I have my own laboratory. This is a huge milestone for me, and something I never expected actually to be doing. But- things don’t always work out like you expect they will, sometimes they work out to be better. I found that I love having the freedom to think about and work on the scientific questions that interest me and essentially being my own boss.
In my laboratory we study pathogens of the gastrointestinal tract. We are interested in mechanisms of persistence, diarrhea, and we like genetics and genomics. Although I enjoy writing… I love working at the bench. There is nothing quite as gratifying as the experiment that REALLY worked.
Of course- there is so much more to being in an academic position than the interesting scientific questions… and most of it no one teaches you about during your Ph.D. or Postdoctoral training. So, the junior faculty learning curve can be pretty steep! I am very fortunate to have excellent colleagues, collaborators and mentors (and in case you think they were all wonderful, there were a few lesser moments as well, worth reviewing at some point).
Will this work out for me? Will I be successful, get grants, publish enough etc. I have NO IDEA- but I will do the best I can with the tools that I have available to me and hope for the best!
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