9th Joint Meeting ISICR-ICS Cytokines & Interferons: From the ...

An Interview with...continued
Who was your mentor or role model in your
scientific career?
Remarkably, at different times during my scientific career I’ve
had the good fortune to have different individuals as mentors
and role models. At high school in the UK, a teacher offered
me advice when I was at the cross-roads of choosing
between studying sciences or the arts. He suggested that if I
chose the sciences, I could always return to and participate
in the arts. If I chose the arts, the sciences would be beyond
reach. Following my undergraduate degree, Nowell Stebbing
encouraged me to take risks with scientific enquiry. Working
beside Bryan Williams propelled my interferon research
forward. Having the continuing support and encouragement
of friends and scientific colleagues, is huge.
Thinking back, how has the trajectory of your Ph.D. pursuit
influenced your career choices and present position?
My Ph.D. defined my career path. Somewhat untraditionally,
I had already established a funded research lab in Toronto
when I was encouraged to pursue my Ph.D. After receiving
my Ph.D. as a result of studies on the earliest structurefunction
studies of the different interferon-alpha subtypes
and interferon-beta, and the receptor, I did not follow the
path of post-doctoral fellow, but remained in Toronto and
accepted a faculty position at the University of Toronto. The
foundations established during my Ph.D. studies provided
the basis for subsequent studies on the type I interferons.
If you weren’t a scientist, what would you be?
I’d follow my second passion – painting! Non-objective art.
What’s your idea of relaxation?
Being with family and good friends, enjoying a meal, good
wine and good discussion. Swimming in one of Ontario’s
awe-inspiring lakes. Cross-country skiing in Algonquin Park.
Visiting new places around the globe. And painting.
Can you describe your role as Chair of Women’s Health and
Immunobiology?
Primarily to encourage research that identifies the
distinctions in the innate and adaptive immune responses in
women and men. These have largely been ignored, whether
in basic research studies or in clinical studies. Most people
are completely unaware that failing to address sex-based
differences in disease, in drug efficacy and side-effect
profiles, reportedly led to the withdrawal of eight out of ten
prescription drugs from the United States market in 2005,
specifically owing to health issues in women.
Do you feel female scientists are still being treated unfairly in
academia? What should be and can be done about it?
Dare I say, ‘that depends.’ On where the female scientist is.
Certainly, there have been tremendous strides forward in the
medical sciences in North America and Europe, where
female scientists are being recruited and promoted based on
their expertise. Yet, in many countries young women are
denied the opportunity to study, let alone enter any realm of
academic scientific career. And in the physical sciences –
maths, physics, chemistry, engineering – women remain
under-represented as students and as faculty, in academia.
Acknowledgement of the contributions of eminent female
scientists in international awards remains at issue – maybe
because of the traditional predominantly male-make up of
awards committees. How to promote women in science?
Education, education, education.
What are you most looking forward to at this year’s ISICR
Annual Meeting?
Being able to thank those many wonderful collaborators and
trainees, in a formal setting, who have enabled me to be
successful in my research career.
FEBRUARY 2011 I VOLUME 18 I NO. 1 3