In this chapter of Career Stories, we bring you the journey of Gayatri Ramachandran who is pursuing a PhD in Biochemistry at the School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad. She has had a decade of experience spanning research, industry and teaching, primarily in Genetics. This apart, she is also an academic mentor who is enthusiastic about career guidance in Life Sciences.
In a candid chat Gayatri talked about how she applies her scientific learnings in her daily life and why she is passionate about teaching and mentoring.
As you have pursued your B.Sc and M.Sc in Genetics, could you please tell us about your interest in Genetics and how did you decide to pursue it?
It all started back in my 12th standard, when I came across a chapter on Genetics. I would like to call it “me-search” here, as Genetics has helped me understand what I am and how I can utilise the knowledge of behavioural and psychological traits belonging to my pedigree, to enhance my personality and make me a better human being. Genetics helps me apply that knowledge to my daily life and to my immediate family. Science has always been a part of my daily life. I love to apply what I learnt. It’s not for the sake of building a career that I do anything. Genetics, I felt, will help a lot because life starts at the DNA level. It helps me tweak acquired traits to lead a better life.
How is/was your experience in being an academic mentor?
I never knew that I would be a good mentor, I did not have any mentor back then when I was a student. During my UG and PG, the concept of mentoring was very primitive and not many people were into it. I missed out on that part, so I felt my students should not miss out on it and I should pass on my learnings to them. When I joined as a lecturer, it helped me understand my innate strength in mentoring. Students connect with me and they reach out to me when they need help with their career, and, while facing mental health issues, imposter syndrome etc. After speaking to me they feel better and that is how I started my journey as a mentor. I did not take up any formal courses in mentorship. It is my innate strength that came out during teaching. The mentorship experience is very rewarding and I plan to continue it for the rest of my life. I’ve realised it comes naturally to me, thanks to my genes.
What is your work as a Researcher.Life ambassador?
It’s more than work, it’s an experience- it revolves around connecting to other researchers, learning mutually, growing and supporting each other. Researcher.Life is a good platform where one can ask questions pertaining to research or anything in Academia. I got into the ambassador program only a few months ago. It was through one of their services-R Voice, that I got into this. R Voice is an amazing community platform which provides emotional and academic support, including mental health support to researchers, worldwide. Editage Insights, under which Researcher.Life comes, covers all the broad areas of Academia, including: how to write a publication, how to read a review, how to go through research literature, how to understand the peer-review process, etc. Additionally, it supports my practice as a mental health advocate. Mental health is a taboo topic and nobody really talks about it but R Voice is like a family where all of this is discussed, quite comfortably.
What has been your go-to motto in life when things don’t work out?
I have go-to people, who are my mentors including my current PhD supervisor to whom I go for advice on my research front. In addition to that, I would seek my father’s advice on the professional front as well, primarily because he is the reason why I had been motivated into science. His motto, “Science in daily life”, is also my motto.
What was your ‘cloud-9’ moment in life sciences?
For me, every day is a ‘cloud-9’ moment as every day is an opportunity to learn something new. I wake up with the motivation that I am going to utilize the day to progress in something- be it on the professional or personal side. When I go to bed I feel happy that I have achieved something and that it was a day well spent. If nothing (substantial) has happened on a particular day, it is still a neutral day. I believe it is better we do not have cloud 9 moments (moments of hyper-excitement) often as we tend to lose track of what our actual goals are. Psychologically that is how it works. Hence, I strive to maintain balanced emotions, always in life.
Do you have an anecdote to tell us about your student or professional life?
My education plus career started and has remained in Hyderabad. I see many students are under peer-pressure to get out and explore. But I never felt the pressure as I believed in following those paths that made me happy. I would say-”Do what makes you happy and there is never a definite, tailored path to one’s happiness”.
If you ever put yourself in a stand that you might regret later, then that is not going to help. When I was an early career researcher, I had to deal with mental health issues because of a toxic lab environment and supervisor. I finally decided to leave that position, owing to the toxic work culture/environment. This decision wasn’t easy and it took me a good 6 months to arrive at that conclusion. I weighed all the pros and cons, weighing my personal vs professional life, whether it would affect me later and so on. My tagline in those 6 months was “I should never regret this decision later, ever”. I looked for other opportunities, and that’s when I came across a position at Thomson Reuters, that perfectly fit my passion and experience. I felt it was God sent. They required personnel with an academic background in Genetics, which fit my profile to the T. A career switch as this to industry was interesting as well as challenging. When I look back I think that getting out of that toxic lab environment was the best decision I had made in my life till date. When you know you deserve better, it’s better not to stay in such environments- be it related to your work, or your personal life. Never put up with anything toxic in your life. That 3 year stint as an early career researcher was a great learning experience. I was able to turn a negative experience into a positive one. It is a lesson well learnt, for life, and something I mentor students about, as well. To the mentees who are stuck at a stage of transition in academics or career- perform an honest self-assessment, know what you love, know what you want and your soul WILL pull you towards that.
