2024-02-07 16:55:05
Since she was 12, Eugenia Haddad has “always dreamed of becoming a pediatrician”, she wanted to cure and help people. So much so that as a student she “served as a certified rescuer at the Northwestern hospital in Chicago”. However, she says, “it was difficult for me to see the pain of others.” Today, at the age of 30, people help them with research. She is scientist. She was born in Lebanon, she grew up in the USA where she moved as a child, she now lives and works in Italy. Olga Blazevits, 39, originally from Estonia, also dreamed of becoming a doctor as a child. “In my family my father had multiple sclerosis – she explains modestly – at the time medicine was not that advanced. Since I was little I remember that we read scientific articles looking for a possible cure, a treatment. ‘What could I do?’ I asked. And I realized that I wanted to help people be healthy.” Today she does just this, in Milan. He is not a doctor, but a researcher. In Italy she found her scientific dimension, but also love.
Eugenia and Olga are scientists with a suitcase, globetrotters for the love of research. Adnkronos Salute collected their stories. Born abroad, they travelled, accumulated experiences and landed at Ifom, the Institute of Molecular Oncology of the Airc Foundation, in the Lombardy capital. Today they tell their stories, in view of the day that the United Nations dedicates to women and girls in science (Women & Girls in Science Day, 11 February). In the Ifom ‘melting pot’ there are around thirty researchers – 24% of the total number of researchers at the institute – who have chosen these laboratories, Milan and Italy to make their dreams come true. Five come from Lebanon, some from Japan and then France, Estonia, China, Ukraine, India, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, USA, Turkey. Some come from difficult realities, others from very competitive countries. They all describe their paths as made of sacrifices and satisfactions at the same time. And they tell young women who have to enroll at university and who want to undertake a path in STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) not to be afraid of “following the path that they are passionate about”, summarizes Olga.
“Choose what makes you happy to study, work and act every morning for it”, urges the Estonian researcher. “Ask yourself what I want to make a difference in and how I will do it – suggests Eugenia, known as Jenny – Don’t be afraid to take calculated risks and stand your ground when it comes to your beliefs, regardless of how many doubt you. Finally, be open to different opportunities, build self-confidence and stay humble.” At Ifom there are those who are having their first experience outside the country, those who have arrived here with their family, those who have found a second family in the institute’s ‘community’.
Ifom has established an international administrative, intercultural and linguistic reception service aimed at foreign researchers, aimed at supporting them in the critical phases in which they have to face the bureaucratic procedures required to do research and live in Italy. Those who arrive in a new country find themselves catapulted into a system and a culture that are sometimes very different from those of origin. The Service is managed by an ad hoc office, the ‘Welcome Office’, the first point of reference for these researchers and their families, even before their arrival. It follows procedures ranging from authorizations to visas, and also supports them in registering with the National Health Service, opening an account, finding their first accommodation, enrolling any children in school. Olga felt at home here, she says. She graduated in Genetic Engineering at the Tallinn University of Technology, she developed the idea of wanting to do her doctorate abroad and found herself at a crossroads: Sweden or Italy. She wins Florence. “I was very young, I was 24 and obviously it’s not easy for your first experience abroad, and I didn’t even speak Italian”, she recalls. Olga leaves Italy again only for the postdoc which takes her back to the North, all the way to Finland. But then something pushes her back towards our country.
Destination Genoa, where he will have a taste of his future. By coincidence, in 2017 during a seminar she saw live Valter Longo, longevity scientist and father of the ‘fasting mimicking diet’. “I was impressed,” he says. And today she works with him. “You must always have your dream clear, have passion and move forward – he explains – This path is very difficult and complex and sometimes it makes you doubt. You ask yourself if what you are doing is right. But you have to move forward and find your own way “. Is it more difficult for a girl? “Maybe I was lucky, but I didn’t have any problems or obstacles as a female scientist”, replies Olga. In Milan she felt welcomed. “It is here that my husband proposed to me,” she smiles. A lightning love: they met at the end of 2020 and after 6 months they decided to get married. Wedding celebrated in 2022.
“And now the city has become our home in Italy. I love the art and lively cultural scene of Milan. However – she reflects – as a researcher in molecular oncology, I cannot ignore the concerns related to the air quality in Milan, a factor relevant in cancer prevention”. Olga is multifaceted, she dedicates her free time to painting, reading, lately even studying Mandarin. “My work in the Longevity and Cancer Laboratory obviously influences my daily life, applying scientific knowledge to healthy choices. I promote a healthy lifestyle, understanding the importance of nutrition, physical activity and quality sleep in cancer prevention. I introduced my family in Estonia to the use of olive oil,” he smiles again.
Eugenia, after studying Biological Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago and obtaining her master’s degree in Genomics and Health at the Lebanese University of Beirut, went to Montpellier, France, for an internship. Then she stops in Italy, she tells the story. “I learned the language during the Covid lockdown, the Ifom Welcome Office provided online lessons for foreigners. It was hard, but what kept me going is the Italian hospitality and support. I appreciate life in Milan small town, I love sipping an Aperol Spritz on a rooftop at sunset.” The metropolis “has allowed me to build a new hobby that combines art and fashion, and which I use to disconnect a little from the world of science and relax. And I realized that it has helped me become more creative as a learning scientist “. My research? It’s related to changes in the structure of DNA and the different proteins that contribute to these dynamics that can lead to many diseases.” At first, she recalls, “it was difficult for me to adapt. I have had to deal with many cultural differences, working in a research group where many of us come from different cultural backgrounds, from India to Ireland. However, after 4 years, I see this as a positive aspect.”
#Girls #chase #science #dreams