Interview with a Principal Investigator (not a vampire)
The following is a parphrasing of the interview:
How did you start? (which turned into a condensed story of how Allison got into and followed genetics into a career)
It began with an early intrest in genetics, beginning in a ninth grade biology class. This intrest then influenced her to apply to North Carolina School of Science and Math. At the time they offered a genetics course (I don't know if they still do), which she took her junior year. Also at Science and Math they had a special projects or focus week, a classmate's dad was a geneticist. For a week Allsion got to job shadow different people in the genetics department at Duke, including a molecular biologist and a genetic councilor. Her senior year she took a mentorship course at NCSSM, where she, using the contacts from the previous year, recieved course credit for working in the genetics field at Duke.
Then began college at UNC Chapel Hill, and she still kept in touch with the Human Genetics at Duke. At Chapel Hill she worked on a project with flies. She had many issues keeping the flies alive, separating the males and females, and often would come home covered in flies. From this Allison decided for sure that this was something she did not want to do, which is really just as important as deciding what it is one wants to do. She moved on to get a PHD at Emory in Atlanta. Here she did both lab or molecular work and statistical analysis. She liked the statistical analysis work the most. Her dissertation was on the Fragile X Syndrome, which is a gene that causes mental retardation.
From here she moved on to working as a post-doc at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She stayed here for a little over a year, and learned a lot about the public health side of genetics, including the ethical, legal and social aspects. But after a year she left to continue the rest of her fellowship at Duke in the Center for Human Genetics (it all just came back full circle). She actually ended up working for the same women who were her mentors during the NCSSM mentor program. During the two and a half years she spent at Duke, she worked on a number of projects including sickle cell disease, autism and neuro muscular disease. Very sadly Marcy passed away in 2007 and Allison inherited her projects, then from here the Healthy Pregnancy study began.
What is your favorite study/what do you like about any of your studies?
It was hard for her to choose which one was the best, much easier it was to choose her least favorite project- the flies mentioned afore. Healthy Preganancy is a very interdisciplinary study. It arose from Allison's intrests in neuro development and the health disparities involved. This disparities also arise from social and enviromental factors, which makes it include a lot more than genetics.
What is the hardest part?
Budgeting. This is because they never trained her for budgeting in grad school, and it's really complicated budgeting. It includes thinking of the projects all together, in short term and long term ways. Lots to think about.
Also she found mentoring a difficult thing, once again because it is not taught. It is really important to teach others and to do it well, communication can be difficult.
If you were not here in science, what would you be?
I would be in the medical field as a pediatrician. If not in the medical field, then teaching. A science teacher for elementary or middle schoolers.
What do you do in your freetime?
Take care of the family mostly. She has two boys Nathan, age 7, and Justin, age 4. Other than that she likes live music and going to the movies. Music includes mostly rock, including Lenny Kravitz, No Doubt, Gwen Stefani, Coldplay, Def Leppord and Journey.
Ever made a mistake?
Allison has an ethanol fire from college and a radioactive spill from grad school under her belt of mishaps. But other than that just little things like mixing up the gels so that the DNA runs off the wrong way.
Is it ever boring?
She doesn't find it boring but she says she'll get stuck a times.
Advice to Highschools/Howard Hughes students/anybody who doesn't know what to do next:
She says that it is most important to try a bunch of different things. Get Exposure! Finding out what it is that you don't want to do is just as important as knowing what you do want to do.
Extra information:
Current funded projects that Allison heads: Neurol Tube Defects, Healthy Pregnancy Study, ADHD, Sickle Cell Disease, Multiple Sclorosis
Unfunded projects: Muscular Dystrophy
Side Physcological projects (which I don't recall if they are funded or not...): Autism, Bio-Polar Disease, Uni-Polar Disease and Schizophrenia
P.S. I realize now that I switched from second and third and first person in my writing of the interview, just kind of ignore that, I think that the idea is clear enough....
