Dr. Amanda Heslegrave: UK DRI Biomarker Factory Lead and UCL Senior Research Fellow.
In celebration of International Women’s Day on Wednesday the 8th of March, Women in Neuroscience UK are taking over the UK DRI Twitter account! We aim to utilise this opportunity to highlight gender disparities in dementia research and showcase the stories of successful female dementia researchers. In this series of articles for IWD23, we interviewed inspiring women in dementia research about their work, their career pathways, and their advice for aspiring women in neuroscience.
What is your main field of research?
Fluid biomarkers of neurodegeneration
How did you end up here? Why did you become a scientist? What drew you to the field of dementia research? What makes you get up in the morning?
I always wanted to be a doctor – my mum had epilepsy and died of what I now think was SUDEP when I was very young. However life doesn’t always go to plan (well that didn’t need saying!). Left school in the middle of my A levels – I was being brought up by my grandmother who couldn’t understand why I would go to uni – it wasn’t the kind of thing people like ‘us’ did – especially as I was a girl. Got a ‘nice’ job in banking and was there for 13 years. However a few years in I realised that banking exams were boring and not what I wanted so went back to night school – got A level biology then accepted into an evening Biology degree at Birkbeck. In my last year I couldn’t take banking anymore and quit. I saw an advert for a technician at the Institute of Neurology and applied. I was lucky that one of my interviewers was a real advocate for people entering science via non traditional routes and got the job – 1 day before my 30th birthday – got a good degree, found out about PhDs and realised that that kind of Dr was what I had always been thinking of really. My grandmother died having lived with Parkinsons for around 13 years exactly a year after I got the job – this made me sure I had made the right career choice.
What is the coolest thing about your work/research?
That I get to do research around samples that have been donated by people who know that probably the research we use them for now wont help them in their lifetimes but will definitely help people in the future. That means I get to work with heroes.
Why is your research important? What are the possible real world applications?
The research that we do will lead into clinical applications such as better diagnosis of disease, better prognosis, stratification into clinical trials and proof of efficacy for disease modifying drugs.
What has been / was your most important or surprising scientific finding?
When I first came into this field I attended a number of lectures at conferences telling us why blood based biomarkers couldn’t tell us anything about brain pathology – being able to work with technology that proves that wrong has certainly been surprising and important!
What are some of the main challenges you have faced in your time as a female dementia researcher?
I have been told that I could move forward in my career more easily by being ‘more like an arrogant white man’ – why can’t I be me and succeed?
Have you ever faced any major setbacks?
I really struggled after my PhD to find a job I wanted, I had so little confidence that I went for an RA job rather than a post doc, luckily they paid me post doc money and I ended up learning a lot but it took me 8 years to get the role in neuroscience that I really wanted.
Do you feel as though you are equally represented in this field? How many of your associates are also female researchers?
I feel like I work with many great female researchers but the higher up you look, the less of them you see.
Tell me what you like to do when you aren't working on research.
I really like running and have done lots of it – triathlons too, getting physically exhausted is such a stress buster and I love those endorphins – can’t believe they are legal.
What's your dream outcome for your research?
That what we do leads into real clinical benefits when disease modifying treatments are licensed in this country – biomarker tests in primary care to point a patient to a treatment pathway for whatever neurodegenerative disease they might have.
What's next for you in both your life and research?
Have been focusing on increasing capacity in the lab to do bigger projects – looking forward to focusing on ‘real world’ studies, studies where we include diverse populations, and a particular interest of mine, women's brain health. Looking forward to speaking at the ARUK conference in a few weeks and spending a week on the Royal Society Week in Westminster scheme.
Please share some key lessons or words of wisdom for women and girls interested in pursuing this career.
Find someone doing the job you want – talk to them, they probably wont bite! Get to know your peers – you may all go in different directions but having that network is invaluable. If you get the opportunity to present your work, do it!
This article was written by Rebecca Parker, and edited by Ailie McWhinnie. Interested in writing for WiN UK yourself? Contact us through the blog page and the editors will be in touch!
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