I’m very good at doing lots of things, and I’m very bad at doing nothing. For the past decade, my recurring pattern is filling my schedule to the brim, coasting off adrenaline and dopamine, and appearing to be wildly productive – and then crashing. After these semi-annual crashes, which look like an odd fight or […]
Today, I turn 29. Depending on whom I ask, I’m ancient or just getting started. Someone may find me remarkably accomplished for my age, while another person will point out that I’m behind on starting a family. Everything is relative. Out on a run a few years ago, I realized that it’s pointless to […]
In the span of two weeks, I went from a financially-challenged academic researcher living solo to a professional landlord living with her partner. I gained a tenant, a commute, a fancy job title (with perks like the company card), and a permanent bedfellow. While I’ve enjoyed flying up the professional totem pole, I have certainly endured […]
Though today is the last day I’ll be in an academic research lab and will soon start my first ‘real job‘ that won’t involve labwork, I very much value my 10 years of laboratory experiences. I’ll miss the little day-to-day moments in a lab. I’ll miss the satisfying snap of ejecting a pipet tip and its subsequent clink […]
As a lifelong scientist and relentless achiever, I’ve prided myself on my rationality and have actively worked to execute logically and efficiently. Yet, when my rationality is derailed, I have the most interesting, memorable, and vivid experiences. Operating irrationally makes me more generous, empathetic, creative, and vulnerable, enabling meaningful human connections. Right when I had locked in […]
While most pregnancy nutritional advice goes towards women, some fascinating recent research shows that fathers’ diets plays a role in their babies’ health and metabolism. In the beautifully-titled recent Cell article, Paternal Diet Defines Offspring Chromatin State and Intergenerational Obesity, researchers elegantly show that the foods males eat change their DNA and can cause their children […]
Small hinges swing big doors. Some of the tiniest habits, outlined below, have profoundly benefited my health (both mental and physical!), happiness, and productivity: Upon waking, I take 5 deep breaths and think of 5 things for which I’m grateful. Few things are better than your health/happiness than gratitude and starting your day in a […]
Right when I was experiencing my non-academic identity crisis, my PhD advisor, Tarek, told me that the Biomedical Engineering (BME) Chair had asked if I’d be interested in a potential job opportunity at Yale’s Center for Biomedical and Interventional Technology (CBIT), which he had co-founded. CBIT, which connects Yale’s Medical School, hospital, School of Management, and Engineering […]
As an overachiever and recovering perfectionist, I prided myself on the fact that I never quit. ‘Quitters never win, and winners never quit‘ is a familiar mantra that I’ve used to push through physical, emotional, and spiritual pains. I keep my promises, honor my commitments, sprint through finish lines, and stay on schedule. The very word […]
I’m psyched that this Science Pants collection depicts the process of immune tolerance, a task that kept me busy for several years during my PhD! My sister Jacqueline made this pattern using images I acquired from a confocal microscope; in these images, we see peanut-allergic Dendritic Cells, which are very important immune messenger cells, happily gobbling up red […]