Behind every big woman in science, there is another big woman in science

The number of women who currently enter careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and medicine (STEMM) is developing at a faster rate than that of men. And although women always represent only about 35% of the STEMM workforce, research has shown that they are more likely to excel when they have access to mentoring, support and advice of other women with similar life experiences (see Go.nature.com/416cjkb).

To mark International Women’s Day, held every year on March 8, six previous winners of Nature“S Inspiring Women in Science Award of the Prize Named someone in his own life who deserves recognition of their contributions to research and support for other women in science. The prize, which was launched in 2018 in partnership with Estée Lauder companies, whose headquarters are in New York, is given to people who advance gender equity.

The nominees, whose contributions and characteristics are described in the own words of the winners below, cover the globe and a wide range of career disciplines, looking for everything, from the smallest pathogenic agents to the furthest stars.

They include business founders, thoughtful mentors, mothers, caregivers and a Nobel Prize winner. Their experiences can inspire not only other women in science, but also anyone looking to make Stemm a more welcoming place.

Sharon Peacock

Job: Microbiologist at the University of Cambridge, in the United Kingdom, and director of the COVVI-19 Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK).

Research focus: Sequencing the whole genome in diagnostic microbiology and public health.

Nominated by: 2024 The winner Claire Chewapreecha, computer biologist in the Research Unit on Tropical Medicine of Mahidol Oxford, Bangkok.

CC: Sharon is an inspiring model which, as a person who left the school of 16 years before returning to the academic world, questions the conventional image of a medical scientist. I met Sharon for the first time at the University of Cambridge, in the United Kingdom, when I was undergraduate from a doctorate and then returning to Thailand. She offered me invaluable advice, including how to navigate the complexities of researching research in Thailand and learning to adopt a helicopter vision rather than focusing on individual challenges. She has been my mentor since then, really believing in my ability to succeed.

Women in Sciences

A true pioneer of public health genomics, Sharon has planned the potential transformer of sequencing technologies to combat infectious diseases. When the genomic sequencing was still emerging, it paved the way, establishing a standard for its application in global health. His leadership of the COVVI-19 COVIRS UK Consortium (a group of British university institutions and public health agencies in operation from April 2020 to March 2023) was extraordinary, allowing the United Kingdom to follow the SARS-COV-2 lines with precision, which provided crucial information to the emergence and propagation of variants and to the development of vaccine.

Sharon is a dedicated mentor, inspiring people from all walks of life, including those of low and intermediate income countries, to push the limits and to restore their communities. His journey serves as a powerful recall that talent exists everywhere, but opportunities do not. It inspires me to get the most out of every opportunity I get.

SIERIN LIM

Job: Bioengineer in Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.

Research focus: Biomaterial design and engineering for health and the environment.

Nominated by: Winner of 2023, Hortense Le Ferrand, scientist of materials in NTU, Singapore.

HLF: Sierin Lim has been an active defender for women in Stemm for more than a decade, starting and supervising many programs in our university in addition to his full -time role as an associate teacher. It was only in the past two years, because I started to get involved in planning events and lessons myself, that I have carried out the amount of work, courage and energy that Sierin puts to make these things move.

See how hard she works inspired me to establish a joint workshop between NTU and Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Indiana. Over the past four years, American students have come to our University in Singapore to explore my research goal, Biomimick. This is an excellent opportunity for students to practice intercultural skills and discover a research subject outside of their study program.

In addition to all this, Sierin is also a charming person. She learns French, which requires a lot of time and motivation, and she takes great care of her mother, often returning to Jakarta. Everyone at university knows Sierin, but it deserves a pedestal.

Yoon-Kyoung Cho

Job: Biomedical engineer at the ULSAN National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), South Korea.

Research focus: Diagnostics based on a laboratory, microfluidic and nanomedicine.

Nominated by: Winner of 2021, Kiana Aran, biomedical and bio-engineer entrepreneur at the University of California, San Diego. (In February, Aran also won the first Sony Women in Technology Prizein partnership with Nature.))

KA: Yoon-Kyoung Cho embodies a unique mix of scientific shine, business spirit and calm leadership. I met her for the first time at a conference in China in 2019 when I was a new teacher. At the start, I felt in his place among the main international teachers invited to this little exclusive gathering. She immediately stood out for her warm and encouraging behavior, taking the time to engage with me on her revolutionary research on the centrifugal microfluidic, but also being felt included in discussions in a group of highly accomplished scientists. Our conversation has left a lasting impression. Since then, she has excelled in the academic world and has translated her laboratory technology on a disc in the real world, founding prosperous companies.

It is rare that scientists successfully fill the gap between the academic world and industry, because the mentalities required for each are distinct. Cho’s success in founding companies shows its determination to ensure that research in its laboratory is not only in magazines, but offer a tangible advantage to the company. But what really attracts me is his style of leadership and his true care of the well-being of his trainees. A practice that I consciously adopted by it is the emphasis on the creation of an inclusive and encouraging environment. I try to approach mentorship with the same care and attention, to make sure that my students feel supported in their academic and personal growth.

Ada Yonath

Job: Crystallographer and structural biologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.

Research focus: Chemical and structural biology of ribosomes.

Nominated by: Winner of 2020 Samira Asgari, computer biologist at the Icahn School of Medicine of Mount Sinai, New York.

ITS: I had the privilege of meeting Ada during the Global Young Scientists Summit 2014, held in Singapore. I still remember the way she spoke openly about the personal challenges she was confronted with, her difficulties of funding and the peer skepticism while continuing her revolutionary work on the structure of the ribosome – a discovery which earned her a part of the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2009, with Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas Steitz. It has not coated sugar the realities of the conduct of an ambitious science, nor has not prevented the obstacles which it has overcome. These include being dismissed and even ridiculed by some of his colleagues, the struggle to finance his first research determining the 3D structure, and therefore the mechanics of ribosome; And the pressure that his career has exerted on his personal relationships. The story of ADA is a powerful reminder that resilience and a clear meaning of the objective are essential for walking on new paths as a scientist.

Researchers do not speak enough of how the measure of scientific production has moved to the number of funding that a researcher can obtain at the start of their career and the impact factor of the journals in which we publish. ADA’s research has inspired a brand new field of science which continues to produce significant discoveries today.

Rachel Karchin

Job: IT biologist at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.