By Farida Khan
Janet Elizabeth Richmond is Professor and current Head of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Unlike many of us, she had no problems in deciding her major in college. From a very young age, she excelled in the STEM fields and continued on a scientific career path. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Neurobiology from the University of Sussex in England, at a time when the Neurobiology field was just starting to get popular. Even before graduating, Dr. Richmond started getting calls from researchers looking for PhD students to join their labs. She decided to pursue her PhD in Neurophysiology at the University of Calgary in Canada. She then conducted post-doctoral work at the University of Hawaii and Iowa State University before taking on Assistant Research Professor roles at Utah State University and University of Utah. Since 2002, Dr. Richmond has been at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the Assistant Professor, Professor, and now, Head of the Department roles.
As Dr. Richmond puts it, her journey in science has been an “around-the-world in 20 years kind of an experience!” But at the end of the day, she is still passionate about her experiments and can still be found at the lab bench doing C. elegans dissections. In addition, she still gets excited about new research findings in the field, funding, grants, and teaching. She’s constantly amazed at the students she interacts with, many of whom are first generation college students, and the amazing stories that they have. One of the most gratifying things for her is watching her graduate students grow and become the independent scientists of tomorrow. “Watching my graduate students becoming my colleagues is really rewarding.”
Dr. Richmond does not feel that she faced any particular roadblocks in her career due to her gender. She feels lucky in that sense because being the lead facilitator of WISEST (Women in Science and Engineering System Transformation), she heard numerous stories of gender inequality and discrimination. From her experience, she feels women tend to be more hesitant or as she calls it “steeped in reality” when it comes to facing challenges. “You have to be tenacious, strong, roll with the punches…” in order to succeed. On a personal level, Dr. Richmond feels that she did not get to spend as much time with her son as she would have liked. He was very young when her career really took off and she missed out on many of his milestones. “Someone else got to see his first tooth come in and his first steps….and that was hard.”
In regards to having a good work/life balance, Dr. Richmond’s advice is “some things have to give!” One needs a strong support system in place, which in her case is her husband Dave, her son, family and friends. She also added that having friends outside of work is very important. Additionally, Dr. Richmond is a runner and admits running is what keeps her sane. “It helps clear my mind and keeps me healthy.” Lastly, she advises that in order to have a good work/life balance, sometimes you just need to “take some time off!”
Finally, Dr. Richmond advises young women who are deciding on a career in science to “seek out good mentors, talk to faculty, talk to peers, and talk to people you admire…get to know them. Let go of disappointments and concentrate on your successes. But most of all, enjoy what you do.”