On April 13, 2015, Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) visited campus to speak with the UMBC community. During her early afternoon session (1:00 PM - 2:00 PM), Dr. Volkow's talk focused on STEM diversity and being a woman in STEM.
Dr. Nora Volkow opened the discussion to current graduate students and postdoctorate fellows, asking what aspects would draw in diversity in the STEM fields. When the audience responded, a few suggestions were made, which included early exposure to opportunities and real-life applications, financial support, and protection of early-stage principal investigators. Another suggestion brought up was to provide partnerships between universities, which would allow shared resources and an increase in networking with others.
After discussing about STEM diversity, Dr. Volkow began speaking about how being a woman in the life sciences is challenging. She said, "Women have children and responsibilities. That becomes a major priority, which puts women at a disadvantage." She says it would be nice if women were provided extra time for certain tasks to compensate for the time spent on other responsibilities. She also mentioned that culture is another critical factor as well; culture impacts the behavioral differences between men and women.
When Dr. Volkow was asked about challenges that she has faced, she said, "Prejudice and jealousy. Prejudice because you look differently and work differently. I was brought up in Mexico. Whether you are born here or not should not matter, but it's something you need to overcome. If you have a unique way of looking at something, it makes it harder because people would try to interfere with it. Just come to see that is how things are and you have to persevere. Trust your instincts. Don't loose confidence in yourself. You are unique."
Dr. Volkow was later asked about how she is able to manage her responsibilities. She said, "You have to find something that you are interested in. When you love something so much, you devote yourself to it. When you do something, you need to make sure, you are you." Overall, Dr. Volkow gives advice that it is important to be genuinely interested in the job position that you hold. She said that she is over-driven by work, and, it is her passion that acts as her driving force.
Overall, we would like to thank Dr. Volkow for visiting our campus and for speaking with the UMBC community. At the end of the session, Dr. Volkow mentioned about connecting with both the PROMISE AGEP program and the Meyerhoff program to arrange possible trips for students to visit the NIDA facility.
