What inspired you towards a career in science?
I grew up on a farm surrounded by nature and caring parents, grandparents, siblings, uncles and community. My parents –a teacher mother and farm-owner father- encouraged curiosity, reading, hard work and exploring. My grandmother was my caregiver until I started first grade. I did whatever she did daily. This ranged from making homemade scratch biscuits (my small biscuits were baked especially for my dad) and churning butter from milk, feeding chickens, watching eggs hatch, canning preserves and fruit and growing vegetables and flowers from seeds. I am told, I often asked how does this or that work. Studying biology in school, learning how things worked fit with the secure world of nature and freedom in which I lived as a child. My 8th and 9th-grade biology teachers (Junior High) seemed to me as very cool younger adults (one woman, one man) who understood things and nurtured curiosity in their students, recognized my gifts and continued to fan the imaginations of my young mind.
What did you study and where?
I studied Biology as an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC-CH). I stayed there for my Doctorate in microbiology and then joined Chicago for my postdoctoral studies in virology. I also spent one of three sabbatical leaves at Duke University (topic: social networks/sociology).
What was the topic of the first thesis you wrote?
The title of my PhD dissertation was “Structure/function studies of plant toxins ricin and abrin”.
Why did you choose that topic?
I wanted to work in virology, but all the graduate research positions were taken. My dissertation advisor, an assistant professor faculty member in the UNC-CH Lindberger Cancer Research Center and Dept Microbiology and Immunology studied protein systems including toxins, histones and an oncogenic virus. Related to the necessary entry step for all viruses as obligate intracellular parasites, the biological activity of abrin or ricin toxins requires moving a portion of their structure across a membrane into the cell interior. As the first graduate student in a relatively new faculty laboratory, the toxin function project was available and funded. Interestingly, the second graduate student to her laboratory group studied histone structure. Each summer, this student spent weeks living in the island country of Bermuda to collect sea urchins as a source for extracting chromatin to study histone structure. There was no such wonderful requirement for me since the toxins I studied were extracted from readily available seeds or could be ordered. I subsequently moved into virology research for postdoctoral studies on herpes simplex virus (HSV) with a well-established professor at the University of Chicago Kovler Virology Laboratory. My formal research graduate and postdoctoral training experiences were with women faculty as official advisor-mentors and principal investigators.
Which role do you have right now and what are you investigating?
I am tenured faculty in the Medical School at a top research tier university in a basic science department, Microbiology and Immunology. I teach about human virus pathogens and research what makes for effective approaches to implement scientific discoveries and medical advances into community to prevent or manage infectious diseases. We engage the highest authorities of religious leader networks as active collaborating partners. They provide access to their clergy and leader networks, who are gatekeepers for what can become acceptable norms in testing or medical care in communities. Doing this well requires understanding developments as a scientist and the ability to effectively engage as a trusted person who recognizes and honors leaders' values in a partnering network.
What are the most enjoyable and the less enjoyable aspects of your daily routine?
Most challenging and less enjoyable - there always seems more to do than time to accomplish what is needed in research, funding support, creativity, teaching, mentoring publishing and the high demand from community engagement requests. Altogether these can be mentally and physically exhausting. Most enjoyable are the opportunities, including writing, that these challenges bring for contributing to greater self-advocacy and well-being of people by increasing access to and understanding of science and medical developments. I enjoy the richness in learning from diverse people, places, travel and issues encountered as faculty in a Medical School and as part of a STEM faculty group and a geographical area-focused center in an International Institute. I immensely enjoy the innovative times of my career in microbiology—both in the laboratory and in the field. I love the opportunities to be creative, address issues, inspire or enlighten students, and work with researchers in a range of fields. It is intriguing how different disciplines approach an issue, create a new, and engage with each other. In my career, I have engaged with a range of researchers, from engineers to microbiologists to social scientists. There is no dull moment—surprises are frequent from new opportunities and unexpected feedback on impact. Though challenging in many ways, I am humbled and honored to be part of exploring the best paths for uptake of science developments. This has been especially needed during the COVID-19 pandemic. I am pleased with the more recognized value of implementation science and the need for community engagement by basic scientists.
What is the most important lesson you have learnt during your career so far?
I would share the most profound lesson with others: be who you are—true to your authentic self, gifts, passions, and best instincts. For many, this will fit well with the norms of an academic career or requirements of their chosen positions. For some, it means a change in focus or career path or discipline. It can mean taking a slightly different path that is not what others do and sometimes not immediately appreciated. If it is the right path to be authentically you, the results and rewards will come. Importantly there will be self-gratification and peace of mind.
What was the most challenging moment of your career, and how did you go through it?
Most challenging may have been during mid-career when I sought to sustain a laboratory research group while circumstances clearly launched us into highly needed implementation science with HIV/AIDS and later with COVID-19. Correctly executing and documenting outcomes of implementation science approaches involved a steep learning curve of mastering new methods to accompany my training and expertise in basic biological science. Many did not understand the multi-disciplinary field-based research by a microbiologist and virologist. I moved through this time by continuing to ask what was most important to me (as a scientist and person) and to others. Would I be at peace if I chose not to follow the path that was opening for me? I was encouraged by frequently revealed life-changing outcomes documented through responses of the many students and community persons who benefitted. The impacts on families I know, especially for women and children, of learning why HIV is a relatively weak virus for infection and how AIDS can be managed as a chronic disease are immeasurable.
If you could travel in time, is there a career decision you would like to change and why?
I might have decided to get a formal certification or a graduate degree in one of the social sciences for useful training to augment microbiology expertise. Fortunately, my location at a large research university provided collaborators and resources to guide and complement what I was learning in doing implementation science with preventable diseases.
Do you have any regrets career-wise?
One frequent strategy in academia or research careers in industry is to seek positions at other universities or organizations and move at least once, or a few times. Only once did I actively pursue such and could have moved. During most of my career, days are filled with doing the research, the teaching and service available before me. My path well represents the statement “bloom where you are planted.” It might have been an advantage and adventure for career advancement to explore and move to positions at other institutions. Overall, I have few regrets and would do most of the same things again.
Who are your role models?
My role models are parents, grandparents and others who were not scientists. Some were formal educators, mid-wives, farm-owners and others highly regarded persons in the community. They are role models by defying expectations, overcoming barriers and not taking the easy way. They dared to grasp what was available to them and use these to make new opportunities for themselves and our family. That there are few role models for me in the academic research arena in some ways makes my path more difficult. Although it is easier to follow a path than to create a path, I am encouraged by the many before me who have done so in their area and by those now entering biological science research as a career who will continue the legacy of clearing paths.
Do you have a mentor?
I have many advisors who are “go-to-persons” for different issues. There were several mentors in the postdoctoral and early faculty years—one was a chemistry professor who grew up in my home area. Our fathers were friends and our mothers were educator colleagues. Other advisors have been women scientists (and a few men) in my or other universities and several senior women in other disciplines who provided encouragement, advice and insight. This often is merely by their continued presence in the academy.
What did the mentor(s) teach you?
Early career mentors taught me “to understand that affirmation and gratification would not come from without, from the academic system. Rather, I should understand that it would have to be generated from within, by being true to myself”. The other major lesson was that “people are more alike than we are different.” Both lessons have been valuable life-long guides.
Which advice would you give to your 18-year-old self?
“Buckle up for the ride. Your path is not the most travelled. Be gentle with yourself, be patient and you will see your most deep desires realized in their time.”
What is your advice for young students who are unsure/undecided about their careers?
Be open to opportunities and new challenges. Pay attention to knowing what you enjoy, what you are passionate about and what you are good at doing. Learning what you don’t like to do is valuable, along with learning what you like to do. Most careers take turns and curves—don’t be surprised or unduly resistant when this occurs. Always do your best. Listen to your instincts and seek insight from those you trust. Know that you likely can do many things, just not all at once. Value, nurture and care for self and family. Learn to recognize the season you are in and know the priorities for that season for you.
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