic brain injuries (TBI).

She specifically looked at rats and whether an overuse of their front paw, which was dysfunctional due to an injury to the brain, could make the brain injury worse. Her early findings showed such overuse could indeed adversely impact the brain injury. This influenced the idea that perhaps early rehabilitation after a brain injury or stroke would not be the best approach in patients; instead it could actually result in a worse outcome.

“I always wanted to influence the clinical field, and this research shook up the rehab field and caught the eye of neurologists and physical therapists,” she said.

Research with students at DePaul University

In her lab at DePaul University, where Dorothy is a Vincent de Paul Professor of Biological Sciences, she expanded her TBI research in 2009 with funding from the Department of Defense. Her focus was on examining plasticity and rehabilitation following TBI. At the time, protocols used for TBI rehabilitation were the same as stroke and degenerative diseases, and assumed that the brain following TBI could reorganize just the same as following other insults. Her study examined the plasticity following TBI and attempted to define optimal rehab strategies by testing the efficacy of three commonly used rehabilitation techniques — reaching, exercise and constraints — in rats with controlled, induced TBI.

Testing was complex and time-consuming, including 10 treatment groups, each following different rehabilitation protocols. Eight students — six undergrads and two grads — worked on the project. The results of her research, published recently, showed that a brain with a traumatic injury was different; that the plasticity of brains suffering traumatic injury is decreased compared to what is seen following stroke. Her work also suggested that individuals with TBI might require more intense and varied rehab strategies than individuals with stroke. This has been well received by the clinical rehabilitation community.

Inspiring young researchers

“The way I look at research now has changed,” said Dorothy. “I am viewing research as a teaching tool; to inspire other students to get the research bug.”

Rather than focus on a research finding or to find “drug x,” Dorothy is looking at how her research inspires students to be inquisitive, to ask questions.

When asked for advice for young women entering STEM fields, Dorothy offers three points. ”Work hard, be creative with your ideas, and be good communicators,” she said. “A lot of times when I see people struggle, it is because of gaps in communication, either written or oral.”

As an undergrad, Dorothy didn’t know at the time that there would be bias against women in science. And, as a grad student, her entire lab was women. She hasn’t personally felt the sexism that others report in science, but her counsel for young women entering the field is “to remain confident and be a strong advocate for yourself. Over time you become the expert in your field. Don’t be afraid to own that expertise.”

For the record

Dorothy, a first-generation college student, has a B.A. in psychology from Knox, and an M.A. and Ph.D in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She also has completed postdoctoral fellowships in neurosurgery at UCLA and neurobiology at Northwestern University.

She is president of the Chicago Society for Neuroscience. Dorothy also works with the Concussion Legacy Foundation and with her students, provides concussion education programs to middle and high school students in the Chicago area.

Dorothy lives in Willow Springs with her husband and 14-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter. She enjoys spending time with family and friends, cooking and entertaining when her busy schedule permits.

In 2013, Dorothy wrote an op-ed published in the Chicago Tribune titled “Should I let my son play football?” To find out the answer and information about concussions in contact sports, you’ll have to read the op-ed at http://bit.ly/Kozlowski_sonplayingfootball.

By Marina Damiano, PhD

What’s the secret to achieving happiness and success as a woman in STEM?

“Find and do what makes you sing inside and out,” says 3-D printing CEO, entrepreneur, mentor, and scientist, Dima Elissa.

Dima believes that we must use our personal passion, not others’ expectations, as a guidepost to lay the foundation for self-determined success. As the daughter of a cardiovascular surgeon, Dima fully expected to follow in his footsteps, but instead chose another path with a different kind of “heart.” She studied Chemistry at Hanover College, then used her science background and an interest in international business to land her first job at NutraSweet…during a hiring freeze.

Convincing a company that was not hiring to bring her on was Dima’s first deliberate foray in entrepreneurialism, sales, and networking. Armed with nothing but a borrowed car and sheer excitement, she drove to NutraSweet’s suburban Chicago location and, in a time before LinkedIn, hobnobbed with the receptionist to find out who ran the international division and how she could get in touch.

A type-written letter sent directly to the President landed her an interview and the rest is history, according to Dima. She was part of the company’s new venture arm, one of the first corporate technology incubators/accelerators of its time, where she identified, evaluated, and commercialized viable new product and business ideas.

Fast forward to the present — with a brief stop to earn an MBA at Texas A&M — Dima still uses those same skills she first cultivated at NutraSweet. She is now the CEO of VisMed-3D, a company that designs and prints 3D body parts. As CEO, she develops VisMed-3D’s strategy, raises funds for its growth, and advocates for the value of 3D technology within the medical community. She credits her science education for giving her a unique platform for critical thinking, non-traditional problem-solving, and innovation. Her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to “make sure you have the internal fortitude, as well as the emotional and financial resilience to walk a rocky road filled and fraught with ups and downs, sometimes in rapid fire succession like a roller coaster.”

Dima also devotes a significant amount of time to mentoring and advising female STEM entrepreneurs and fledgling companies within the technology sector. She is Vice Chairwoman for Women in Bio, an executive council member for Ms. Tech, and a Chicago Innovation Exchange Mentor. Dima is particularly passionate about leveling the playing field for girls and women in STEM. She believes that making changes to K-12 STEM education is key to achieving that goal.

“At an early age, teachers, parents, and peers shape our viewpoints and values. They also shape our self-doubts and limitations. This is especially true in the case of girls who think that STEM is not for them,” says Dima. It is possible to redirect these thought patterns, she says, by introducing teaching practices and tools that enable girls to see and seek their own abilities in a STEM field. Pursuant to this belief, Dima became a member of the STEM Steering Committee for the Apareció Foundation, a group that focuses on empowering and educating young women in underserved communities. She is also an advisor to Galvanize Labs, a Chicago company that has built a game-based platform to teach technology fundamentals to K-12 students.

With the many hats she wears, it’s hard to imagine how Dima finds time for it all. She credits daily exercise with giving her the energy to seize each day, but admits that balance is tricky because she finds it difficult to refuse invitations that involve mentoring.

“When and where possible, I want to serve my community and provide access to knowledge that has come through many years, many experiences, and many connections throughout the world,” she says. That desire to serve has inspired Dima to write LifeCrafting, a book in which she shares her life story and offers practical advice on how to “dance within the rules of life” to craft one’s own path.

By Natasha Wadlington, PhD.

Dr. Virginie Buggia-Prévot is a research scientist at the Institute for Applied Cancer Science at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She serves as head of neuroscience target discovery and validation at the Neurodegeneration Consortium, a collaboration of MD Anderson, Baylor College of Medicine and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her role is to act as a liaison between consortium members at MD Anderson and top scientists in the field at MIT and Baylor College of Medicine to find new targets for therapies to stop, slow or reverse Alzheimer’s disease. Her work involves interacting with many of the researchers and postdocs as well as keep up with the changing trends in literature. Virginie finds the experience both enriching and fun.

To arrive at her current position in Houston, Texas, Virginie faced many trials and tribulations. Through perseverance and a great support network, she gained many experiences, accumulated great wisdom and succeeded at finding a career about which she is passionate.

Virginie was born in Grenoble, France. In France, she discovered her love for the sciences and as an undergraduate, working in a lab that focused on Parkinson’s disease. Continuing her focus on neurodegenerative diseases, she completed her Ph.D. at Le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Nice Sophia-Antipolis, France. There she studied amyloid-beta and found a novel pathway in which it associated with neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease. It was at this point Virginie decided to take a chance, leave France and pursue Alzheimer’s disease as a postdoc at the University of Chicago. While transitioning from France to the United States was a challenge, she found that the transition from postdoc to her current position more demanding.

At this point of her life, Virginie knew she had a crucial decision to make.

“At the same time you have to try to find opportunities,” she says.

As a postdoc, Virginie published eight articles in peer-reviewed journals, including work on the transport of the Alzheimer’s disease-associated protein BACE1, obtained $180,000 in grant funding for her research and provided the critical data to help fund a project with collaborators at Northwestern University for $400,000. However, obtaining data and becoming published were not the only keys to her success. She had to learn how to effectively network.

Virginie has learned that postdocs are not always aware of how to network efficiently, with many experiencing “failures and bad experiences.” To combat this issue, Virginie openly sought out sources to network and communicate. She became the co-chair for the seminar and social media committees at the University of Chicago’s Biological Science Division Postdoctoral Association. There were plenty of opportunities to interact with people within the university. She also enjoyed communicating outside the university through social media channels such as Twitter. Aside from gaining access to a community of academics and biotech groups outside of the University of Chicago, she also received followers from peer-reviewed journals and foundations.

“It’s always nice to be able to do something and also to promote the foundations,” says Virginie.

Meeting some of those followers in person was a great way to connect with others personally and professionally. So many postdocs do great work but their exposure may be limited, she says.

“It’s essential to have a good LinkedIn page and to promote your work. Everybody Googles you now,” says Virginie.

She fully used these tools and, as a result of the contacts she gained, successfully transitioned from postdoc to her position at MD Anderson.

Life is not meant to be all work and no play. MD Anderson encourages its employees to maintain a work-life balance. For Virginie, that notion can be a little difficult at times.

“I have a very hard time turning off my brain at night,” she says. “I’m the type of person who will wake up in the middle of the night and draw schematics and write down experiments.”

She has a true passion for science and recognizes that when you love what you do, it can be hard to walk away. Luckily for Virginie, she has found that balance with her husband, a non-scientist. They both value the arts and enjoy visiting museums and traveling in their spare time. She attributes her love for all things culinary to her French roots and takes joy in cooking at home. Virginie has found that great balance between working in an environment that she loves and living her life to the fullest extent.

For people trying to find their way through STEM careers, she offers some wise advice.

“If you are passionate about something, it will be transparent and people will definitely give you opportunities,” says Virginie. “Find people who inspire you and surround yourself with people who believe in you. Share your passions with the world and your friends because you never know where you are going to find your next opportunity. By verbalizing the things you like, the more it would be clear in your head what you are looking for.”

Virginie’s perseverance through adversity and challenges is inspiring to women in STEM everywhere.

By Rashika Rangaraj

Dr. Eileen Dolan, Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago, is dedicated to transforming patient care and health through her research by combining laboratory discoveries with patient needs. Her motto has always been to improve the patient’s quality of life, which she has successfully pursued using different approaches that range from pharmacological modifications of a single protein to identifying gene variants, with the ultimate goal of making chemotherapy more efficient and less toxic. In addition to training several scientists and inspiring many more, many of whom are independent scientists, she has also initiated two programs that introduce cancer research to enthusiastic high schoolers to help them gain a better understanding of current developments in research and inspire them to pursue a career in research.

Dr. Dolan, by training, is a chemist, having completed her bachelors at the University of Dayton and her doctoral degree in Medicinal Chemistry from Purdue University. With her strong background in analytical chemistry, she transitioned into drug development and obtained her training in biochemical pharmacology in Dr. Anthony Peggs’ lab at Pennsylvania State University. During her postdoctoral study she focused on developing compounds to inhibit a specific DNA repair protein that would later passage into clinical trials against cancer. Following this she obtained her first position at the University of Chicago as a translational oncologist. Through her newly founded lab in the department of Medicine, she applied her strong chemistry and pharmacology background to address clinically relevant questions to meet the needs of cancer patients.

Then came one of the biggest turning points of her career, where she made a dramatic switch to venture into what was then an exciting, emerging field, now continues to be one with lots of promise- Pharmacogenomics. This field combines the powers of genomics and pharmacology to identify genetic variations that affect drug response and drug toxicity. She strongly believes this would eventually lead to evaluating patients for genetic variants upon which their course of therapy could be decided such that effective outcomes with lowered toxicity could be achieved, also popularly termed as “personalized medicine”. It promises to greatly improve lives of several patients suffering from toxic side-effects of chemotherapy like hearing loss and neuropathy. She has pioneered in developing novel cell-based models to study why different patients respond differently to the same chemotherapy regiment. She notes that the answer lies in their genetic make-up. She placed emphasis on taking an unbiased approach to research by “stepping back and allowing the data to dictate”. She notes that the field of genomics has been revolutionized by unbiased analysis of genomic data, where intronic (non-coding) regions in the DNA could also play a vital role in complex diseases such as cancer.

Improving patient lives is not the only gratifying part of her work; she also enjoys being an educator and mentor. Besides mentoring many graduate students, medical students and post-docs, she has initiated two notable projects to inspire young minds to pursue science. The first is the Continuing Umbrella of Research Experience (CURE) program which is designed for the most promising high school and undergraduate students from underrepresented populations interested in pursuing careers in cancer research. This allows students to immerse themselves in hands-on research and complete small achievable projects under established mentors at the University of Chicago. The second program is called researcHStart, an 8-week cancer-focused research and career development experience for the most promising high school students from the Chicago and Champaign-Urbana areas.

Drawing from her own experiences, her one advice was, “ taking risks is a big part of succeeding in life”. She stressed that as a woman one needs to cultivate a courageous, willing to take risks type of personality at the same time remember that things will not always work out as planned and be open to failure.

Dr. Dolan is an avid runner, loves to perform yoga and enjoys cooking for her family. Additionally, she spends time over the weekends with elderly citizens. She notes that their unique perspective on life is enchanting.

by Katarina Kotnik Halavaty, PhD

Guylaine Haché is a technical advisor at Rakoczy Molino Mazzochi Siwik LLP, a litigation and intellectual property law firm in Chicago, IL. She is pursuing her J.D. (Juris Doctor) degree at the Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology. Prior to starting her law career, Guylaine obtained her Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.

“I love science. In fact, I consider myself a scientist first and a patent practitioner second.” For her doctoral thesis, Guylaine studied the molecular mechanism by which a family of proteins called APOBEC can mutate the HIV genome. Her work was recognized as an outstanding research by graduate students in the basic biomedical sciences, and she was awarded the Beatrice Z. Milne and Theodore Brandenburg Award. While in graduate school, she held doctoral studentships from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Canadian Institutes of Health Research. After successfully completing her doctoral research Guylaine moved to Chicago to begin postdoctoral training at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. There, she studied the life cycle of HPV. In total, she authored six and co-authored three scientific articles in recognized peer reviewed journals during her short research career at the bench.

During her postdoctoral training, Guylaine began questioning whether laboratory research was the right career for her. She desired more scientific diversity rather than focusing on the narrow area of research in which she had specialized. It was a discussion with a postdoctoral colleague, Marta New, PhD, MBA, that led her to explore a career in patent law. At the time Marta was transitioning from her postdoctoral position to Entrepreneur in Residence at Northwestern University’s Innovation and New Ventures Office. “Marta brought technology transfer and patent law to my attention,” says Guylaine. After doing some research she realized that with her scientific background she would fit well in law firms specializing in patent law to protect clients’ inventions. “I was especially excited about the prospect of working at the cutting-edge of research and being exposed to a wide range of technologies,” she explains. After conducting a few informational interviews with patent attorneys, Guylaine decided to turn her research expertise and her desire to learn about a wide range of scientific issues into her new profession.

Guylaine left academia. “I was very motivated to make the switch to patent law, so I applied to numerous law firms across the country.” In the end, Guylaine landed a job as a technical advisor with Ropes & Gray LLP in Boston, MA. In her new position at Ropes & Gray, Guylaine assisted drafted and prosecuted patent applications for the firm’s clients in the United States and abroad. “Basically, this includes talking to clients about their potentially patentable inventions, conducting searches in various databases to identify what has already been invented and published, drafting and filing patent applications, and taking patent applications through the patent examination process.” While at Ropes & Gray, Guylaine prosecuted patents in a wide range of technologies including molecular biology, immunology, photodynamic therapy, medical devices and diagnostics. She says that one of the most satisfying aspects of patent law is that, “It offers the opportunity to work on a wide variety of topics where one can learn about cutting-edge research before it’s published.”

Guylaine has since left Boston and is now back in Chicago. She now works as a technical advisor for Rakoczy Molino Mazzochi Siwik LLP, a mid-sized litigation and intellectual property law firm devoted exclusively to the pharmaceutical industry. In her current position, Guylaine provides technical litigation support to attorneys, works with experts to develop theories for use in patent litigation, as well as assists with patent counseling and due diligence analyses. She emphasizes that paying attention to details and having good analytical as well as communication skills are critical in her profession. A small mistake can have a serious consequence for a client. “I did not have to think about how a mistake might impact a client while performing bench research in academia,” she admits. Another situation that she encounters in her non-academic role at times is, “It’s a service industry, and clients always come first.” Now these challenges are part of her every day work.

Guylaine is attending Chicago-Kent College of Law in the evening. She is on track to graduate law school in December 2016 and looks forward to taking on more responsibilities as an attorney with Rakoczy Molino Mazzochi Siwik. She is excited to have “a more active role on cases, including taking and defending depositions, participating in negotiations and mediations, and attending court hearings.” While Guylaine enjoys applying her scientific background in a legal and business setting, she finds working and going to law school quite challenging at times. “It’s not for everyone,” she says. She recalls that at one point, she was working 8-5, attending law school by night, and getting home to study until midnight, only to get up in the morning to do it all over again. Speaking from her experiences in pursuing her goals, she believes that hard work and perseverance are the secrets to success. In the process of achieving goals she advises the following: “Just work hard and good things will happen!”

by Karen Chien, PhD.

Dr. Joan Cook-Mills, PhD, is a Professor in the Division of Allergy-Immunology at Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University.

Joan is a well established investigator who has published over 50 peer reviewed articles in journals including the Journal of Physiology-Lung and the Journal of Immunology. Her research interests range from leukocyte migration during inflammation and allergic disease to the signaling of vascular endothelial adhesion molecule (VCAM-1). One of her most important findings involves the regulation of lung function by vitamin E isoforms. She discovered that when humans consumed gamma-tocopherol, the form of vitamin E found in corn, soybean, and canola oils, there was an association with a higher incidence of asthma; the consumption of alpha tocopherol, the vitamin E isoform present in olive and sunflower oils, was associated with increased lung function. Her work uncovered mechanisms in which vitamin E can regulate the immune system. This work of paramount importance in understanding the health benefits of vitamin E has been featured internationally in media and magazines including MORE Magazine, Medical Daily, and the New York Times.

Joan spent her childhood in the small town of Charlevoix in northern Michigan, where there were only two stoplights when she was growing up! She has always had an interest in science and medicine. Although she majored in pre-medicine during college, she found that she wanted to pursue research after talking to professionals in different areas. She became intrigued with immunology after a recruitment summer internship in an immunology focused lab within the biochemistry department at Michigan State University. After receiving her PhD, she completed postdoctoral research in the field of neuro-immunology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She then spent 13 years as faculty at the University of Cincinnati, where she enjoyed working with and being surrounded by immunologists, before coming to Northwestern.

Joan chose the academic track because of a good personality fit and interest level in science. But most importantly, she enjoys being able to dive deep into the interesting questions while exploring scientific literature. Ultimately, she hopes that her work can unravel biological mechanisms of the human body that can be used to help people live better and healthier lives. Her background allows her to be creative and to study the interface between immunology, vascular biology/cardiology, neurology, signaling, and nutrition.

The motivation and drive that Joan brings to the lab is inspiring to her students and mentees. Joan has mentored many students as part of the Summer Research Opportunities Program with a focus on minorities as well as trained many women of all ages. Her dedication to research is shown by her commitment to constantly working directly at the bench alongside her students. The reason why she remains active in the lab is that “doing the experiments helps to troubleshoot with students”. Her greatest satisfaction as a mentor and professor comes from seeing a student reach the “Eureka!” moment in understanding a scientific concept. She highly encourages women to seek resources and training through different programs. This exposure gives opportunities to talk to others to find out what one is good at and passionate about; both men and women mentors can have very complementing but unique perspectives which can be helpful. Also, she emphasizes that networking and maintaining a network is important for growth and success in science. Her main advice to young scientists is, “Do whatever you really like doing because you’re going to be doing it a lot”. Being passionate about your interests in your life is critical, and also “Never give up. Don’t ever be afraid. Just go for it!”