“What’s past is prologue; what’s to come, in yours and my discharge,” wrote Shakespeare centuries ago in The Tempest. For the most part, women have been excluded from the enterprise of biomedical research throughout history. However, that practice has been changing in recent decades, and the trend will likely continue in coming decades. The challenge is mostly obvious: How can a woman balance a career demanding high performance with a fulfilling personal life, often with heavier marital and childbearing responsibilities? The answers are abundant, and this collection chronicles how smart scientists confront the difficulty.
This book gathers 27 short biographies of women scientists at Vanderbilt University who bridge these worlds well. Surprisingly, they each take a unique approach. Some come from economic means while others come from humble beginnings. Some plan a direction towards research early in life while others fall into it much later. Most deliberately choose to have children and when, but some prefer a childless life.
Common choices remain. The choice of a supportive spouse seems paramount. Excellent time management is a required skill hewn by pressures. As with any researcher, persistence and determination to the degree of stubbornness become essential character traits. Effective mentorship by any gender helps tremendously. And of course, hard work is a given.
Almost twenty years after this book was written, I work at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and know some of these women personally. In fact, one of them is my boss! I read this book to appreciate our supportive culture better and to figure out how to bolster them better. As a male, I have learned that women and women leaders contribute deeply to any workplace, most notably by making it more efficient and more humane. Smart men will learn from women’s virtues instead of worrying about their own inadequacies. I am grateful that this book helped me do a bit of that task.
What’s Past is Prologue: The Personal Stories of Women in Science at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Edited by Eric G. Neilson
Copyright (c) 2006
Hillsboro Press
ISBN13 9781577363644
Page Count: 176
Genre: Medicine, Science
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