Women in Science Celebration: Interview with Dr.Gayathri Srinivasan

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.

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'Women have always needed to go more than the extra mile to rise above the background.'

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.

'We all have to come together as a society to improve women’s visibility in 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.

'The pressures that women face in having to make a choice between starting a family and progressing their career is immense.'

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?
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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). 

'Be adventurous and explore new opportunities as they arise (or create new paths).'