Name: Shalena Naidoo
Role/Occupation: PhD Candidate, Stellenbosch University/HIV Paediatric Researcher
Country: South Africa
Shalena Naidoo is an HIV immunology scientist and a PhD candidate, currently in the final year of my PhD degree titled A Longitudinal Perspective on the Impact of Immune Status on the HIV-1 Latent Reservoir and Neurocognitive Outcomes in Virologically Supressed Children.
She describes the life of an experimental scientist as unpredictable, “what is unknown is seemingly more interesting than what is known for a scientist, therefore most days serve as moments of discovery… Most times, research outcomes show interesting patterns that hold so much value. We learn by connecting the dots and then translating this to what it means for the field of health science and the patient.”
Naidoo was a child with an enquiring mind and an instilled sense to understand and help others, “I always loved the scientific approach because it develops a critical mind. For me, it was obvious as early as my high school years that I was going to be a scientist,” she recalls. Naidoo went on to completed a BSc degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at Stellenbosch University; followed by Honours and Masters degrees in the field of immunology with the focus on HIV infection in children at the Faculty of Medicine and Heath Sciences. These postgraduate degrees primarily focused on vaccine responses in HIV exposed uninfected infants and stands out as one of the first and main studies geared towards studying the effects of in utero HIV exposure in South African children.
Naidoo feels that as a scientist one can discover and learn something new, while also generating important knowledge, “it is exciting to know that you are contributing to something that has the ability to change the world and relieve the burden of disease and save lives.”
Naidoo describes her experience as a female in STEM as both positive and negative. The positive aspect is being able to partake in a critical era of transformation where women are being recognised for their role in science and also have a platform to communicate their research. Another positive would have to be connecting and forming networks with key role players across the world with the same research aim and vision for solving global health problems, “these networks have allowed me to expand my thinking, improve networking skills and further my expertise,” she explains.
The negatives she believes are the lack of connection, guidance and mentorship from other female counterparts in STEM. Female researchers have similar experiences but they “remain isolated within [their] research groups without cross pollination of thought and support... We should learn more from each other and motivate each other to achieve the unthinkable,” she elaborates. Being a woman in STEM really excites Naidoo as she’s able to contribute “to closing the gender gaps that exists within [her] field of work and [to] bring a different perspective to the field of HIV science.” She also hopes to promote, encourage, mentor and engage inspiring young females. This drives her sense of contribution, “If every day you can feel that what you do adds something not only to your own life but to others as well then life takes on a new and deeper sense of meaning,” she elaborates.
Naidoo’s advice to young women aspiring to enter STEM is to “be clear about your vision and mission and stay connected to your purpose every single day. Write down your goals and keep looking at it… Create a fresh vision board every month.” She feels at being subjected to critique is a given considering the nature of STEM and that young women should not become disheartened or demotivated because of it, “every set-back is designed to shape you and propel you forward to greater heights… There will be days when you will feel the burnout and you will feel the need to quit, please do not. Remember that nothing worth having comes easy. Learn to rest, not to quit.”
Naidoo has a positive outlook with regards to the future of women and STEM in the continent as it sits at the crossroads of progression, “Africa boasts beauty in its potential in what it has to offer the world and in itself has a number of unique challenges largely related to health burdens.” She holds a similar of women, “I think the lens in which women view the world is quite different and in a large sense quite powerful. Our perspectives, approaches and sense of understanding and connecting is quite unique,” she elaborates. “Africa would greatly benefit from women in science who are able approach these challenges with novel advancements in scientific fields… With different ideas come better solutions and novel thinking that can interchange scientific innovation forward and benefit the whole of Africa,” Naidoo further explains.
Naidoo has had a number of key milestones in her career thus far such as being involved in an international laboratory exchange collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, USA where she learnt the technique of isolating the HIV replicating virus; attending her first international conference, the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) was held in Seattle where she received the Young Investigator’s Scholarship Award. And last year, Naidoo received two major awards for her research, the Dominque Dormont Award presented by Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (Nobel Prize Winner and Discover of the HI virus) at the AIDS 2018 Conference, followed by the L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science (FWIS) Sub-Saharan Regional Fellowship award.
She feels that time management is crucial to creating and maintaining a work-life balance. She also believes that eating healthy and exercising is important to create the mind-body balance and highlights the importance of mental health and the occurrence of “Imposter Syndrome” which plagues many researchers. Her advice is to “take sufficient mental breaks and create rewards as you progress through your timelines – rewarding yourself is key and serves as an added push towards achieving them!”
Read more about scientist, Shalena Naidoo, whose experiments have won awards and hearts in an insightful interview below.
Shalena Naidoo was interviewed by Dhruti Dheda, the founder of the African Steminist on behalf of Geeky Girl Reality. The full interview can be found here.
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