Page 7 - HFA_Dateline_2018_Q2_Summer
P. 7
She also volunteers at a local bleeding disorders organization. Although disproportionate gender enrollment in education
She finds her medical school and volunteer work complement does not constitute a violation of federal law, the guidelines
each other, and she gives teen and women’s programs locally. push educational organizations to conduct their admission,
recruitment and counseling practices in a nondiscriminatory
HISTORY OF WOMEN IN STEM manner.
STEM was not always encouraged for women. “A career in science is exciting. It’s also demanding! Sometimes
your experiments require long hours. It’s all part of a balancing
Dr. Sherrill Slichter, Professor of Medicine in the Division of act that women in science face. But the rewards are worth the
Hematology at the University of Washington and Director of sacrifice if you love scientific research and discovery,” said Dr.
Platelet Transfusion Research at Bloodworks Northwest in Jacquelyn Sampson, a retired microbiologist with the Centers
Seattle, has been in science for more than 45 years. But it wasn’t for Disease Control and Prevention, on a CDC blog.
without resistance along the way.
Sampson also caught the ‘science bug’ because of a life
This spring, she honored International Women and Girls in experience. Her sister became ill with diphtheria when she was
Science Day by giving presentations and doing radio shows young, and it sparked an interest in microbiology. The CDC
to inspire women and girls to pursue science. During her has a website which encourages women and girls to make a
presentations, Slichter explained that when she showed an living in STEM (see resources list) by sharing the experiences
interest in science in high school, teachers would tell her of its scientists and researchers.
‘you’re just going to fail.’
Procario thinks it’s still challenging for women in science. She
During a radio interview, she said that on her first day of sees the number of women in microbiology and immunology
medical school, she was told women only went to college to and the number of female faculty seems to be decreasing.
find a husband and going into medicine
meant she was taking away from a man “I still think there is bias from what I’ve experienced and
who needed the career to feed his family. witnessed. But I think it’s unconscious,” said Procario.
That didn’t stop her from forging ahead,
and she now has a successful career in In high school Procario did a Werner H. Kirsten Student
scientific fields. She encourages others Internship which allowed her to do basic scientific research at
to do the same. the National Cancer Institute. She later worked as a research
technician in infectious disease. She is currently working on the
Initially Slichter wanted to work with Dr. Sherrill Slichter BK polynomial virus, a virus which affects the kidney and can
patients instead of in research, according is a gender be life-threatening to post-transplant patients on immunosup-
to a Bloodworks Northwest blog. That pressants. Her goal is to stop the virus before transplantation.
was until she met a patient who died from trailblazer in the
kidney failure because she couldn’t get field of scientific Gamber encourages women and girls to go into STEM and
dialysis, as there was only one dialysis enjoys serving as a mentor.
machine at the University of Washington research.
at the time. (Photo credit: “If there’s a thing you want to do (like STEM) and it keeps
Zoist Designs) presenting itself to you and it’s intimidating to you, it’s
probably at the back of your mind for a reason,” said Gamber. “If
The patient had a red blood cell disorder, and because of that it keeps showing up and it seems scary, there’s a reason.”
death, Slichter approached a professor of hematology at the
university who was studying clotting and bleeding disorders Gamber was scared too, but she fought through the fear and has
to ask if they could study the disorder, hemolytic uremic
syndrome. Her research led to improved prognoses for cancer never regretted it. Go for it! S
patients and has made bone marrow transplantation possible.
RESOURCES FOR
Things have gotten a little easier since Slichter began in the WOMEN AND GIRLS IN STEM:
field 45 years ago. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office
for Civil Rights and the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
Education released guidelines for educational organizations, www.cdc.gov/women/stem/index.htm
making clear that all students, regardless of their sex, must
have equal access to a range of career and technical educations The Committee on Women in Science, Engineering and
programs. Medicine: http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/cwsem/
index.htm
Summer 2018 | Dateline Federation 7
