By: Shreya Chandrasekar

Serendipity is a term that is often used to describe a happy accident. But Horace Walpole, who coined the term in 1754, used the word to refer to a very specific kind of “happy accident”: the kind that can be only exploited by a sagacious person. After having met and interacted with Dr. Toni Pak, professor and chair of the Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology at Loyola University Chicago (Health Sciences Division), I am convinced that she is exactly the kind of person Walpole was referring to!

Growing up in Colorado with a single parent, college was not an idea that was on Dr. Pak’s radar. While she recognized her love for the sciences very early on, she didn’t know that there was much she could do with a degree in biology other than working as a healthcare professional. Nonetheless, Dr. Pak enrolled herself at the University of Colorado as a pre-med and was the first from her family to attend college. Dr. Pak graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Population and Organismic Biology, while simultaneously caring and providing for her three young children as a single parent. During her time as a graduate student pursuing a Master’s degree in Secondary Science Education and working on education reform in secondary schools, she continued to take graduate courses in biology and explore circadian biology in the lab. It didn’t take her long to realize that being in the lab was what she enjoyed the most and felt passionate about. Her PI recognized this passion and suggested that she explore a career as a scientist. Overwhelmed and unsure about fully committing to a career as a scientist, Dr. Pak decided to get a second Masters degree in biology so that she could teach at community colleges.

However, serendipitously, the lab that she applied to wasn’t accepting any masters students; the PI of the lab offered to accept her as a PhD student instead. As a PhD student in Neuroscience at the University of Colorado, Dr. Pak had “500 hamsters to take care of” and absolute free reigns to come up with a project that fascinated her. During her time as a PhD student, Dr. Pak remained resilient, positive and productive. With the guidance of her mentors, Dr. Pak published 5 first author papers as a PhD student, which she believes was key in helping her secure a good post-doc and ultimately, a job in the field.

Her meticulousness, resilience and ability to find and seek advice from good mentors during her graduate school journey, helped her accomplish all of this while simultaneously striking a work-life balance and fulfilling her responsibilities as a mother. However, when I asked her about how she so amazingly struck the work-life balance throughout her career, she laughed and said, “I don’t think I am a good example”. She strongly believes that a good work-life balance in a job like hers that requires intense drive and inherent curiosity, cannot be achieved by “leaving work, forgetting about it and going home”. Instead, she believes that one must plan their day meticulously in order to be fully immersed in and focused on the task at hand.

While her career has scaled great heights and Dr. Pak has successfully stepped up and taken on several leadership roles in her field, her love for science and teaching remains unchanged. According to Dr. Pak, the best part of her job is still nurturing the enthusiasm and curiosity of her graduate students. She is proud of the fact that some of her best work has stemmed from the ideas of her graduate students and she advices all young scientists to fearlessly pursue their passions, and not be afraid to pitch their ideas and projects to their PIs. She believes that although things have improved for young female scientists, with search committees now actively seeking to recruit female faculty members, there is still bias in the way women in science are viewed. Scientists like Dr. Toni Pak are pushing barriers for women in science by not only generating scientific knowledge that speaks volumes but also fearlessly taking on leadership roles and earning their seats at the table in a traditionally male dominated field.