The Win4Science “Spotlight Series”
was initiated in 2022. This series includes articles written by Win4Science members based on interviews with women researchers at McGill University from various fields in STEM. The articles touch on topics such as career paths and achievements, advice for early career researchers, mentorship, challenges for women in STEM and how to overcome them, and more. Ultimately, the series aims to:
Bring Awareness: Increase visibility of women researchers,
Celebrate: Highlight accomplishments and contributions of women researchers, and
Inspire: Create a sense of community and mentorship for other women researchers.
We encourage readers to share the links to these articles in support of these incredible scientists, as well, if you would like to nominate someone to be featured in a future article, reach out to us at win4science@mcgill.ca
Please read the first Spotlight series, below, on:
Dr. Mari Kaartinen
Dr. Ajitha Thanabalasuriar
Dr. Daniele Quail
Prof. Daniela Quail
Interviewers and Authors: Morgan K. Foret, Lucia Wang
Published: March 30th, 2022
“Work with and for people who want you to succeed”: this is Prof. Daniela Quail’s primary advice for early career women researchers. Win4Science sat down with Prof. Quail to hear more about her insight on pursuing a career in research and the importance of mentors.
Prof. Quail earned her BSc and PhD at the University of Western Ontario followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center with Prof. Johanna Joyce. In 2017, she started her lab at McGill University and currently holds the highly competitive Tier II Canada Research Chair in Tumour Microenvironment research. Throughout each career stage, she studied different facets of cancer and tells trainees that, “sometimes it’s just a matter of a paper, or a person, or an experiment that inspires you to go in a different direction […] that’s kind of the joy of science, is to follow […] where those experiences take you.”
Her research at McGill focuses on tumor microenvironment and tumor immunology because “cancer casts a very wide net” that affects not only patients, but also their support networks. Prof. Quail was motivated to pursue basic science research in understanding the disease process, ultimately helping us understand why some patients respond positively to cancer immunotherapy over others. She noted that, “we are in this era of cancer immunotherapy where, for the first time, we are seeing curative treatment responses in some patients but not all patients.” By understanding why there is this difference, “we might be able to improve outcomes overall.”
Throughout her academic career, Prof. Quail has worked under successful women researchers who also served as amazing mentors and acknowledged that her field was “special because some of the pioneering work […] was done by women […] at a time also where there weren’t a lot of women faculty members, so they were trailblazers.” In particular, she admires Prof. Mina Bissell and the late Prof. Zena Werb who pioneered tumor microenvironment research emphasizing that “they stand out not only because of their innovative science,” but also because they “supported the next generation of women scientists in the field [and] made this wonderful culture [of women supporting women] that has persisted for multiple generations.”
Despite these positive experiences with mentors, Prof. Quail noted there are still challenges for women in science. She has both lived these challenges first-hand and became aware of them through the experiences of her mentors. As an example, the recent pandemic has disproportionately affected researchers with children, especially mothers. Prof. Quail finished her maternity leave just before the pandemic began. Thus, it has been challenging setting up and running her lab since then. However, her effective time management and perseverance has paid off as she recently achieved a milestone, publishing a study in the prestigious journal Nature Cancer with the first graduate student to join her lab, Sheri McDowell, as first author.1
Looking to the future, Prof. Quail hopes that academic institutions become more aware of the discrepancy in the number of women postdoctoral fellows and the number of women faculty members. “There are lots of women in science at the training stage. The problem is the bottleneck that comes later”. She notes that in many cases, the timing of starting faculty positions coincides with the timing for starting a family, but reassures that researchers should not let this deter them from pursuing academia. “Instead of trying to change your career path to accommodate discriminatory systems, find an institution that demonstrates a proven dedication towards equity in academia and somewhere where you can be confident you are going to get the support you need. Finding a community is important not only for women, but for all underrepresented groups in academia.”
As Prof. Quail continues her prestigious research program and mentoring a new generation of scientists, she holds hope for the future of women in STEM.
To read more about Prof. Quail’s research visit her lab’s website or follow her lab on Twitter (@DanielaQuail).
References
1McDowell SA, Luo RB, Arabzadeh A, Doré S, Bennett NC, Breton V, Karimi E, Rezanejad M, Yang RR, Lach KD, Issac MS, et al. Neutrophil oxidative stress mediates obesity-associated vascular dysfunction and metastatic transmigration. Nature Cancer. 2021 May;2(5):545-62. DOI
Dr. Ajitha Thanabalasuriar
Interviewers and Authors: Lucia Wang, Morgan K. Foret
Published: February 14th, 2022
From academia to industry and back again, Prof. Ajitha Thanabalasuriar has always done “what [she] enjoyed and what fit”. Win4Science sat down with Prof. Thanabalasuriar to hear more about her unique career path and mentoring approach.
Arriving in Canada as a refugee from Sri Lanka, Prof. Thanabalasuriar pursued a degree in Agriculture and Environmental Science at McGill as, “growing up, this concept of feeding the world and making everybody happy in that sense was really what [she] was interested in.” However, while in second year, she fell in love with learning about host-pathogen interactions. Thus, she transitioned into microbiology and completed an undergraduate honours degree and subsequent PhD in the lab of Prof. Samantha Gruenheid.
During her PhD defense, Prof. Thanabalasuriar was asked several immunology-related questions that revealed a knowledge gap. Inspired to fill this gap, she joined the lab of Prof. Paul Kubes at the University of Calgary where she investigated host-pathogen interactions with the immune system using intravital microscopy. This was a big jump for her, as she was not only learning a new topic in immunology, but also moving from in vitro work to performing complex in vivo microscopy work. However, this did not deter her. In fact, she noted that “where [she] thrive[s] is when [she is] challenged with something new […it’s] the concept of learning something and learning it independently.” This proved to be true as she was able to secure her own funding from a pharmaceutical company, mentor a PhD student, and train a laboratory assistant, just 1-year into her postdoc.
After 5 successful years in the Kubes lab, with several publications in high impact journals such as Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI), Cell Reports, and Cell Host & Microbe, Prof. Thanabalasuriar began applying to Faculty positions, but received rejections claiming she was too junior for the position, despite her impressive resume. However, she was not discouraged and was recruited by the company that she collaborated with during her post-doctoral fellowship. There, she investigated chronic diseases and how to target the lung microbiota with therapeutics. While this was an enriching experience, Prof. Thanabalasuriar decided to return to academia because she missed mentoring students. With her second round of Faculty applications, she received 4 offers, and eventually chose McGill, starting her lab in 2020 which focuses on the interplay between immune cells, the lung microbiota, and pulmonary infections.
Throughout her career, Prof. Thanabalasuriar had the unique experience of working in both industry and academia, which afforded her a rare viewpoint in terms of the various challenges and considerations that women in STEM may face in different environments. Two major points that she touched on were the availability of childcare and how her academic skill set translated to industry.
In industry, Prof. Thanabalasuriar noted that childcare was available on site and there was a great infrastructure that helped women be both productive researchers and mothers – two full time jobs. She also found that the management and leadership skills she developed in academia enabled her to excel in her industry position and surpass her colleagues. Overall, she recommends that before joining a company or accepting a job offer, try to ask other women working there what the environment is like and whether any disparities exist. She noted that this can vary greatly depending on the company and leadership.
On the flip-side, generally in academia, “there is a huge push to increase women in research, especially women of minorities. […] When I moved from industry to academia, […] it was like all these doors opened for me.” However, despite the support she found in academia, the lack of accessible childcare makes it difficult for women in STEM to balance their work and family – in fact, it is one of the biggest obstacles that they face. Furthermore, Prof. Thanabalasuriar noticed that nature of academia combined with the pressures of the pandemic did not always facilitate an environment of collaboration. Prof. Thanabalasuriar strongly believes that as women researchers “we need to work together” despite the high competition. From these experiences, she has learned to approach everything with a collaborative spirit, focusing on teamwork, and mentoring, rather than competition.
While Prof. Thanabalasuriar did not follow the ‘traditional path’ to academia, she has shown that industry experience is not a detriment but instead a strength. Her conviction in following her own interests has led to a dynamic and successful career thus far, as she continues to push the boundaries of our knowledge by establishing her own research program, and serving as a mentor to the next generation of scientists.
To read more about Prof. Thanabalasuriar’s research visit her profile on the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics website, check out her publications on PubMed, or follow her on Twitter (@AjithaT4).
References
Thanabalasuriar A, Scott BNV, Peiseler M, Willson ME, Zeng Z, Warrener P, Keller AE, Surewaard BGJ, Dozier EA, Korhonen JT, Cheng LI, Gadjeva M, Stover CK, DiGiandomenico A, Kubes P. Neutrophil Extracellular Traps Confine Pseudomonas aeruginosa Ocular Biofilms and Restrict Brain Invasion. Cell Host & Microbe. 2019. 25(4): 526-536. DOI
Dr. Mari Kaartinen
Interviewers and Authors: Lucia Wang, Morgan K. Foret, Win Felgenhauer
Published January, 31st, 2022
Dr. Mari Kaartinen describes research as “a game of persistence”. Win4Science sat down with her to ask for advice on navigating this game, and to discuss her scientific journey as a researcher.
Originally from Finland, Dr. Kaartinen completed her MSc in Organic Chemistry and PhD in Biochemistry before coming to McGill for her post-doctoral training and she has remained here since. While it has been a long journey, Dr. Kaartinen said that she “loved being in the lab” and that “the science was leading [her] towards where [she is] right now.”
Since 2002, she has been an Associate Professor in the Faculties of Dentistry and Medicine where she and her research team investigate a group of enzymes called transglutaminases, and their role in bone health and obesity. She has accumulated over 60 publications, more than 2500 citations, and currently holds two prestigious grants from CIHR (the Canadian Institutes of Health Research).
The success of her research has not gone unnoticed. In 2014, Dr. Kaartinen was chosen by her colleagues to Chair a Gordon Research Conference (GRC) 2018 on Transglutaminases in Human Disease processes in Switzerland – an extremely prestigious position – only a quarter of GRC conferences had ever been chaired by women at that point. Dr. Kaartinen says this was her mid-career highlight because she felt that she “had come to a stage of [her] career where [she was] being respected [by her colleagues]”. When first asked to chair the GRC, Dr. Kaartinen admits she wasn’t sure she would have time, but she agreed to it and she could “only see that good things have come from that [decision]”.
Through this and many other experiences, her biggest piece of advice for young women in STEM is: “Don’t be afraid to say yes […] you will rise to the occasion,” and “push yourself to try the new and unexplored” or to “speak up […] claim your seat at the table”. Dr. Kaartinen believes that one should take every opportunity because “there are already existing structures that may inhibit you, don’t […] inhibit [yourself]”. She also says, “not to be afraid to fail – failure is a chance to learn something”. On a more personal level, Dr. Kaartinen is also very proud of her role in mentoring her research team, saying that she loves seeing the moment where “it clicks” and her students become independent, emphasizing that a “good supervisor helps the student find their path and do it their way.”
Despite her impressive resume, Dr. Kaartinen admits that there are still obstacles, especially for early career women in science where independent positions are limited and obtaining and maintaining research funding is a major challenge. Dr. Kaartinen cited certain barriers, including age restrictions and “career characteristics that are considered […] positive even though they may have nothing to do with the science itself” where grant applications place focus on the scientist rather than solely on the science. Specifically, longer CVs, more publications, and more funding are considered indicators of quality science. This makes it difficult for new researchers and new ideas to take the stage in their respective fields. To remedy the situation, Dr. Kaartinen mentioned that Canadian funding agencies are aware of these obstacles and have in recent years implemented career-stage appropriate evaluations and bias training.
Moving forward, Dr. Kaartinen hopes to see that women embrace and go after their scientific ambitions with a positive and optimistic attitude. The world of science is changing towards better awareness and greater diversity, thus, new opportunities will arise.
In continuing her career, Dr. Kaartinen plans to keep pushing the boundaries of our knowledge on bone health and obesity while serving as a teacher and a mentor to diverse scientists at all stages of their scientific training.
To read more about Dr. Kaartinen’s research visit her lab’s website or follow her lab on Twitter (@mari_kaartinen and @kaartinenlab).