Saturday, April 22, 2017

#Sciencemarch #WOA

Almost 10 years ago, I graduated with a degree in English Language and Letters, and also Political Science, from one of the foremost public research universities in the country. During my time there I took two science classes, because my public high school Bio II had provided enough college ed credits to cover my bio requirement in college.

From there, with a 3.98 GPA in English, I tried to get a job in publishing. I was immediately shot down because I hadn't interned at a publishing house. A family friend suggested I apply to hospitals, so I did.

I was hired at Boston Children's Hospital two months after I graduated, as an assistant to a Program Director who was a brilliant, groundbreaking scientist. I had no idea at the time; he offered me a job on the spot and I took it. My dad Googled "Judah Folkman" and, over a congratulatory dinner, tried to tell me what I had just signed myself up for.

Dr. Folkman was more than just a boss; he was a living legend, a visionary, and a surrogate grandfather to me. He founded a field of science and was involved in more discoveries than you or I know of. He passed in 2008, six months after I started working for him. It was one of the hardest periods of my personal and fledgling professional life.

I was beyond fortunate to be taken on by someone else in a similar capacity, and later as a senior admin. Without getting into details, I spent the next several years learning about scientific discoveries, hypotheses and theories that changed the way I approach the world. I learned about drug delivery, cancer and eye disease in terms that my English brain did not even know existed -- yet everyone was patient, and explained what their research was about and how it could help others.

During my time in the world of basic science, where discoveries are reduced to the basic building blocks of the universe, I also learned a lot that can't be found at the lab bench. I learned that even in an environment where anything is supposedly possible, bias, gender inequality and a marked lack of female and minority leadership are still issues with which we struggle today. I learned that the world isn't always fair, and that you have to fight for ideas that others might not find compelling.

Despite my initial feelings of iniquity, I learned that, in the end, there isn't a ton of difference between the writers and the scientists; at the end of the day, we need each other to interpret each other's findings. The key to discovery, it turns out, is not so much in the scientific method as it is in communicating our findings with one another, and then using those findings to advance our communal standing as one united people of the world.

Over the past several years, I think that this symbiotic relationship between science and communication has eroded, to the detriment of both science and journalism. Essentially, I believe that we need to bridge the gap between scientific discovery and how it affects the everyday person, and I believe this administration is doing its best to further undermine that relationship. Scientist and writers need each other; of this I am sure.

With that said, #sciencemarch #womeninscience #WOA #scienceisreal #confessionsofanonscientist