STEM Women on Fire
  • Home
  • Meet Our Mentors
    • About Us >
      • Abigail Clark
      • Andrea Polis
      • Anoushka Bose
      • Ashley Smith
      • Aurora Hake
      • Jerrica Li
      • Dina Benayad-Cherif
      • Sydney Guillory
      • Jordan Taylor
      • Rachel Whitman
    • Science >
      • Education >
        • Cecilia Zurita-Lopez
        • Elvira Restrepo
        • Emily Graslie
        • Juliet Baxter
        • Knatokie Ford
        • Megan Riel-Mehan
      • Earth and Space Science >
        • Astronomy >
          • Angela Speck
          • Elena Pierpaoli
          • Laura Trouille
          • Renee James
          • Vicky Kalogera
        • Environmental Studies >
          • Beth Stevens
          • Emily Monosson
          • Lisa Collins
          • Marialyce Pedersen
          • Tara Smith
          • Yarrow Axford
        • Geology >
          • Carol Dewet
          • Julia Farber
        • Oceanography >
          • Ellen Prager
      • Life Science >
        • Animals >
          • Brooke Flammang
          • Florencia Ardon
          • Stacey Tecot
        • Biology >
          • Cara Ocobock
          • DJ Kast
          • Gina Schatteman
          • Julienne Rutherford
        • The Brain >
          • Ann Ragin
          • Edith Chen
          • Emily Rogalski
          • Evie Malaia
          • Jennifer Paluska Yakel
          • Jessica Brommelhoff
          • Jessica Cail
          • Judith Eisen
          • Judy Lytle
          • Julia Mossbridge
          • Karen Wilcox
          • Nina Hsu
          • Rachel Barr
          • Sarah Elliott
          • Tamara Hamai
          • Terrell Hatzilias
        • Molecular and Cellular Biology and Technology >
          • Amy Freeland
          • Dianna Baldwin
          • Jennifer Raff
          • Jessica Tytell
          • Marianne Porter
          • Mira Chaurushiya
          • Sara Florey
        • Food Science >
          • Cathy Kapica
          • Jill Frank
        • Medicine >
          • Ashley Watson
          • Katharina Quinlan
          • Kristen Keefe
          • Melissa Tallman
          • Natalie Yapo
          • Vicki M. Tysseling
      • Physical Science >
        • Physics >
          • Deborah Berebichez
          • Jamie Orr
          • Joanne Cohn
          • Kristine Sigsbee
          • Rebecca Christianson
        • Chemistry >
          • Irit Rappley
          • Luisa T. Molina
          • Syrago-Styliani Petropoulou
          • Susanna Widicus Weaver
    • Technology >
      • Business and Management >
        • Christy Deegan
        • Cindy McShane
        • Debbie Modra
        • Giselle Gorsky
        • Heather Duggin
        • Jackie Maffucci
        • JoAnn Mithchell
        • Kim Brooks
        • Kim Dempsey
        • Kristi Autote
        • Maria Klawe
        • Michelle Henderson
        • Pamela Blanchette
        • Rebekah Morote
        • Rita King
      • Nanotechnology >
        • Melina Blees
      • Robotics >
        • Christine Trinkle
        • Maja Mataric
      • Computer Technology >
        • Allison Miller
        • Carol Vercellino
        • Elizabeth Bagley
        • Emily Moeller
        • Erin Michelle Sky
        • Heather Pritchett
        • Leila Chesloff
    • Engineering >
      • Aerospace Engineering >
        • Jamie Krakover
        • Kelly Alexandar
        • Mamta Patel Nagaraja
        • Natalie Panek
        • Sarah Walker
      • Business and Management >
        • Carol Smith
        • Caroline Graham
        • Chaya Setty
        • Elizabeth Anne Hook
        • Karina Wagner
        • Laura Cuccaro
        • Linda Ziemnick
        • Rachel Reid
        • Randi Myers
        • Regina J. Davis
        • Sarah Escosa
        • Sonya Bird
        • Susan W. Porter
        • Wei Chen
        • Wendy Russell
        • Yolanda Shields
      • Electrical Engineering >
        • Cornelia Clark
        • Laura Elan
        • Lenore Berman
        • LeVette Martin
      • Mechanical Engineering >
        • Laura Rose Semo Scharfman
      • Civil Engineering >
        • Alisha Hartley
      • Human Systems Engineering >
        • Nancy Cooke
      • Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering >
        • Jin Montclare
      • Biomedical Engineering >
        • Annie Simon
      • Structural Engineering >
        • Jennifer Whiteside
    • Math >
      • Aashini Shah
      • Elaine Wilder
      • Meredith Laughlin
  • NEW!!!
  • News
  • Contact Us

Irit Rappley

Interview Posted By: Ashley Smith
Picture
1. Can you tell us a little about your background? i.e. Where you grew up, what education do you have, a summary of your resume, did you always want to do what you are doing now, when did you start to become interested in STEM, what internships/ volunteering 

This is a long one. I grew up in Colorado, went to public school, wanted to study math and computer science. I took some time off between high school and college, and I think this was a very important time in my life that helped me figure out what I wanted to do. Then I went to MIT and double-majored in brain & cognitive science, and linguistics. Going in, I thought I wanted to study how the brain learns language. But when I started really thinking about a career, it was clear to me that I wanted to do something to help people -- and when studying the brain, that means studying brain disorders. As a junior and senior I took classes on how the brain works and what happens when it doesn't work well, and I worked in a research lab that investigated Alzheimer's disease. But it became clear to me that I really wanted to understand WHY people get sick, and so I needed to understand how the cells of the brain work. So for graduate school I chose the Harvard Program in Neuroscience, where I studied molecular cellular neuroscience. I learned a lot and got closer to asking the kinds of questions that I am passionate about, but I was still missing something -- what happens inside the cells. So for my postdoctoral research I went to The Scripps Research Institute and studied protein folding and misfolding. Today I work at a biotech company, developing drugs for cancer. I told you this long story because I want you to see that you don't need to have a master plan when you're 18. What's important is being curious and open and willing to follow that curiosity to new places.


2. What exactly IS your job? What do you do on a day to day basis? 

I help develop drugs for cancer. I work mostly with cells in a dish, treating them with test molecules to see which ones kill cancer cells but not regular cells, or how the molecules work, or other question that are important for drug development.


3. How does STEM relate to your job?How do you use the information you learned from your degree in your job? 

I think I've already answered this -- my whole job IS science!


4. Have you faced any discrimination/ challenges being a woman in a stem field? If so, how did you deal with it? Do you have any advice for up and coming women in STEM?

I don't think I have faced discrimination as a woman in the field. I think we all need to be aware of the biases we face and the biases we hold (some of the worst offenders in terms of discrimination against women are other women). But I don't have any concrete advice.


5. What is the best and worst part of your job? What do you look forward to in your job on a day to day basis? What do you wish you could change? 

I love the feeling that what I am doing today could help someone live longer in just a few years. I also love the challenges of science. Every experiment is a chance to understand something new, if you know how to ask the right questions. 


6. How do you balance your work and personal life? Any secrets or advice you’d like to share? 

The best advice I ever got about work-life balance is this: when you're at home, be 100% at home and don't feel guilty for not being at work. And when you're at work, be 100% at work and don't feel guilty for not being at home. It's not always easy to follow but it's good advice.


7. What do you define success as? 

For me, success is doing what you love -- usually that means more than one thing.


8. What is one personality trait that you think is universally important for a successful career? 

Self-awareness.


9. Who was a mentor to you throughout your career? (can be more than one!) What did they teach you? How did they impact your life? 

I had lots of mentors, men and women. Each taught me something different, but they all helped me become who I am today. The thing about mentors is that (at least for me) you don't know in advance who they're going to be, it's a relationship that develops over time.


10. What do you think is the best advice you've ever received ? What advice would you give your younger self if you had the chance? What’s one piece of advice you can pass on to us? 

See #6 above.

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.