Portrait of a Professional Life: Work, Challenges, and Satisfaction, All

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Chapter 24

Portrait of a Professional Life: Work, Challenges, and Satisfaction, All Achieved in Small Steps Lydia R. Galagovsky* President of the Chemical Education Division, Argentine Chemical Society; Center for Educational Research and Training in Science Teaching, University of Buenos Aires, Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón 2, 2do piso 1428 Buenos Aires, Argentina *E-mail: [email protected].

A dual career in educational research and scientific research is always a challenge. If you work on educational research in a world of chemists, or do chemistry in a world of educators, the result may be a devaluation (or even disqualification) of your work when you are evaluated by specialists in one area only. When I was a secondary school student, I had two dreams: to become a teacher and to succeed as a medical scientist. As it turned out, I chose chemistry in college and obtained a Ph.D. in organic chemistry, thereby opening career pathways towards both research in medicinal chemistry and in chemical education. Thirty years later I have attained a fair amount of achievements and also realized my dreams. I have written three successful single-authored books and edited three more books in Spanish on chemistry, science, and pedagogy. In collaboration with four coworkers, we have applied for an international patent and licensed it to an Argentine pharmaceutical laboratory involving specific compounds with the unique ability to be simultaneously antiviral and anti-inflammatory for use against epidemic ocular conjunctivitis. From my own experience, I would provide two pieces of advice for a researcher: work hard and persevere in face of setbacks.

© 2015 American Chemical Society Cheng et al.; Jobs, Collaborations, and Women Leaders in the Global Chemistry Enterprise ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2015.


Introduction It is very encouraging to be a chemist in a world where chemists´ skills and knowledge are needed to make significant contributions to solve problems. However, it has always been challenging, all the more if you are a female chemist. We are all familiar with the well-known female chemists and their struggles in history. The symposium “Women Leaders from the Global Chemistry Enterprise” held at the 248th national ACS meeting in San Francisco, California allowed us to reflect on the current situation and share our setbacks and challenges that we encountered either when we were learning to become chemists or when we had already become chemists. The challenges continued also when we were developing our professional careers. During the symposium, it was wonderful to hear many success stories from all over the world. They confirmed that determination and self-confidence can help overcome the obstacles. Our personal stories represent just a few examples among thousands of female chemists. I am sure we all found these personal stories deeply moving. I hope that female chemists will feel inspired and comforted after reading these chapters. In addition, I wish that male readers can fully understand and appreciate the unique challenges facing female chemists due to their gender. I suggest that you follow me on a trip down memory lane to become familiar with my personal story. This journey has some stops where I will introduce you to important points of my life, all set against the social and political situations in Argentina.

Argentina and Buenos Aires Argentina is a large country full of beautiful landscapes, and Buenos Aires is its splendid capital city. The University of Buenos Aires (UBA) is the largest university in the country with more than 200,000 students in total. Researchers based here produce almost 20% of the international scientific publications from Argentina, chemistry being an important area of contribution. Three Argentine scientists have won Nobel Prizes: Dr. Alberto Houssay (Physician & Pharmacist, UBA), Nobel Prize in Medicine 1947; Dr. Luis Federico Leloir (Physician & Ph.D. in Chemistry, UBA), Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1970; and Dr. César Milstein (Chemist & Ph.D. in Chemistry, UBA), Nobel Prize in Medicine (1980) working at that time in Cambridge, UK. The current Pope, Francis, studied Chemistry as a teenager at a renowned Technical Secondary School in the city of Buenos Aires.

My Family Origin and Childhood My father´s parents had immigrated to Argentina as children with their parents from Grodno (now Belarus) in 1895. My mother´s parents had immigrated alone as teenagers – they met on the ship to Argentina- from towns near Kiev (now Ukraine) in 1912. Both grandparents’ weddings took place in Argentina in 1913 and 1923, respectively. 284 Cheng et al.; Jobs, Collaborations, and Women Leaders in the Global Chemistry Enterprise ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2015.


They emigrated to Argentina to escape from the pogroms, which were cruel riots against Jewish people carried out by the Russian Tzar´s army. The Argentine government had generously opened the doors to all immigrants because the country was completely underpopulated. My parents got married in June 1952 and went to live in a hamlet in the countryside, near a steel factory where my father worked varying shifts. The social context surrounding my parents´ wedding and my birth is given below. Around 1950 the President of Argentina was General Juan Peron. His wife, Eva Peron was a young movie actress, who became very popular amongst the working class because of her social initiatives, particularly so amongst women because she supported the cause and enabled the vote for women. People affectionately called her Evita (little Eva). In August 1951, after a huge demonstration supporting General Peron, two million people shouted and begged Evita to become the Vice President in the following election. After two hours of private deliberation, she informed the waiting crowd that she had to decline. Her main reason for declining was that she was gravely ill, but this was kept secret from the public. Evita died at age 33, just a month after my parents’ wedding. There were seven days of national mourning during wintry, cold, rainy days. The whole population felt terribly sad and my young mother was no exception. In addition she missed her parents who lived far away and she felt lonely. My father told me a secret: he comforted her… to make her smile again. Then nine months later I was born! Evita’s story has been recreated in a musical (written by Webber & Rice). The most famous song says “Don’t cry for me Argentina. The truth is I never left you”. There is also a movie version of Evita featuring Madonna. Primary School I went to an excellent, public primary school at no cost to me or my family amidst turbulent national politics. In 1955 a military coup overthrew Peron. He was exiled and banned from politics. Then the newly elected President (Dr. A. Frondizi) did not finish his term (1958-1964) because another military coup overthrew his government. Again, newly elected President Dr. A. Illia (1963-1969) did not finish his term either, as he was overthrown by another military coup in June 1966. Dreams of a Teenager I began my public, girls only secondary school (also at no cost) in March 1966. As I previously mentioned, in June a military government took power. One month later –on July 29- a politically motivated attack was carried out against intellectuals, in particular against professors and students of the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences (FCEN), UBA. This event is remembered as the “Night of the Long Sticks.” The ideology of the military government clashed with the liberal ideas of many intellectuals; consequently many of them left the country and became important scientists abroad (1). 285 Cheng et al.; Jobs, Collaborations, and Women Leaders in the Global Chemistry Enterprise ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2015.

Whilst the country languished during this period, I experienced happy years at secondary school. My love for chemistry blossomed when I was astonished looking at a volcano reaction (2) performed at the lab. I was also inspired after hearing about the Argentine Nobel Prize in Chemistry won in 1970 by Dr. Federico Leloir. So, I finished my secondary school having two dreams: to become a good chemistry teacher and to succeed as a medical scientist.


My Time To Study at the University of Buenos Aires University Degree To achieve my dreams I decided to study Chemistry at FCEN-UBA. Studies here were and still are free of charge. The first university degree, “Licenciatura” -in Spanish- usually lasts six years; however, I completed it in five, between March 1971 and December 1975. I was a highly motivated student and, in addition, I gave private lessons to earn some money. I got married in the middle of my studies on June 20, 1974. I was such an enthusiastic student that we decided not to go on a honeymoon because I had examinations shortly after my wedding day and a second semester packed with challenging courses! However, as it turned out, I found myself with lots of free time shortly after my wedding because of the political situation. A new election took place in March 1973, but Peron was still banned from running as a candidate. Dr. H. Cámpora won and called immediately for a new open election in June which Perón won. In September, he took over the presidency accompanied by his third wife Isabel Peron as the vice president. Unfortunately, Peron died on July 1, 1974. This meant that 10 days after my wedding, there was a week of mourning. These were wintry, cold, rainy days, and people were very sad. It was a situation nearly identical to the one 22 years earlier after my parent’s wedding. Everyone was worried about the uncertain future: many different groups fought each other claiming to be Peron´s successor. From that moment on, the political and social situation was a mess with much infighting and violence. In addition, universities were closed for a three-month period, and all the faculty members were laid off including a Nobel Prize winner. Some staff members were reappointed three months later and classes resumed. Many artists, intellectuals and scientists left the country due to the political situation. Despite that unstable period, I continued my studies and was awarded my degree in December 1975. After the summer holidays, in February 1976, I began my Ph.D. studies in the Organic Chemistry Department of FCEN-UBA. But just a month later, in March 1976, a new military coup took over the government. Ph.D. Studies My Ph.D. studies lasted as long as that bloody time when the last military government ruled. I finished my Ph.D. the day before a newly elected President 286 Cheng et al.; Jobs, Collaborations, and Women Leaders in the Global Chemistry Enterprise ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2015.


Dr. R. Alfonsín started (December 10, 1983). This event marked the beginning of a democratic period, which is fortunately still on-going. Under the dictatorial government, thirty thousand people went “missing”, including almost 90 undergraduates, graduate students and assistants from FCEN. Their names are depicted on inner walls in the buildings as a reminder of those frightful seven years. My thesis dissertation title was “Biosynthetic studies on the bufadienolide ring of cardiotonic compounds in Scilla maritima, L.” (natural products area). Scilla maritima is a plant consisting of a huge bulb that develops leaves during winter and blooms in summer - January in South America - with a flower nearly two meters high. Scillirosid is the steroidal compound (cardiotonic) that contains a singular doubly unsaturated lactone ring. My task was to investigate which small metabolites could form that typical ring. So I had to prepare radioactive (14C) and 13C precursors –like oxaloacetic and pyruvic acids - and inject them into different bulbs. A couple of days after injections, bulbs should be dried and Scillorosid could be obtained. Purification and careful chemical breakup of scillirosid was required to isolate parts of its structure and measure the possible intake of each small metabolite that has been injected. Why would a motivated Ph.D. student need seven years to achieve these tasks? Simple answer: Injections with precursors can take place only during January because scillirosid is rapidly biosynthesized and degraded by the plant before blooming starts. However, the military government forbade us from entering the faculty (and the green house) during the months of January from 1977 to 1979. This meant having to conduct the experiments in different months with non-reproducible results. During my Ph.D. studies, my family grew! My son Gabriel was born in September 1978 and my daughter Daiana, in April 1983. Three important factors helped me during that time: tuition-free Ph.D. studies; a nursery with child care provided for children aged between 45 days and 5 years old; and the opportunity to gain employment as a teaching assistant.

Thirty-One Years of Working under Democratic Governments General Background In Argentina there were and still are political and macroeconomical instabilities, such as cycles of inflation and hyperinflation, which means that national economic priorities are focused away from science most of the time and, as a consequence, there are low salaries for scientists. To help me when I started my post-doc career in 1983, my boss, Dr. E. Gros, gave me some pieces of advice: •

•

He stressed the importance of belonging to a strong, traditional research group in order to be promoted. But I wanted to choose my own research subjects, and I didn´t like the topics he suggested to me! He highlighted the importance of individualism and “publish or perish.” But I love to work in teams and to share knowledge! 287

Cheng et al.; Jobs, Collaborations, and Women Leaders in the Global Chemistry Enterprise ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2015.

• •

He recommended that I should focus on Organic Chemistry. But I love interdisciplinary work! He stressed the need to do a postdoc abroad to be promoted. But I already had a family and would not leave them even for a short period!


That meant that I was a rebel. Actually, after being a student under the many military goverments, I was anxious to play my own game as a chemist! I wanted to be free to choose and find my own challenges, follow my interests, decide on my own priorities, and enjoy doing research, instead of just accepting other people´s rules. Achieving the Dream of Being a Good Science Teacher At the beginning of the democratic period (since 1984), the Dean Dr. G. Klimovsky introduced pedagogical and philosophical topics as optional courses at the FCEN. I took those courses and I was fascinated. I realized that we were using antiquated methods for teaching and that there were no books available in Spanish on lab issues. So, after my experience of ten years as a teaching assistant, I decided to write a lab textbook “Organic Chemistry: theoretical and practical fundamentals” (3). Since 1986, it has been republished seven times! Thousands of Argentine students used my textbook and are still using it! In 1988 I became the sole professor in the Science Education area of FCEN. Since then, this area has grown to be like a department. Nevertheless, at that time my boss Dr. Gros continued to warn me highlighting that “Chemical Education is not a scientific issue.” He insisted “You must work and publish solely in the area of Organic Chemistry to make a successful career!” But I persevered… During 31 years of working in the area of Science Education, I have guided three Ph.D. theses dissertations, and three more are in progress. I have published 58 papers, most of them in collaboration with friendly colleagues working in the disciplines of Physics, Biology and Chemistry (4). My solo projects and coauthored work have received several awards. Furthermore, I have also written two other popular books: “Towards a new role for teachers” (5); and “Conceptual networks. Learning, communication, and memory” (6). I have edited two other books renowned in Latin America: “What is “natural” in natural sciences?” (7), and “Didactic of natural sciences. The case of scientific models” (8). In addition, I have contributed chapters to other books. Since 2005, I have been the Chair of the Chemical Education Division of the Argentine Chemical Society, and as such I was able to develop two important events. First, I edited two magnificent books, entitled “Chemistry in Argentina” and “Chemistry and Civilization”, respectively, to commemorate the International Year of Chemistry and the Centennial Anniversary of our Society (years 2011 and 2012, respectively). These books are in Spanish and available for download for free from our website (9, 10). In total, both books contain 78 chapters written by 110 Argentine chemists, aimed at young readers without any background in chemistry. The publication of these books received the support of the Argentine government. The main aim of these books is to promote a contextualized vision 288 Cheng et al.; Jobs, Collaborations, and Women Leaders in the Global Chemistry Enterprise ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2015.


of Chemistry, including social, political, economic and personal backgrounds, to change the negative image that (unfortunately) most teenagers have of Chemistry. Figure 1 shows the covers of the books mentioned above.

Figure 1. Covers of books. Compiled with permission from: Editorial Troquel, Lugar Editorial, Editorial Biblos, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina Chemical Association. Secondly, I have had the opportunity to host many important international guests. In particular, I have had the great honour to receive and listen to Dr. Zafra Lerman (2006 and 2012) and Dr. Marinda Wu (2013) who generously shared their knowledge with Argentine teachers. Achieving the Dream of Being a Medical Scientist Since 1983, I have continued doing research in the field of synthesis of steroids by guiding three Ph.D. theses about plant hormones (brassinosteroids). We have published 23 papers on this subject in international journals, and we have written chapters in three international books (11–13). In 2003, junior Ph.D. colleagues Dr. J. Ramírez and Dr. A. Bruttomesso joined me in working together as co-PIs in a new laboratory of our own: “Lab #10 team” of the Organic Chemistry Department at FCEN, UBA. Since then, we 289 Cheng et al.; Jobs, Collaborations, and Women Leaders in the Global Chemistry Enterprise ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2015.


continue to work on organic synthesis. New enthusiastic young graduate students have enlarged our team, doing research and working on Ph.D. theses. Figure 2 shows all the team members during a national meeting.

Figure 2. Lab #10 team (2011), Organic Chemistry Department (FCEN, UBA). Senior investigator: Lydia Galagovsky; junior investigators: Andrea Bruttomesso and Javier Ramirez. Photo couresty of Lydia R. Galagovsky.

We widened the focus of our research and were able to test antiviral properties of our synthetic steroids. Working collaboratively with Dr. M. Wachsman, Dr. L. Alché and Dr A. Berra, we have published 16 international papers on this topic. While guiding F. Michelini´s Ph.D. thesis, we discovered that some of our new molecules exhibited the unique effect of being simultaneously anti-inflammatory and antiviral compounds. These results allowed us to apply for international patents (14) in agreement with the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) and an Argentine Pharmaceutical Company (Instituto Massone S.A.). It means that we are creating new molecules which have the potential to be used as drugs!! 290 Cheng et al.; Jobs, Collaborations, and Women Leaders in the Global Chemistry Enterprise ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2015.

Final Remarks


A dual career in science education and chemistry research is a challenge. If you work in science education in a world of chemists, or do chemistry research in a world of educators, the results may be the devaluation (or even disqualification) of your work, when you are evaluated by specialists in one area only. That is the reason why I wrote in the title of this chapter “work, challenges, and satisfaction, all achieved in small steps”. From my own experience, I hope to encourage young female chemists with the following words: -

-

Our youthful dreams may appear unrealistic when they first form. However, believe in your dreams! In life so many different paths may be followed that a person never knows if those selected are the right ones. However, follow your enthusiasm! Only a few topics may be explored at any time such that a chemist may feel that his/her understanding is an infinitely small part of the total knowledge. However, trust your abilities to open new doors for knowledge to enter. Trust your dreams, enjoy your work, work hard, and persevere in face of setbacks.

Acknowledgments Thanks are due to Dr Marinda Li Wu, 2013 President of the American Chemical Society for inviting me as a speaker at the Symposium “Women Leaders of the Global Chemistry Enterprise” in the ACS National Meeting in San Francisco in August 2014.

References 1.

2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7.

During this period Dr. Warren Ambrose (a renowned mathematician and professor at MIT) was working at FCEN, where he was attacked. He sent a letter to the New York Times reporting events. The letter was read worldwide; http://newsoffice.mit.edu/1996/ambrose-0110 (accessed September 2014). Volcano reaction: (NH4)2Cr2O7 → N2 + 4H2O + Cr2O3 Galagovsky, L. Química Orgánica. Fundamentos teórico-Prácticos del Laboratorio, 7th ed.; Eudeba: Buenos Aires, 2013. Some examples of journals are Journal of Chemical Education (ACS, U.S.A.); Revista Enseñanza de las Ciencias (Barcelona, Spain); and Revista Electrónica de Enseñanza de las Ciencias (Vigo, Spain). Galagovsky, L. Hacia un Nuevo rol docente; Troquel: Buenos Aires, 1993. Galagovsky, L. Redes Conceptuales, Aprendizaje, comunicación y memoria, 2nd ed.; Lugar: Buenos Aires, 1999. Qué tienen de “naturales” las ciencias Naturales? Galagovsky, L., Ed.; Biblos: Buenos Aires, 2008. 291 Cheng et al.; Jobs, Collaborations, and Women Leaders in the Global Chemistry Enterprise ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2015.

8. 9. 10. 11.


12. 13. 14.

Didáctica de las Ciencias naturales. El caso de los modelos científicos; Galagovsky, L., Ed.; Lugar: Buenos Aires, 2010. Galagovsky, L. (Editor) (2011). La Química en la Argentina, Asociación Química Argentina (AQA). http://aqa.org.ar/la-quimica-en-la-argentina.pdf; Química y Civilización; Galagovsky, L., Ed.; AQA, 2012; http://aqa.org.ar/ quimica-y-civilizacion.pdf. Brassinosteroids:bioactivity and crop productivity; Yokota, T., Adams, G., Eds.; Kluwer Academic Publisher: The Netherlands, 2003; Chapter 6. Phytochemistry Research Progress; Matsumoto, T., Ed.; Nova Science Publishers, Inc.: Nueva York, 2007; Chapter 8. Brassinosteroids: Practical Applications in Agriculture and Human Health; Bentham Science Publishers: New York, 2012; Chapter 3. Ramírez, J. A.; Berra, A.; Michelini, F.; Galagovsky, L. R; Alche, L. E. A compound showing anti-inflammatory activity and antiviral activity, Pharmaceutical compositions comprising the same, a process for obtaining the same and use of the same in the treatment of epiderminc keratoconjunctivitws and herpetic stromal keratis. 2009. WO 2009/007895 A2. Conceded #8,431,554. 30th April, 2013.

292 Cheng et al.; Jobs, Collaborations, and Women Leaders in the Global Chemistry Enterprise ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2015.

Portrait of a Professional Life: Work, Challenges, and Satisfaction, All

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