"I love doing research and pursuing new knowledge. Ever since I was young I have wanted to make new discoveries. I also love applying this new knowledge to solve problems; this combination has brought me to biomedical engineering." - Dr. Cheung

 

"I think I naturally gravitate towards the arts, but what I love about medicine is translating science into patient experiences. Especially in meaningful ways such as reducing the amount of pain they experience or helping them grow their families. My undergraduate background is in Hispanic studies and psychology, and I want to highlight that there are many paths to becoming a doctor, which enriches our profession." - Dr. Merkeley

"Growing up, I spent large parts of each summer roaming and helping out on my grandparent’s wheat farm in rural Alberta. That freedom to explore and the wisdom of my grandmother (an unofficial but truly impressive botanist, conservationist and artist…) laid an early foundation for loving nature and the scientific underpinnings therein." - Dr. Strynadka

"Structural biology has a long history of amazing, trailblazing women in the field. This includes Nobel Prize laureate Dorothy Hodgkin, the first to characterize insulin and penicillin amongst other important works. My PhD supervisor trained with her at Oxford, and I was fortunate enough to meet and speak with her as a graduate student on several occasions. These interactions had a lasting impact not only on my love of atomic level science and process, but the faith that one can nurture both a family (Professor Hodgkin had 3 children) and a scientific career as a woman." - Dr. Strynadka

"Unfortunately not. There were very few women in the Biochemistry department back then. I think however because of that, I make a point of supporting young women in science and find pleasure in supervising the new generation of scientists." - Dr. Côté

 

"I first began thinking about patient-partnered research when I was tasked with the analysis of patient samples as an undergraduate thesis student. I’ve been thinking about and teaching myself to be a translational researcher ever since. It has been especially meaningful and rewarding to become the first PhD scientist hired to the UBC (clinical) Division of Pediatric Rheumatology and Scientific Lead of one of only a couple of labs in Canada where researchers can get specialized training in patient-oriented research on childhood-onset rheumatic diseases." - Dr. Brown

"The CLOT trial, published in NEJM in 2003, demonstrated superiority of low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) over warfarin for treatment of cancer-associated thrombosis. This helped to change clinical practice worldwide and established LMWH as the first line therapy for this indication. To-date, LMWH remains one of the drugs of choice in treating patients with cancer and thrombosis." - Dr. Lee

 

"Establishing two large cohorts of people living with HIV. One of women (cis and trans) and girls, and the other, pregnant women and their infants. And now, doing community-based research, and employing community research associates (women living with HIV who have been trained in research)." - Dr. Côté

 

"Sometimes it's hard to look around and know that women tend to have lower self-confidence and feel less self-efficacy about our abilities in science and engineering. It's natural to internally expend mental energy dealing with microaggressions. Finding a way to speak up and intervene, unprompted, when we observe these situations happening to others, can help mitigate these negative experiences on our colleagues, and help sustain more women in STEM." - Dr. Cheung

"Trust your instincts and training and be confident. Our male colleagues often feel inadequacy the same way we do but have been conditioned by society to present more confidently.  At the same time, it is always important to remain humble and learn from our colleagues and patients. The more experience you gain, the more comfortable you will be learning to strike this balance." - Dr. Merkeley

 

"Balancing the priorities of work and home is always a challenge. Reality is that the ‘balance’ is not a static space, where we stand squarely on our feet; but rather it is a scale that tips 360 degrees constantly and we do our best to not fall off! Some days I might not be the best mother and other days I might fall short of being the best doctor or the best researcher, but I try my best and remind myself that, sometimes, I did do a fantastic job! My biggest motivation is my kids – how can I make the world a better place for them?" - Dr. Lee

"By the time I reached school age, I was already aware of, perplexed about, annoyed by, and wholly uninterested in society’s expectations of who I, as a girl, was - and was not - supposed to be. Being true to myself in the face of deep-rooted societal gender stereotypes has been a challenge, but one that is lessened by the inspiration that comes from others (my students, colleagues, community) that are taking steps to educate themselves about EDI, understand the experiences of others, and enact positive change towards a more equitable workplace and society." - Dr. Brown