Dr. Wendy Beguelin, a postdoctoral associate in Dr. Ari Melnick's lab at Weill Cornell Medical College, has been studying lymphoma epigenetics for almost five years. After being awarded a two-year Revson Fellowship, which ends June 30, she was able to continue and expand on her important work on B-cell lymphomas — the fourth most common malignancy in the United States — investigating how they might be targeted.
Like Dr. Beguelin, Dr. Kate Meyer also received a Revson Fellowship, which ended in June 2014. Among other benefits, it allowed her to travel to important conferences where she networked with top scientists in her field, and right here in New York, to hear from Dr. Elaine Fuchs, who Revson brought in to speak to the group. Dr. Fuchs' work focuses on the power of stem cells and is someone that Dr. Meyer greatly admires, she said.
"She was a tremendous person to learn from, and the perfect example of a female scientist succeeding," said Dr. Meyer, who continues to work at Weill Cornell Medical College in Dr. Samie Jaffrey's lab. "It was really a great fellowship."
In the increasingly competitive market for postdoctoral funding, the Revson Fellowship provided funds for both Drs. Beguelin and Meyer, which allowed them to do more than just continue their research. It provided them with the means to pay themselves a salary, buy expensive lab supplies, travel to scientific conferences, and ultimately make exciting research advances and thrive in their fields. Opportunities such as these are highly sought by all early-career scientists, including women who might feel like they're expected to do everything — have a stellar career, continue to learn and maybe start a family, too.
"It's the perfect storm of obligations," said Dr. Barbara Hempstead, senior associate dean for education at Weill Cornell Medical College. Early in her own career, Dr. Hempstead remembers being able to hire a laboratory technician for the first time, who completed some of the daily work so that she could get home to her family. This, she said, was a game changer. "For those who choose to go into scientific investigation, having dedicated individuals who can help with the technical aspects of work is crucial. I can't emphasis strongly enough how important this is."
Founded in 1956, The Charles H. Revson Foundation donates funds to New York-based researchers who work in a variety of fields, including biomedical research. Within this field, they award $1.2 million a year in two-year fellowships to scientists in their third and fourth postdoctoral years. While these prestigious fellowships are awarded to researchers of both genders, members of the Revson board are particularly interested in supporting early career female scientists, Julia Sandorf, president of the Charles H. Revson Foundation said.
This focus on nurturing women in the field is also of the utmost importance to Dr. Laurie H. Glimcher, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean at Weill Cornell, and many programs at Weill Cornell Medical College serve as proof. Led by Dr. Hempstead, the Office of Faculty Development nurtures early- and mid-level scientists so that they can better balance and thrive in both their work and family life. In 2011, Weill Cornell also partnered with Bright Horizons, a company that offers emergency childcare, to help parents make it to work even if their regular childcare falls through. And more recently, Dr. Glimcher hosted The Cyma Rubin Women in Science Lecture, which was created to highlight the accomplishments of distinguished women in the field and to inspire female scientists, and established the Family Friendly Postdoctoral Initiative Program, which will provide approximately 10 postdocs who are also the primary caregiver of an infant or child with $50,000 a year to hire a lab technician and free up some time to be at home.
"Women make excellent scientists, and they need to be given the opportunity to shine," said Dr. Randi Silver, an associate dean at the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, faculty director of the office of postdoctoral affairs and a professor of physiology and biophysics at Weill Cornell Medical College. "We need to inspire, encourage and educate women scientists at all levels."
Thanks to the Revson Fellowship's support, Dr. Beguelin said that she's been able to produce research on lymphoma and an enzyme called EZH2, which is being targeted in clinical trials. She presented some of her recent findings in two different meetings, the first lymphoma biology meeting of the American Society of Hematology in Colorado Springs, and another meeting on epigenetics and chromatin in Cold Spring Harbor last year. She is currently writing a research article that she hopes to publish soon.
In conducting this research, the fellowship's funds allowed her to more thoroughly and powerfully conduct her research project, performing experiments that she otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford, and also attend important meetings, including the annual congress of the European Hematology Association, where her abstract was selected for oral presentation.
"Networking in meetings is hugely rewarding," she said. At them, she's met other scientists who have turned into collaborating partners, and has learned new techniques that she can apply to her own lab work. "Attending these meetings can really change the way that you see and design experimental strategies."
Dr. Meyer also gained a professional advantage from meeting other scientists, including those that Revson connected her with as part of their annual meeting for fellows. "These meetings were a great way to form potential collaborations and to learn about the great work that other young female researchers are doing," she said.
Since her fellowship ended last summer, she's continued working at Weill Cornell with the support of a National Institute of Health K99 "Pathway to Independence" award, and an article on research that she completed during the fellowship, which focuses on a RNA modification and its affect on protein production, is currently in review at a prominent science publication.
These mentorship opportunities and introductions to potential partners for future research collaborations are so important, Dr. Silver said. "Women need other mentors and role models, and being at Weill Cornell, that is a clear focus," she continued. "We're teaching them how to navigate the system so that they understand that they can be successful and have a fulfilling personal life."