Social media is a great technological gift for our generation that allows new ways of communicating and expressing one’s ideas with a wider audience in various formats. For our second session in the science communication series, INet-NYC interviewed Dr. Pavel Ryzhov who is the creator of an online platform and Youtube channel called Biofilm News and Biofilm Podcasts. This platform covers the latest news in healthcare and life sciences and interviews experts in the biotech industry. Here are the excerpts from the conversation with Dr. Ryzhov.
 
     1. Please share your scientific journey and path to becoming a science communicator. 

I had a couple of different transition points in my career trajectory. I’m originally from Russia and after graduating high school there, I came to the US in 2010 to attend community college in San Diego, California. After that, I went to Germany to continue my undergraduate studies in a little town called Rheinbach, where I got my Bachelor’s in Applied Biology. I went back to San Diego for my PhD programme in Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute where I worked in the membrane protein NMR field for several years and I graduated in Feb 2020. I moved to the East Coast in the fall of 2020 to start my current job as an Application Scientist at Applied Photophysics. I believe my communication skills  definitely helped me excel in my career. For my current job, I communicated with the company’s representatives over many years as part of my networking and apply my communication skills in this role to interface with the scientists, our existing and prospective new customers and to share the new products that the company is making and troubleshoot if they are having issues using our instruments.
 
     2. It’s great to see that you had an intercontinental work experience with multi-lingual team members and how effective communication helped you land in your current role. You have created Biofilm News, would you like to share what Biofilm News is and what inspired you to start this initiative? 

Thank you for bringing this up! The way to describe the inspiration behind Biofilm News is to say I watch a lot of youtube videos and I am inspired by watching various podcasts or people covering news and talking about the latest tech by developing movies. As a user of these virtual platforms, I was always curious about how to create such similar content. So during my PhD, I thought of creating some videos because I realized that there is not much content available exclusively for life science students. So, I started doing short videos  on some of the topics that I used to read about on a daily basis. I had to put it on hold while I was trying to finish my PhD and when I got my current job. But this year I’m taking it rather more seriously and creating content for PhD students based on my own experience, interviewing people from the industry and covering biopharma industry news that I find interesting.
 
     3. It is fascinating to see how you are using your past career experiences and communication skills to help the wider community of life sciences students navigate their scientific journey. 

Exactly, I feel PhD students can have tunnel vision and I'm the first to say I'm guilty of that because we're so focused on getting our research done. We do that at the expense of knowing the larger trends in the pharma industry or life science field as a whole. Finishing a Phd could be a daunting experience, so I believe sharing some advice with students as well as sharing some of the larger things that are going on in the industry is how I would like to help a younger group of scientists.
 
     4. What kind of content are you developing for Biofilm News and where do you publish your work in social media?

​There are three things that I like to focus on- 1) talking about the latest news in the industry that I find myself either on Linkedin or elsewhere, 2) interview people from the biopharma industry to learn about their experiences, and 3) sharing my own PhD experience. As far as putting it out there, I put it on YouTube and occasionally I put it on some other outlets like LinkedIn, Facebook or other personal social media channels.

      5. Did you take any special courses or training to develop videos or podcasts? What suggestions do you have for our audience if they want to start their own podcasts?

I believe that the best way to start is to actually look up youtube tutorials on selecting camera gear, formatting the podcast, editing, and publishing videos, and also there are resources on how to market your content. There is so much educational content that is completely free and available. That’s how I started. I also took "The Art of Science Communication"   online course offered by the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology that helped me to learn how to present my research work to the lay audience. Also, I got many opportunities during my PhD to practice science communication by doing poster presentations and sharing my research progress to my lab peers, or by having casual conversations with my friends who are not from life sciences and responding to their questions about how vaccines work or about coronavirus, all of which helped me to hone my communication skills.
 
      6. How do you balance your work with managing Biofilms? How much time/effort goes in developing this content? 

The short answer is it is hard. It's definitely a fine balancing act between the work that I do and this hobby, so I try to be creative and find ways to simplify making videos and minimize the time I spend on the individual project. Sometimes perfectionism comes in my way and I keep editing a video and never publish it because you are never satisfied with the final version. So, I like to streamline that process and make it as easy as possible. Sometimes I just publish and move on to the next one. I believe setting deadlines is important and sticking to the schedule helps me to continue developing my content.

      7. Where do you see Biofilm News in the next few years? Are you open to collaborating with other scientists to contribute to Biofilm News?

I am looking for a co-host for a specific iteration of my podcast where I discuss the latest news because it gets really boring talking to myself while discussing the news alone on a podcast. So I feel having somebody for a banter or exchange of ideas would be awesome. So anybody who might be interested can connect with me on LinkedIn.

       8.  Would you like to be a science communicator full time, or keep this as a hobby?

It is an interesting question now that I’m thinking. I am doing science communication as an application scientist in a full time job, because my current role is all about communicating science effectively and I enjoy doing that a lot. And, my YouTube channel is just another outlet for that. I know I will be a Science Communicator for many years and my goal is to evolve and try to develop different kinds of content and reach a wider audience.

    9.  What advice do you have for those who want to begin their journey in becoming a science communicator?

​The best way to do that is just to start talking to somebody. I've done a lot of tutoring over the years that definitely helps with learning how to talk about complex topics that would make sense to another person. Consider taking some specific communication courses if you can. I think there are vast amounts of resources and tutorials that are available on YouTube or other platforms that are freely available that I explore to develop my content. I also use Davinci Resolve free software for video editing, Microsoft Powerpoint, Affinity Designer, Canva, and Adobe illustrator. I am happy to help and share some personal tricks, if somebody wants any advice from me. 
 
The entire team of INet NYC would like to thank Dr. Pavel Ryzhov for taking time to interact with us and sharing his exciting journey of becoming a science communicator. You can connect with Dr. Ryzhov via his LinkedIn if you want to collaborate or participate in Biofilm podcasts. To follow the latest healthcare/pharma news and interviews on Biofilm News, please subscribe to Dr. Ryzhov youtube channel here.

Visibility
One of the key obstacles to equality in science identified by our interviewees was visibility. Dr Karuna Ganesh (MSK) points out that “girls are steered away from STEM early on.” This lack of role models is damaging and leads to a shortage of women higher up the scientific career ladder. 
But role models don’t necessarily have to be celebrity scientists. As Dr Linda Molla  (Regeneron Pharmaceuticals) said “If we want to impact change, each and every one of us needs to speak up in our workplaces”. Dr Gayathri Srinivasan (Emory University) agrees: “we will all have to come together as a society to improve women’s visibility in science”. Many suggested that we need equal representation and provide opportunities for junior/early career scientists. But to achieve this, there was a general consensus: we need male allies! Dr Alicia Perez Porro (CREAF) argues that “we need men to step down from manels, from all-men selection committees etc, and to fight with us for equal salaries, equal career opportunities, to take an active role for diversity and inclusion in STEM”.
 

Lastly, a general advice that many would have given themselves if they were starting their career today was to look for mentors early on in their career! As Dr Triparna Sen (MSK) argued “The right mentor will guide you to seize opportunities, open doors for you, will be a sounding board as you make difficult career choices and will champion for you”. ​

To dive deeper into all our female scientist life stories and thoughts on this topic, check out full interviews on our blog and also youtube channel! 

My CV tells a nice story about a girl who graduated with a Molecular and Cellular Biology degree from the University of Arizona, and moved to NYC to pursue her dreams of a PhD in Neuroscience. However, as Wei Ji Ma’s Growing up in Science series can attest- things on paper are rarely what they are in actuality. 
 
My real story is of a girl who had dreams of going to medical school, but lacked the credentials to do so straight out of college. I had a few key people take a chance on me, and with their help, I got into New York University’s Neural Science PhD program, where I ended up working in Dr. Eric Klann’s lab with an Italian postdoc who taught me everything she knew about neuroscience and to be honest, life.

One constant of my education, was my interest in teaching, likely because of some of my own struggles as a student. As a result, I took it upon myself to seek teaching opportunities during my PhD and postdoctoral fellowship. From this, I was teaching assistant at NYU, and an adjunct assistant professor at Hunter College. I am certain this teaching experience is what helped me earn the position I am currently in, which is an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at Midwestern University. At Midwestern, I am involved with the delivery of team-taught Biochemistry courses to healthcare professional students, and I run a small laboratory studying the effects of stress on memory and neuroenergetics.
 
I am also married to a fertility specialist, and we live in Arizona with our two children (3 & 1) and our mini-golden doodle.

Right now, a healthy balance for me means being able to spend quality time with my young children, while also finding time for myself and my husband. Whereas, 10 years ago, it meant making time for happy hour, exercise, dating, and learning more about myself. Needless to say, “life” has carried many different meanings for me since I started my PhD in 2010.

Because women panels these days focus a lot on how to balance marriage and children, I would like to emphasize that no matter what “life” looks for you, a healthy work-life balance is so important. It was equally important to me to find a healthy balance as a single woman in NYC as it is now as a wife and mom. 
 
For me, this means setting boundaries. Acknowledging that I have to balance feeling burned out one week and underproductive another.  Working at the same speed for me, all the time, is untenable, so I accept that my productivity will ebb and flow while keeping my goals in sight.
 
A healthy work-life balance for me also means not comparing myself to other people. One thing my dad taught me is that someone will always have more than you, and someone will always have less than you. In science this is especially true and comparing my successes and failures to someone else’s is a breeding ground for arrogance and resentment.

Too often, people assume all women want to get married and have children. Now, it is not uncommon to find women who have no plans for either OR have plans for one without the other. I think more broadly stated, women are judged for picking their passions and pursuing them full throttle. First, the dialogue has to change where women can make decisions that best suit their lives, without any judgements regarding which societal stereotype that woman is fitting into or breaking- especially since this seems to be the case with men. If we are successful in accomplishing this, I hope that a woman can make the decision to have kids and how it will impact her career will be a non-issue.
 
At the end of the day, career expectations should be the same for a woman regardless of whether she is married, or has children, which relates to my opinion about work/life balance. I truly hope that people do not expect less of me because I have children, and I certainly do not expect more of my female colleagues who do not have children. In this regard, I hope that a woman will feel safe to make decisions regarding her personal life and not feel that it will affect her career whatsoever. 
 
I also recognize that I come from a privileged background where I have a supportive partner, the ability to afford childcare easily and a lot of family nearby. The absence of any one of these things would make parenting more challenging, and is a reminder of the amount of support a woman has to be in possession of in order to comfortably have children.

If I could offer a piece of wisdom to another woman in STEM it would be this: The PhD and postdoc life can be lonely. Nobody else in the world is studying exactly what you are studying and doing it exactly the way that you are doing it. BUT, women are unified in our experiences, struggles, and wins. Make it a point find people, especially women who seemingly have everything you're working towards, and talk to her. If it’s an assistant professorship plus having children, talk to her! If it’s a K99/R00 in a high-powered lab, talk to her! If it’s a thriving lab at a PUI, talk.to.her!! Chances are, she experienced similar struggles as you, and can share what she did to overcome her challenges. One of the secrets to success in this field, is feeling supported, even if it means finding the support on your own. 
 
If I could give my former self advice, it would be that progress is progress. Many of my proudest accomplishments are the ones that don’t come in the form of an acceptance, degree or certificate, but it was hard to see or appreciate at the time. Moreover, getting a PhD and pursuing a postdoc can feel strange during our mid 20-30s when friends are already advancing in their careers after graduating college. It gives the illusion that we are in stasis, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. After all, it is a real job to work as a PhD or a postdoc, even though you’re pursuing a degree and potentially earning less than your friends. Ok, I might also reassure myself that yes, I can eventually raise two children, finish my PhD and teach medical students about the Kreb’s cycle.

I think better visibility and representation of women in science can be achieved by creating an environment that retains women that are interested in a science career. The current academic system does a great job at rewarding individual successes of leaders of labs as measured by number of high impact scientific papers published and number of grants rewarded, but I think that is not enough. Rewarding leaders for how they manage and help employees or trainees to develop to achieve their goals (within or outside an academic science) should also be rewarded and factored in tenure and promotion decisions. Deeper structural changes are needed within academia to incorporate 360-degree feedback to help develop leaders. Implementing changes to reward good leadership and provide constructive feedback to address ineffective management practices would overall create healthier academic lab environments and help retain women in science.

In today’s world many scientists relocate away from families to continue their careers and this can make it challenging to grow a family while at the same time investing in one’s career.
I am in favor of workplace changes to help women and men better balance career and family. Changes I am in favor of are providing affordable daycare centers for all families (no matter the income brackets), implementing paternity and maternity leave, allowing for flexible work hours and ability to work remotely when needed. If we want to impact change, each and every one of us needs to speak up in our workplaces.
In the USA, additional layers of complexity are faced by immigrant scientists who are vulnerable to illogical and convoluted immigration policies. USA is very welcoming of foreign science talent but does not provide a proper timely path to permanent residency for those who want to stay in the USA to build their scientific careers and grow their families. Such unfriendly immigration policies not openly communicated by recruiting universities or companies add huge uncertainty on women’s career progression and their families.

Build genuine relationships with others. Invest time in surrounding yourself with a strong support system with many mentors and friends that can provide advice or be a sounding board during key decisions. Be involved with your community where you live, work, or study and try to support and constructively give back. Always pay it forward.

Tell us a little bit about yourself

I am a scientist by training. I’m a Buckeye having received my PhD in Microbiology from the Ohio State University. I was part of the team that discovered the 22ndamino acid, Pyrrolysine. After my PhD I went on to pursue a post-doctoral fellowship at MIT. My research focused on fundamental science and understanding of protein synthesis mechanisms in Archaea. My career began as a scientist followed by technology licensing and business development at MIT and the Boston area. I later moved to Atlanta and joined Emory in 2014 as the industry partnership liaison for the Woodruff Health Sciences Center. In 2019 I became the Executive Director of the Office of Corporate Relations for the university. My role at Emory is to provide a “front door” for industry to connect with the right resources within Emory in order to further their objectives and support Emory’s research, education, and healthcare mission.  collaborate with teams within and outside of Emory to determine synergies where partnerships can be initiated or expanded in order to solve real world problems and advance innovation. 
I am also a trained Indian classical dancer and singer. In my spare time, I continue to teach both artforms.

What do you think the roadblocks are to representation of women in science? How can we improve women’s visibility in science?

I feel the roadblocks for women are that the biological clock and the tenure clock or climbing the corporate ladder are exactly at the same time. This makes for hard choices for a career in science for women. Women can shine in roles early in their careers if they have support with child care at home. Women have to take a hard look at the opportunities in front of them and make the right decision for their circumstances. There are relatively fewer women in leadership positions to serve as role models and that is yet another issue. Women have always needed to go more than the extra mile to rise above the background. I think men and women in the community need to understand this issue for the sake of their wives, sisters, mothers, and daughters. They need to mentor, advise, and nominate women they know to leadership positions. I feel saddened that even in this day and age we still need to be talking about unconscious biases and the inequities between men and women. 
We will all have to come together as a society to improve women’s visibility in science. Encouraging education in S.T.E.M.is a key first step. I feel that the government and employers need to take appropriate steps to help remove obstacles in the path towards success for women in science. Government should also put in place inducements during elementary and middle school education for girls to explore the world of science.

What are your thoughts on the pressure that women face in having to make a choice between starting a family and progressing their career?
 
The pressures that women face in having to make a choice between starting a family and progressing their career is immense. When women choose to start a family while working full time, they have to take a break from their careers to care for their young children. This coincides with the stage in their careers when they need to be giving 150% of effort to climb up the ladder. This dichotomy is one of the critical reasons for women lagging behind in careers since they are usually the primary caregivers for the young ones in their family. I always remember the saying “it takes a village to raise a child” and that is absolutely true for women and their careers. Society in the U.S. is designed for women to take a back seat with their careers when raising children. It starts with daycare costs and then to how k-12 operates. All school events occur during the work hours and as a working woman it is hard to make the choice of attending the events or not. As children grow older it gets better but there needs to be a support system that is lacking here to support women in S.T.E.M. Most of the S.T.E.M. careers require women to be physically at work and that adds to the burden. Careers in computer science, informatics, and public health, epidemiology are areas of S.T.E.M. where physical presence at work is not critical. Careers in these areas of science may be worth exploring for young women.

What advice would you give yourself if you were starting your career today? What would you say to encourage other women to persevere  in their career path?
​
I am very passionate about science and research. I still get goosebumps when I read research papers that show breakthroughs in science and wonder what life as a scientist could have been for me. I would tell my younger self other than enjoy the work that you do, take initiative and make changes to your career path at appropriate times, especially when you know you have outgrown a role. Be adventurous and explore new opportunities as they arise (or create new paths). 

What do you think the roadblocks are to representation of women in science? How can we improve women’s visibility in science?
​
Growing up I assumed most scientific discoveries were done by men and learnt very little about the contributions of women to different scientific disciplines. Bringing these contributions to light in classrooms to highlight that women researchers were also making critical discoveries all through history and discussing the unique challenges they faced would be of great value. Having more young women scientists engaging with students in classrooms and answering important questions posed by the media is also important to help fight the current stereotype of the scientist. ​