Catherine “Lynn” Hedrick always knew since childhood that she wanted to be a scientist. Twenty years later, Lynn–who has a PhD in biochemistry– studies the relationship between diabetes and heart disease, and recently joined the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology as a faculty member. She’s also married and the proud mother of a seven-year-old boy. Lynn recently chatted with us about what it takes to make it in a male-dominated scientific field. Some of her most important lessons learned?
Be Your Biggest Fan:
“You have to sell yourself, and you can’t expect your supervisor to do it for you. Whenever I got any kind of award, an abstract published, or asked to speak at a conference, I would email or tell my boss immediately. You have to realize that the only person who is going to help you is you. Tell everyone– especially your bosses– how good you are. Tell everyone how good your science. Even here at this level, everything good that happens to me I email to [the director of the institute]. Women tend to have a hard time doing this, and I had to teach myself to do it.”
Network, Network, Network:
“You have to do it and get over being afraid. If you go to a meeting and the big cheese is a 60 year old man, and he makes you nervous, you have to go up to him and introduce yourself and ask him a question. Don’t be afraid to email people [you don't know]. If you are in academic science, you have to network with other scientists and the NIH (National Institutes of Health), and serve on committees.”
Ask for Raises:
“Women still get paid less than men for the same position and part of the reason is because women are less likely to negotiate salary. Even at my level, I had to ask for more money when I came [to my current role at the institute]. [The director of the Institute] gave me an offer, and I said ‘Well, I want X amount’. And he said ‘Oh, OK, fine.’ It wasn’t even that hard! How did I force myself to ask for more? I just told myself, ‘OK, come on, you have to do this!’”
Get Help:
“You cannot do it alone. You have to have some kind of help, either a spouse that is willing to share the load or someone you can hire. My day is also very organized; when I go to work I don’t mess around. Before I had a child, during the workday I used to go and get some coffee, get some lunch, chat a little bit. Now, I get my stuff done, and I get out of here.”
Choose the Right Workplace:
“To have both a family and successful career you have to be organized, plan ahead, and think about your career choices. Do you want to work at a smaller place that will allow you a more flexible schedule or do you want to be at a big university? When you work [as a scientist] at a large university there are few women, you may get asked to do a lot of extra work because they need a woman. [For example], say they have to have a woman and a minority on a certain committee– and you’re the only woman around– so you end up being asked to be on a lot of committees, which are a huge time commitment and it can be hard to say no. Here, if the [director of the institute] asks me to do something and I tell him I can’t because of my kid, he understands.”
Find Mentors:
“I had a couple of good female mentors that were 5-10 years older than me, and I was lucky because they had already been through it. I had these two women to watch and bounce ideas off of, and at least I knew it could be done, and had some semblance of how to do it.”
– Monica May
Photo Credit: Rippee Photography

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