Women's History Month: Spotlight IICD Scientists

By
Lorenza Favrot
March 01, 2022

In honor of Women’s History Month, we are highlighting the outstanding scientists who are part of IICD. They share about their journey in STEM, the challenges they encounter, and their proudest achievements. Follow @cancer_dynamics on Twitter and Instagram. Interviews are released every week throughout the month of March.

Headshot of Elham Azizi

1. Tell us about your background/career path.

My career started in electrical engineering (signal processing) and I moved to statistical machine learning and computational biology during my graduate studies. Fascinated by the complexity of genomic data in cancer, I focused on building machine learning methods for analyzing single-cell resolution genomic data from cancer patients during my postdoctoral training. Currently, my lab continues the direction of combining innovative machine learning and cutting-edge genomics and imaging to unravel the dynamics and interactions between cancer cells and immune cells directly in patient tumor samples. Our goal is to understand the underpinnings of anti-tumor immunity and cancer progression.  

2. What inspired you to pursue a career in STEM?

I was always curious about how physical and natural systems work, but also loved the elegance and power of abstraction in mathematical modeling and systems identification approaches in engineering. During my graduate studies, I sought to find a field that combines these concepts motivated by improving human health and the potential to save lives. I came to realize, however, that modeling complex biological systems is not as straightforward, but with the rapid growth in scale and dimension of genomic data, we have the incredible opportunity to leverage machine learning and statistics for this purpose. 

3. What challenges did you encounter, and how did you overcome them?

Changing fields and creating my own path in graduate school was very exciting but also intimidating at the beginning. I was fortunate to have fantastic advisors and a great support network, especially my husband who has always encouraged me to be bold, explore the unknown, and find creative solutions. 

Another constant challenge has been dealing with usually unintentional biases and microaggressions in particular in male-dominated fields such as engineering. Finding good mentors has been instrumental in overcoming these challenges and building confidence.

4. What achievement(s)/milestone(s) are you the proudest, career-wise or in your personal life?

I am most proud of the extremely talented and hard-working students that I was very fortunate to recruit to my lab. It is incredible to watch how they take raw ideas and blend them with their own creativity to find extraordinary solutions.

5. Do/did you have any role model(s)?

My postdoc mentor Dana Pe’er, a pioneer and leader in the field of computational biology, has largely influenced my path. Also Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to win the mathematics Fields Medal has greatly inspired me. Her photo hanging on the alumni wall of our high school was a reminder that anything is possible with curiosity and persistence.

6. Would you have any advice for young women who consider pursuing a career in STEM?

Do not be afraid to explore new fields, and find good mentors and role models to guide you in mapping your career trajectory!

Headshot of Poly Hannah Da Silva

1. Tell us about your background/career path.

My background is in Mathematics and its applications in various problems in biology. During my master I studied some problems in genome rearrangements and phylogeny reconstruction using discrete math and combinatorics. Later on, in my PhD, I started working on probabilistic models and methods both in genomics and population genetics. Now I’m trying to apply all these methods to cancer evolution.

2. What inspired you to pursue a career in STEM?

There is a sort of magic in mathematics that makes it very exciting. I think many people, even those who are not really fans of mathematics, feel happy after solving a mathematical problem. When I was younger, mathematics always was intriguing to me. It was quite fun to think about math problems. So from the very beginning, I got really excited to become a researcher, especially after I realized that mathematics can be applied and be useful in a wide range of real life problems, such as in biology and science, finance, engineering and much more.

3. What challenges did you encounter, and how did you overcome them?

In general, scientific life can be very challenging. Scientists should always be hard working and persistent to solve and overcome scientific obstacles in their research. Usually, important results in science and in particular mathematics are discovered after a huge amount of effort.


4. What achievement(s)/milestone(s) are you the proudest, career-wise or in your personal life?

I can’t name any particular one that I’m the proudest for, but I feel glad anytime I understand and discover something that I didn't know before, especially when any of my contributions, even if relatively small, might be useful for science and society.

5. Would you have any advice for young women who consider pursuing a career in STEM?

I think that the most important advice to them is to pursue their scientific goals, work hard and try to think deeply and independently about questions and problems, without being tired. Having passion is quite important in any profession and career, especially in scientific research. Being passionate and motivated, scientists can overcome different challenges in their work. 

Headshot of Joy Fan

1. Tell us about your background/career path.

My background consists of a mix of experimental biology and machine learning, with more of a focus on the latter since coming to Columbia. It's been my goal to bring cutting-edge statistical and computational tools into the field of cancer research! 

2. What inspired you to pursue a career in STEM?

I've always had great encouragement from my parents to pursue STEM, and I discovered my own interest in it during a lab class in high school. The thrill of making new discoveries (however small) was very exciting, and I knew that I wanted to continue doing so with the end goal of helping others. 

3. What challenges did you encounter, and how did you overcome them?

It has been challenging to find people within the field who really understand why computational methods are just as important as biological ones. That's why I feel so lucky to be a part of the Azizi lab! It's also been challenging to catch up on all the statistical and computational methods that my peers in computer science were already well familiar with, but that's a challenge I enjoy!

4. What achievement(s)/milestone(s) are you the proudest, career-wise or in your personal life?

My first submission to a major journal was definitely a proud moment. It was awesome to see everything come together, and to have had the experience of working with such an amazing team. 

5. Do/did you have any role model(s)?

My research advisor, Dr. Elham Azizi, is my biggest role model. She embodies what I hope to become at the end of my graduate studies: a true expert in both biological and computational methods. She is the person who first showed me that such a balance is possible, and her devotion to transforming the biomedical field into one that includes computation is what inspires me to continue pushing for that myself. She's also just an incredibly kind and supportive person who truly cares about the well-being of those around her!

6. Would you have any advice for young women who consider pursuing a career in STEM?

For any young women interested in STEM, I would say to just believe in yourself and go for it! And don't panic if it seems like there's not an established path in the field that suits your interests--that could just be a sign that you get to forge your own.

Headshot of Siyu He

1. Tell us about your background/career path.

I am currently a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the BME department and am jointly mentored by Dr. Kam Leong and Dr. Elham Azizi. My research interests are applying machine learning and single-cell genomic technologies to tissue engineering and cancer dynamics, and to understand the genetic lesion and developmental dynamics of engineered organs, as well as interactions among stem cells and cancer cells. Before my doctoral training, I completed my undergraduate major in physics at Xian Jiaotong University in China, and I have participated in research about astrophysics, quantum optics, and biophysics in some places, such as Texas A&M, MIT, and Harvard. I gradually developed an interest in bioengineering. My career goal is to be an independent researcher in the intersection of tissue engineering and machine learning.

2. What inspired you to pursue a career in STEM?

My high school physics teacher Mr. Ce Sun has impacted me a lot. He inspired my curiosity and confidence in the world of science. I was fascinated by the simplicity and power of physics since it embraces the order of nature with concise theorems. After entering college, I quickly realized the many laws in physics didn't work well when encountering biology as a complex system, and I got attracted by the feeling of unraveling the mysteries in biology and applying them to biomedical applications, especially with a quantitative perspective. During undergraduate and graduate training, I got a lot of support from the school and advisors, and I also met lots of brilliant people who are also enthusiastic about science. I really enjoyed working with them and thus am devoted to pursuing a career in science.

3. What challenges did you encounter, and how did you overcome them?

I would sometimes get stereotypes from the community. When I was in college, there were only four girls in my program majoring in physics. Our abilities were commonly doubted by others. I usually ignored those stereotypes and focused on myself. Other challenges I currently encounter are balancing the time of doing different types of research and being an expert on both computational and experimental aspects. To overcome that, I would make plans ahead, and I would force myself to talk to people on both sides.  

4. What achievement(s)/milestone(s) are you the proudest, career-wise or in your personal life?

My curiosity and passion for science never faded.

5. Do/did you have any role model(s)?

Yes, I have many role models and most of them are great female scientists in a wide range of science, such as Dr. Marie Curie, Dr. Youyou Tu, Dr. Fei-Fei Li. And luckily, I am advised by one of my role models, Dr. Elham Azizi, and able to work with her closely.

6. Would you have any advice for young women who consider pursuing a career in STEM?

I would suggest young women interested in working in STEM to believe in themselves, consistently self-improvement, and always get busy. Meanwhile, expose yourself to the circumstances with STEM as much as you can.

Headshot of Yining Liu

1. Tell us about your background/career path.

My undergraduate study is in mathematics, and I am currently a PhD student in computer science. I became interested in computational biology research when I interned in Nir Yosef's lab while I was a sophomore in college. 

2. What inspired you to pursue a career in STEM?

Towards the end of my undergraduate studies, I got interested in the applications of topology and geometry. Since I have always been interested in science, I became fascinated by the recent research on analyzing biological data using topology and geometry. 

3. What challenges did you encounter, and how did you overcome them?

I initially wanted to pursue a PhD in mathematics, and the decision of pursuing a PhD in computer science/computational biology was a tough decision. I am grateful for the encouragement from my friends, family, and mentors that supported me to make the switch. 

4. What achievement(s)/milestone(s) are you the proudest, career-wise or in your personal life? 

I am the proudest about being able to find a good balance between research, teaching, hobbies, family, and friends. 

5. Do/did you have any role model(s)?

My advisors are two of my role models. Their dedication towards science and wide range of knowledge always inspires me to become a better person. 

6. Would you have any advice for young women who consider pursuing a career in STEM?

Keep pursuing your interests and careers that you find to be valuable! 

 

Headshot of Cameron Park

1. Tell us about your background/career path.

I grew up in Walpole, MA, a small town outside of Boston. Before Columbia, I went to Stanford for college and double majored in physics and human biology. I also played on the varsity women's lacrosse team, and we were Pac-12 champions my senior year! Upon graduating, I stayed for two years for my master's degree in Bioengineering, and worked in Irving Weissman's lab studying stem cells in the brain. Fun fact, I have a twin sister! (and we are polar opposites).

2. What inspired you to pursue a career in STEM?

I have always loved science. For the longest time, I thought I would have a career in physics. I loved space and learning about planets. In college I realized I wanted to pursue a field that could be applied more immediately to actually improving people's lives. For me, the draw to biomedical engineering really stems from the impact our research can have. It is such an interdisciplinary and creative field, and I really love that we get to work on problems in cancer biology from so many different angles. 

3. What challenges did you encounter, and how did you overcome them?

My PhD process was a big challenge for me. I did not have extensive research experience (playing lacrosse in college did not leave much time for anything else), and I found it hard to find a program that would be willing to take a chance on me. I believed I was a good candidate, but it was hard to show that on a resume, and I faced a lot of rejections. I look back on that now, and it really could not have worked out better and I am so grateful to be a part of such a great lab with so many brilliant students. The struggle of the application process makes me appreciate where I am now. 

4. What achievement(s)/milestone(s) are you the proudest, career-wise or in your personal life?

Career-wise, I am proud of my double major in college (one of <30 double majors in my graduating class) and currently really proud of getting to be in Elham's lab and how much I have learned throughout my PhD! In my personal life my proudest achievements include walking onto the lacrosse team my freshman year of college, finishing 4 years of Division 1 lacrosse, running a trail marathon on my 24th birthday, and completing a half ironman this past December.

5. Do/did you have any role model(s)?

I’ve actually been very lucky to have lots of female leaders in my life. My lacrosse coach in college was female, as were our trainers. During my master's, I worked for a female MD-PhD student. And now, I get to work in a lab led by an incredible female PI. Elham is a great role model, and I am grateful that I can learn from her. It is pretty special to have so many women to look up to and learn from. Most of all, my biggest role models would be my parents, who have been a rock in my life and taught me to work hard, believe in myself, and have supported me throughout my entire academic journey.

6. Would you have any advice for young women who consider pursuing a career in STEM?

Go for it. Regardless of how hard it is or whether other people think you can do it. If it is important to you, don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it. 

headshot of Edith Zhang

1. Tell us about your background/career path.

I was a math major at UVA. I'd done some research relating to group theory, and helped a professor with some simulations of random dynamics. At Columbia I have done work relating to variational inference, a statistical inference method, and am now working in the intersection of geometry, probability and partial differential equations. I'm not sure about the future but would like to continue researching. 

2. What inspired you to pursue a career in STEM?

I like learning. I jumped between different majors until I settled on math in my junior year at UVA. With this short amount of time, I still didn't feel that I understood what math really was. I had heard an analogy that goes "math is like basketball, except that for years, you can only do drills and workouts without playing the game. When you're finally good enough to play the game is when it becomes fun." So I decided to stick with it and find out what the fun was like. 

3. What challenges did you encounter, and how did you overcome them?

I hit challenges every day and am still learning how to overcome mathematical blockedness. I'm discovering that I like having two projects at once, and switching between them regularly keeps me fresh. 

4. What achievement(s)/milestone(s) are you the proudest, career-wise or in your personal life?

I can't think of a single achievement or milestone, but I'm proud of my persistence and durability.

5. Do/did you have any role model(s)?

I greatly admire the mathematician Ken Ono (who joined UVA right as I left). He and I were both not very motivated students early on and late bloomers in our mathematical careers, as well as avid cyclists. I like that he carves his own path and has priorities other than mathematical prestige.

6. Would you have any advice for young women who consider pursuing a career in STEM?

Do it, don't be afraid to ask silly questions, and don't be apologetic about it.