by Beth Sefton

“Have you thought about scheduling your next committee meeting?” Dr Margrit Urbanek asks me. She continues, “I always thought that committee meetings were a pain when I was a graduate student. Now I realize how helpful they can be. You should really consider setting one up.”  These kind of thoughtful statements are characteristic of Dr. Margrit Urbanek, an influential woman in my graduate studies. I first met Margrit when I spent the summer working in her lab at Northwestern University prior to beginning my graduate program and she continues to be involved in my research by serving on my thesis committee. I recently spoke with her about how she became interested in science, and the challenges she has faced in securing her position at Northwestern.

Dr. Margrit Urbanek’s interest in genetics began at a young age, while she was attempting to learn English as a second language. Her family had relocated to the United States from Switzerland when she was in the fourth grade. While learning English she read many books, some of which had stories about Native American culture. These stories made her think about how people migrate and establish new cultures. This joint interest in genetics and anthropology continued into college – in fact, when she was at Pennsylvania State University she debated between undergraduate majors in biology or anthropology. She found a compromise in majoring in biochemistry while taking a large number of elective in anthropology, allowing her to begin her career as a scientist without giving up her intellectual curiosity in cultural development.

For her doctorate thesis, Margrit studied growth hormone receptor expression in human placentas with Dr. Stephen Liebhaber. After receiving her doctoral degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993, Margrit looked for a post-doctoral position that would allow her to unite her interests in genetics and Native American ancestry. At the National Institutes of Health (NIH), she worked on one project that focused on the population substructure of Native American populations of the American Southwest, as well as a second project dealing with the genetics of alcoholism. After being exposed to the genetics of human disease at the NIH, Margrit returned to the University of Pennsylvania to complete a second post-doctoral position, this time focusing on the genetics of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

After her second post-doctoral position, Margit began searching for tenure track positions in academia. Her search was complicated by the fact that her husband, Dr. Greg Smith was also looking for an academic position in virology. Fortunately for them, Northwestern University was conducting faculty searches for both a geneticist and a virologist, and they both managed to secure tenure track positions at Northwestern University’s Chicago campus in 2001. Margrit feels that they were able to do so because both she and her husband were on a similar time frame, and each was worthy of a position independent of the other, both of which she realizes were important factors in their hiring.

Newly tenured at Northwestern University, Margrit is enjoying her life as an academic principle investigator. While her interest in human disease may have made her a good candidate for jobs in industry, she feels she can experience more scientific freedom in academia than she would have in industry. Margrit feels that the study of genetics can often lead to surprises, since the “next gene or pathway associated with a condition can be unexpected”. Margrit is happy that when such discoveries occur, she appreciates the collaborations that can develop across broad disciplines and finds that she always has colleagues to consult with. In addition, Margrit enjoys mentoring young scientists, while learning new ideas from her mentees. She equated the graduation of her first graduate student to the “bittersweet feeling of having a child leave for college”. However, academic life is not without its drawbacks. According to Margit, “The largest disadvantage of academic institutions is securing funding.” While she enjoys the process of writing grants, as she feels it helps to “focus her thinking”, she finds it stressful that both her career, and that of her lab personnel depend on successful grant applications.

While being a woman in science has not presented Margrit with any particular challenges, she has found herself as “the only woman in the room,” highlighting a lack of women scientists. Even though Margrit believes that striking a balance between work and home life is an ongoing challenge for women and men, she does see differences between the ways men and women handle such situations. From her experiences, she believes that women will not push for higher level professional positions because they believe that such positions may compromise their abilities to attend to family matters. She has also found that men and women approach professional issues differently- while women tend not to ask for items that they need on a basic level, many men will not think twice about addressing the same issue. She thinks this stems from a tendency in women to deal with the issues at hand, rather than ask for assistance from others.  She remembers, “When I grew out of my current lab space, I did not even think to ask for more.” She encourages parents and educators to teach young women how to ask for what they need.

When asked what advice she would give to young women scientists interested in academia, Margrit thinks the most important thing is that they work to gain confidence to apply for tenure track positions. While the landmarks required for tenure may seem intimidating at first, it is really just a series of steps that can be addressed systematically. However, if a scientist is afraid to start taking those steps, she can never succeed professionally. Having the confidence to take the first step, and then the next, is the key to achieving one’s goals. In Margit’s opinion, “Women just need to go for it!”

Nomination and article submitted by AWIS Chicago Staff Writer Beth Sefton.  Ms. Sefton is a PhD candidate at Northwestern University.

Know a scientist you think should be featured in an upcoming “Scientist of the Month” article?  Send nominations to communications@awis-chicago.org. Your nominee does not need to be an AWIS member or a woman, but should promote the advancement of women in science, technology, mathematics and engineering.

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