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J. Lee Pellegrino-Gensey Born 1959 Interferon Sciences Temple University Dept of Microbiology and Immunology Where did my interest in science come from? Part of it must have been from exposure to my parents, an oral surgeon and a nurse. I would occasionally visit hospitals with them, and must have overheard various conversations of a medical nature. From a young age I found myself fascinated by National Geographic magazines and specials on TV and would even page through my father's books on surgery, complete with graphic (but black and white) pictures of accident victims and surgery in progress. Biology, nature, and medicine were always interesting. Like most kids, I wanted to be like my parents, so I wanted to be a nurse like my mom until I found out that women could be doctors, at which point I decided that was a better option. Although they grew up in a time when a lot of careers were closed to women or strongly discouraged, my parents never made me feel that any job was off limits to me. I didn't really consider other options than science or medicine since I couldn't see the usefulness of most of the subjects I had in school except to end up teaching them to someone else (I know better now - at least for some subjects!), so I chose science classes whenever possible in high school, with an emphasis on biology. I think the sheer scope and flexibility of biology appealed to me - and not as many formulas or equations to remember as chemistry or physics. I still thought medical school was where I was headed until I actually spent time working for a doctor. My father hired me for the summer to cover for his nurses (in my limited way) while they took vacations. The more I worked there the more I became aware of how much more was expected of a doctor than I had imagined. Not only did you have to know the diagnoses and techniques required for your specialty, you had to be a businessperson, running your own company, handling payroll, personnel, taxes, office upkeep - not what I had bargained for. This was an awakening. Not only that, but the patients were real people with all their personality quirks, many of whom were uncooperative, uncomprehending, demanding - in other words, the general public. I had to ask myself, is this what I really want to do? For the first time I realized that maybe my personality had to suit the job as much as my skills. I had to admit that I didn't like the general public and didn't have the compassion I would need (at least not at that time). I didn't want the responsibilities of the business end. So much for med school. So now what? Well, I could always be a scientist, whatever that meant. So off to college to be a biology major, one of the few students not aiming for medical school. It wasn't until my senior year independent project that I finally had a taste of what it meant to work in a lab, and thought it was great fun. So obviously I had to get a Ph.D., right? Off to grad school to major in genetics (the forerunner of molecular biology). Finally I was in a place where real research was being done by people earning PhDs or following up with a post-doc. The first year was devoted to classes and selecting a lab to start a project. I learned all kinds of lab techniques, handled equipment I had never seen before, learned how to use a notebook. Still, it took a while before I looked around at the actual scientists and the students and asked if I was going to be like them. They were there in the lab at all hours of the day and night. Their weekends were spent there. They wrote grants because they had no funding. They seemed to spend all their time immersed in science. It took me that year to ask myself whether that was what I wanted and to find an honest answer - I loved science, but not that much. Did that mean I wasn't going to be a scientist? No, it meant that
there are many ways to be a part of all the research going on, and
I didn't have to get a PhD to find my place. I loved the bench work.
I loved learning new techniques and tweaking them to get them just
right. It has been twenty years now since my first lowly technician's
job at Temple University, and I have worked my way through many
levels, making contributions all along the way without having to
live and breathe science. My point? What you think of when you think
of "Scientist" is a combination of many different ways
to contribute to the grand worldwide work that is science. If you
are the kind who can envision the questions to be solved, who doesn't
hesitate to come in to the lab for a 2am timepoint or who writes
grant proposals on the weekend, there is a place for you. If you
love science from 8 to 4 Monday through Friday, there is fulfillment
and satisfaction waiting for you too.
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