Alberta Innovates- Health Solutions

Traditionally, science has been seen as a male-dominated field.

But up-and-coming female scientists like Dr. Heather Fraser and Dr. Michelle Arnot are helping to change this perception. Not only are the two AHFMR-supported students pursuing their own careers, they are acting as mentors in a program that exposes girls and young women to non-traditional opportunities in science. "I think it's important for young women to see women who have chosen science as a career and followed it through," Dr. Fraser explains. "To see that there are options out there, and that they can be scientists and still have normal lives."

Between them, Dr. Fraser and Dr. Arnot have participated for four years in the WISEST (Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science, and Technology) program at the University of Alberta. WISEST runs three highly successful programs that give young women the chance to see the possibilities a career in science can hold. The two scientists have teamed up several times for classroom lab activities with the WISEST programs and on their own. The subject matter has been a variety of science topics including how drugs work on the body. Individually, they've participated in CHOICES (a WISEST program for Grade 6 girls), SET (a WISEST program for high school girls) and/or sat on panels of female science professionals convened as part of WISEST's summer student program.

"I think the best part of working with young girls is showing them that there is more to life out there than what they've been exposed to," Dr. Fraser comments. "They don't have to go into traditional 'female' jobs. They can do whatever they want. And if they work hard, they can be successful at it, no matter what they choose to do."

Dr. Fraser knows of what she speaks. So far, she's earned herself a bachelor of science degree in zoology from the University of British Columbia, and a master's degree in pharmacology from the University of Montana. The Cold Lake native received her Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Alberta this fall. She just finished research into how certain drugs might help people with heart disease. Now the 30-year-old will head to the prestigious Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland to work as an AHFMR-supported postdoctoral fellow. She'll continue to investigate heart disease and learn new techniques that she plans to eventually bring back to Canada.

Dr. Michelle Arnot's fledgling science career has already taken the 26-year-old in a new direction. The St. Albert native recently left her Edmonton lab and research which examined the effects on patient tolerance to certain drugs to work for the Science Alberta Foundation, a community-based science outreach program in Calgary. Her new job is a good example of the many career paths science offers, she says.

Dr. Arnot holds a bachelor of science honours degree in life sciences from Queen's University, and a doctorate in pharmacology from the U of A.

Pharmacology-the science that deals with the effects and use of drugs-is not an area at first seen by students to have career potential, Dr. Arnot says. "They always think, 'Medicine, medicine, medicine.' Do you know how many students start out in first-year university saying, 'I am going to be a doctor'? And how many actually end up being a doctor? And how many have to find other paths, or want to find other paths?" Exploring every option is one message Dr. Arnot and Dr. Fraser hope the students they mentor will put into practice. "We want to provide them with an opportunity to investigate other career choices and to help them see that they have the choice to do whatever they want to do," Dr. Fraser says.

Drs. Arnot and Fraser were students in the Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine and Oral Health Sciences at the U of A. They wish to acknowledge the tremendous support from the department and their supervisors Dr. Ian Martin, Dr. Alan Bateson, and Dr. Sandy Clanachan.

Dr. Heather Fraser is an AHFMR Postdoctoral Fellow.

Dr. Michelle Arnot has received support for her research through an AHFMR studentship.

For more information on pharmacology, check the following website: http://www.pmcol.ualberta.ca/

For more information on the Science Alberta Foundation, check the following website: http://www.freenet.calgary.ab.ca/saf/home.php