|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
| Home Help Feedback Subscriptions Archive Search Table of Contents | |||||
First published online October 13, 2004
doi: 10.1242/10.1242/jcs.01480
Women in Cell Science |
Julia Polak was born and grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and qualified as a medical doctor there in 1961. After her basic medical qualification, she specialised in pathology. With her husband and young daughter she moved to London in 1968. She initially intended to stay for one or two years but has remained in London ever since. She joined the Department of Histochemistry at the Hammersmith Hospital and moved up the career ladder to become Professor and Head of Department. In 1999, soon after the Royal Postgraduate Medical School at Hammersmith Hospital joined Imperial College as part of the newly created Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College, she became the Head of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Centre and moved to the Chelsea and Westminster Campus.
Julia began her research career by attempting to identify the cellular localization of a putative `gut hormone' discovered early in the 20th century, when duodenal extracts were shown to elicit a pancreatic secretory response. The `hormone' was named secretin but its precise cellular origin remained unknown for 70 years until Julia used the technique of immunocytochemistry to identify it. She went on to identify the cellular origins of glucagon-like peptide in the bowel, somatostatin in the pancreas, and bombesin in the lung. Her work on the `brain-gut axis' revealed the body-wide distribution of what are now known as neuropeptides. From 1990 to 1997 she studied the roles played by regulatory factors, in particular nitric oxide, in normal bodily functions and specific diseases, with the aim of defining mechanisms of disease. The role that the L-arginine/NO pathway plays in bone growth and remodelling has been one of her long-standing interests and contributes to the focus of her current research on tissue engineering.
In the interview that follows, Fiona Watt, Editor-in-Chief of JCS, asks Julia about her experiences as a woman in science.
|
FMW: What changes for women in science have you observed during the course of your career?
JP: There have been many changes for the better, and women are becoming more confident and have been recognised much more in the fields of science and medicine. This is illustrated by the Royal Society conferring more fellowships on women than it did in earlier years.
FMW: How has your research career impacted on your personal life and vice versa?
JP: The two are highly interlinked. It is impossible to separate my research career and my personal life. For example, I come from an intellectual background and my parents always expected me to do well professionally. They were extremely supportive of my work and, in fact, they helped me financially to come to this country and during the early stages following my arrival.
I married a doctor, Daniel Catvosky, who is now a professor of haematology, and we raised three children, now grown up. Whether or not it has helped that Daniel is in the same line of work as me is a rather difficult question to answer since I have only had one husband! But I would imagine that it has been important.
It is hard to say how successful I would have been if I had not come to Britain, as it is well known that Argentina has had a chequered history and so the struggle to do research there is, of course, much greater. I have enjoyed the support of other Argentineans through an association of Argentine professionals in the United Kingdom (APARU). Dr Aldo Boccaccini is doing an excellent job as chairman of this association.
I do not think of Britain as my adopted country. It feels like my native country because all my children were brought up here and, of course, I developed my career in this country. I was awarded a DBE for services to medicine in her Majesty The Queen's Birthday Honours list in 2003 and I am happy to belong to the British Establishment.
In 1995, I had a heart and lung transplant. This prompted me to turn my attention to a nascent field: regenerative medicine or tissue engineering. This new field aims at producing cells and tissues for implantation – hence, cell-based therapies can be undertaken and the body's own regenerative processes can be stimulated. Diseases that can be treated include heart disease, brittle bone disease, traumatic injury, end-stage lung diseases, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. The Imperial College Tissue Engineering Centre, under my leadership, has achieved a world first in tissue engineering of bone and of lung. A paper recently published in Science outlines the genetic basis for the development of new biomedical materials.
FMW: Do you feel that being a woman is an inherent advantage/disadvantage for a career in science? Why?
JP: Pathology is a medical specialty that lends itself to research. I chose it because of my strong interest and aptitude for research. I cannot say that I have noticed that pathology has a reputation of being a male-dominated profession. I think there are plenty of women pathologists. During my career I have seen many positive changes and women are treated almost equally within the profession.
It is sometimes argued that women who combine research with raising a family suffer in terms of research productivity. That is certainly not true in my case. I was rated number 8 of the world's most prolific scientists for the period 1981-1990, according to Science Watch (Institute for Scientific Information). I am number 28 of the 100 most cited scientists ("Citation Superstars") for 1981-1988 and one of the 1,000 most cited contemporary authors in pathology.
When I look at my research output I do not see any correlation between my publication rate and my family responsibilities. My children were all very young during the 1980s. The eldest, my daughter, was just a teenager and the two youngest were not even at that stage. I only wish I could have had more `balls to juggle', which is the essence of combining everything.
FMW: What are your remaining career ambitions?
JP: I would like to carry on developing the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Centre and to leave it in such a vibrant and viable state that, when I do depart, there will be someone to continue and enhance the work. In other words, I hope that the seed I have planted will continue to grow and flourish when I am no longer the head gardener.
Footnotes
Feedback on our series of Women in Cell Science articles is always welcome and should be emailed to wics{at}biologists.com
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
