Women in Neuroscience:
A Holistic Approach to Career
Development
Professor Barbara J Sahakian FMedSci
University of Cambridge, Department of Psychiatry and
Medical Research Council / Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical
Neuroscience Institute
Distinguished International Scholar, University of Pennsylvania
Holistic approach to Neuroscience
• Goals in life
– eg. partner, family, enjoyment, realising one’s
potential, contributing to society
• Career goals
– eg. obtaining a good post-doctoral position, academic
professor, position in industry (research/admin),
science policy, science and medical writing
• Goals for research
– eg. important translational research, improving patient
care, improving mental capital and wellbeing for
society
Realizing your potential…
• Who am I?
• What do I like doing?
• What is the best work/life balance for me?
Paul Gauguin, 1987. ‘Where do we come from? What are we?
Where are we going?’
Aims of the Talk
1. You are all different
- You want different things in life to realize your potential
- You must live your life
2. Keep learning throughout life
- Develop a good skill base
- Be open to new ideas
3. Have confidence in yourself
4. Focus on your achievements, not your failures
- Celebrate your successes!
Aims of the Talk
5. Learn from your mistakes
- You will make them (even when
experienced) but do not be too harsh
on yourself
6. Do not be too harsh on others
7. Be resilient; Be positive
8. Focus on the future, not on the past
Aims of the Talk
9. Be flexible
10. Engage the public in science
11. Have a vision of a better future for
society
- realize this through contributing to science
and medicine policy development
A student’s perspective
Hints for life:
Dr Jenny Barnett,
Cambridge Cognition Ltd.
Decide what ‘success’
means to you. You don’t
have to be successful by
always outperforming
others. An alternative way
to be successful is to be a
great collaborator. This
may be more enjoyable in
the long run.
Just because you’re good at
what you do it does not mean
that you have to keep doing it.
There are many different roles
that contribute meaningfully to
advancing science.
Never sacrifice what you
want, but ‘what you want’
may change, and that’s
alright. Don’t close your
Dr Jamie Nicole
eyes so tight that you’re
LaBuzetta, Harvard blind to a shift in focus.
University
A student’s perspective
Hints for life:
You may have to work
insane hours to progress to
the very top but you can
still do great and valuable
science on a schedule that
allows you a life.
Decide what your “not
negotiables” are and
stick to them.
Dr Rebecca Elliott,
Univ of Manchester
Do not feel guilty about
the times that you take off.
Dr Elise DeVito,
Yale University
Be clear on how your
compromises work and don’t
judge yourself by anyone
else’s work-life balance.
If you see your free time as the
time you get to ‘live your life’
then you’ll never be happy in
science. A PhD must be part of
your life.
A student’s perspective
Hints for life:
Dr Fionnuala Murphy,
MRC Cognition and
Brain Sciences Unit
Think about what you want from life and
try to plan your career choices
accordingly. A good fit with a particular
department helps, and for women in
particular, one where the other staff are
sympathetic to a flexible working style.
Determine your own priorities in
the context of your own life and
self. When things get tough, this
can help you to stay centred.
Dr Sharon
Morein-Zamir,
University of
Cambridge
A student’s perspective
Hints for work:
Understanding the flexibility is
really important. Don’t sit in an
office 9-5 if there’s nothing to do.
Work when you need to work.
Have confidence in the
interest and relevance of
your own research.
Take every opportunity to
get teaching experience.
Dr Oliver Robinson,
National Institute of
Mental Health
For publications in top
journals it is the letter to the
editor that is critical.
Dr Jonathan Roiser,
University College London
A student’s perspective
Hints for work:
When making a to-do
list, make it achievable.
Don’t fall into the trap of
feeling underproductive.
Dr Jamie Nicole LaBuzetta,
Harvard University
Go to conferences. It gets
you presenting your work
and meeting those who you
will cite, may cite you and
may review your papers.
Get a mentor –
however informal.
Dr Mitul Mehta,
Institute of Psychiatry
Aspects of my job
Training /
mentoring
PhD
students
Training /
mentoring
Postdoctoral
fellows
Engagement
of the public
in Science
Teaching
clinical
students
Science
policy
The job
Promotion of the
field through
societies,
membership,
participation, etc.
Learning
(conferences)
Conducting
research and
supervising
Clinics,
seeing
patients and
supervising
Communication of
research topics (eg.
journal articles,
conferences,
lectures)
Neuroscience and Mental Health Policy
Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders
Neuroethics and Society
Neuroethics Social: Psychopharmacology:
Treatment and Lifestyle Drug Use
Chair: Barbara J Sahakian
Location: San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina: Torrey 1&2
Tuesday, November 16, 2010, 6:45 PM-8:45 PM
Social with Brief Presentation
Guests: B. Everitt S. Hyman G. Koob T. Robbins B. Sahakian N.
Volkow T. Canli P. Churchland M. Farah H. Greely T. Hensch J. Illes
A Roskies
Join the Panelists (Barry Everitt, Steve Hyman, George Koob,
Trevor Robbins and Nora Volkow) in considering the increasing
use of prescription and lifestyle cognitive enhancing drugs;
problems associated with prescription stimulants; drugs to
improve memory and other cognitive functions and drugs to
improve forgetting; addiction, responsibility and the law; and
compulsive drug taking and freewill.
A little help from my friends…
Some of my key mentors:
-
C. Al Sorenson
Susan Iversen
Michael Morgan
Marlene Oscar Berman
Stuart Zola
Dick Wurtman
-
David Drachman
Robin Murray
Gene Paykel
David Kupfer
Sir Keith Peters
A little help from my friends…
• Research is much more fun in collaboration.
Some of my key collaborators:-
Jennifer Barnett
Andrew Blackwell
Ed Bullmore
Sam Chamberlain
Luke Clark
Wayne Drevets
Alex Dombrovski
Rebecca Elliott
Karen Ersche
Barry Everitt
Naomi Fineberg
Paul Fletcher
John Hodges
Peter Hutchinson
-
Ian Goodyer
Peter Jones
Raymond Levy
Albert Michael
Ulrich Muller
David Menon
Peter Nestor
Gene Paykel
John Pickard
Trevor Robbins
Angela Roberts
John Suckling
Katalin Szanto
A little help from my friends…
• Learning is a two-way process: top down and bottom up
• Previous PhD students:
Dr Gemma Jones 1990, Dr Adrian Owen 1992, Dr Jennifer Coull 1995, Dr
Rebecca Elliott 1996, Dr Andrew Lawrence 1997, Dr Fionnuala Murphy 2000, Dr
Mitul Mehta 2000, Dr Tisha Ornstein 2001, Dr Shibley Rahman 2001, Dr Nahal
Mavaddat 2002, Dr Judy Rubinsztein 2002, Dr Andrew McLean 2002, Dr Siobhan
Keenan 2004, Dr Adam Aron 2003, Dr Julia Deakin 2004, Dr Jon Roiser 2005, Dr
Karen Ersche 2005, Dr Danielle Turner 2004, Dr Joana Taylor Tavares 2007, Dr
Samuel Chamberlain 2007, Dr Oliver Robinson 2009, Dr Elise DeVito 2009
Barbara Sahakian, Luke Clark, Ed Bullmore, Trevor Robbins, Danielle Turner, Samuel Chamberlain
at the Times Higher Awards celebration dinner for Young Researchers of the Year, 2006
Recent Achievements
1.
Jobs, awards and prizes
-
2.
President Elect British Association for Psychopharmacology
CINP council member
Executive Board Neuroethics Society
Committee for Women In Neuroscience, Society for Neuroscience
(2005-2008)
Donders Professor of Psychopharmacology, Utrecht University
Distinguished International Scholars Award, University of
Pennsylvania
International College of Geriatric Psychoneuropharmacology
(ICGP) Senior Investigator Award
Behavioural Brain Research/Elsevier Prize Lecture at the 43rd
European Brain and Behaviour Society meeting
CINP Plenary Lecture
ECNP Plenary Lecture
Research achievements and inventions
- CANTAB computerised neuropsychological tests
(www.cantab.com, www.camcog.com)
- Best known for research work on cognition and depression,
cognitive enhancement using pharmacological treatments,
neuroethics and early detection of Alzheimer’s disease
Recent Achievements
3. Life achievements:
–
–
Family
Training
•
•
–
The Oxford Handbook of Neuroethics (Judy Illes & B J
Sahakian, 2011)
University of Cambridge – NIH Health Science Scholars
Programme (Dr Mike Lenardo)
Society
•
•
•
Neuroethics
Engagement in science
Policy: the UK Government Foresight Project on Mental
Capital and Wellbeing (2008); Grand Challenges in Global
Mental Health (2010-); Medical Research Council Review of
Mental Health Research Report of the Strategic Review
Group 2010; The Royal Society Brain Waves Project (2011)
http://www.neuroscience.cam.ac.uk/directory/profile.php?barbara
The Future of Neuroscience
Use your knowledge to promote
mental capital and wellbeing for all
Miranda
Robbins
Marianne van
Genugten
Tim van
Hartevelt
Valentino
Pironti
Claire
Gillan
Jacqueline
Robbins
Linda
Scoriels
Natalia del
Campo
Charlotte
Housden
Winifred
Limmer
Ahmed
Mohamed