From the Bench: Four Asian Scientists Share Their Career Journey

A conversation with four women about the many hurdles--cultural, academic and societal--to achieve their dreams. 

Smitha Gawde, PhD, Mumbai, India 

Growing up in India, Smitha Gawde always understood in her family that medicine was the career path chosen for girls (for boys it was engineering.) Problem was, Smitha wasn’t entirely sold on being a doctor, so when she did not qualify for medical college, she considered it a bit of a blessing. The backup choice for girls like herself in her family was college professor, and there Smitha found a somewhat better fit. She studied zoology and specialized in genetics, but it was a story about a child flown to India to repair a hole in their heart, that fixated Smitha on developmental genetics and ultimately her PhD research.

“Back in 2002, genetics was still a new thing in Mysore, Karnataka, India,” recalls Smitha. “I managed to convince my father to let me quit my professor’s job and, thanks to my mom’s urging, did a PhD in Human Genetics.” Smitha went on to earn a doctoral degree in human genetics from the University of Mysore in 2006—when she also met her husband--followed by a post-doc at the Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center where she was able to work with specialists studying genetic diseases of the heart.

Back in India, Smitha took a break from work to take care of her son, Neil, but she continued scientific writing on the side. One day, when she was researching the bacterial cause of a disease, Charles River’s page came up in her Google search. She discovered they had a presence in India, and a lab manager’s position open. This month marks Smitha’s ninth year with the company.

Smitha considers herself fortunate to have settled on a career path she loves, and a job that inspires her. But she thinks more can be done in India to encourage and support women. “The majority of women do get a master’s degree, but they drop out of the workforce because of marital issues—children, in-laws and parents,” says Smitha. “Maybe organizations should create enabling structures, flexible work hours that prevent women from leaving the workforce. Highly-educated women are sitting at home.”

Smitha counts as her heroes Charles Darwin, Jane Goodall, and the English chemist Rosalind Franklin whose work helped lead researchers to the structure of DNA, and she is clearly passionate about genetics. Yet, her Charles River moment turns to rare diseases, perhaps thinking back to her own early research days looking into heart defects in children. “I’m so proud of the company’s commitment to create end-to-end platforms to build therapies for rare diseases.”

Emily Cheah, PhD, Singapore 

For Emily Cheah science has been a way to assuage her insatiable curiosity, her propensity to always have more questions than answers. So, when she decided to be a pharmacist like her father, her career did not stop there. She journeyed down many other paths, too, from pharmacy practice, manufacturing, research, teaching and presently operational management. One senses there is probably more exploring to do.

Emily, who was raised in Malaysia, is based in Singapore. After obtaining her PhD in Pharmaceutical Technology from National University of Singapore, she went to work at BRASS, a contract lab in Singapore and distributor for Charles River’s Endosafe® line of endotoxin test reagents, working her way up to General Manager. Charles River acquired BRASS in 2013, and today Emily is Senior Managing Director Singapore and APAC Technical Operations Lead.

“I enjoy how different perspectives and different fields can provide sources of inspiration and present different ways to approach a given problem,” says Emily. “This is one of the reasons why we need a multi-disciplinary approach and diversity in science. Charles River placing more emphasis in DE&I awareness and initiatives is a step in the right direction. Diversity provides the fertile soil for new ideas to spring forth.”

As a young girl in Malaysia, Emily certainly had her father as a role model, but Asian female science heroes were poorly publicized leaving her few role models as a standard to follow. “This was something that was missing but I’m glad there is a lot more emphasis these days in encouraging girls to take up STEM careers and recognizing talent regardless of gender,” says Emily. “Strong role models that redefine the status quo would encourage and inspire the next generation of leaders.”

Indeed, Emily’s science hero is FDA reviewer Frances Oldham Kelsey, who under different circumstances might have only been known to her agency colleagues and the clients whose applications she reviewed. But in the 1960s, Frances resisted pressure to approve the sedative thalidomide, that was being given to pregnant women in some European countries to treat their morning sickness. Frances refused to approve the application because she thought there was inadequate evidence of the drug’s safety. The drug was eventually found to cause severe birth defects in children and banned in Germany and the UK. “She was willing to take a stand against inadequate testing, despite mounting pressure,” says Emily.

Emily was privileged to learn from women leaders who worked in the predominantly male fields of logistics and IT. She says more needs to be done to increase representation of Asians in science, and more access to role models and mentors, regardless of gender.

What brings her satisfaction working for Charles River is watching people develop and playing a role in their development. “I am proud of how we work with teams across the globe to help our customers solve their problems.”

Parampal Deol, PhD, MBA, Charleston, SC

As a student growing up in India, it wasn’t long before Parampal Deol knew what excited her about science and it was not endless pipetting and chemicals. She was enamored with the microorganisms that couldn’t be seen with the naked eye, but that had an outsized impact on nature, from an obscure virus like SARS-CoV-2, to fungi like the common old Cladosporium that pops up in laboratory cleanrooms.

When her roommate in boarding school developed tuberculosis and was treated with a grueling nine-month course of antibiotics, she became interested in clinical microbiology and its role in public health. After completing a PhD from PGIMER, Chandigarh, Punjab focused on TB and drug delivery systems, she did a post-doc in India to learn more about genetics of TB bacteria. She moved to US as a post doc at the University of Rochester to study Immunology. “My motivation through it all was ‘How can I make a difference in people’s lives through science… that has been my driver to switch from academia to industry where you apply your knowledge for product development,” says Parampal.

Early in her Industry career, Parampal was hired by bioMérieux, a global leader in in vitro diagnostics, to improve their TB products; she eventually worked her way up to Senior Director of R&D Microbiology in North America. She eventually became bored because even though she was working on products and the microbes that fascinated her, the repetitive nature of the work had worn thin. She left to join a smaller company and then, in 2020, with the pandemic rapidly unfolding, she joined Charles River, working on its products such as Endosafe®, Celsis® and Accugenix®. The lifelong biologist was now working “across the aisle” with endotoxins and team of chemists, engineers in addition to biologists and loving it.

While her career has been an upward trajectory, Parampal has struggled, both as a woman and as an Asian woman. “India is a very male dominated society, and it is difficult for women to excel in every field,” said Parampal. “Entering an industrial job is difficult for a woman.” When she emigrated to the US she faced different challenges. Being from a different culture, with different customs and a different language, meant she wasn’t always immediately accepted. “Throughout my career, being a woman and having colleagues who were male, I had to work much harder to prove my worth,” says Parampal. “When I see women at a high level, I have such great respect for them, because I know how hard you must work in this business to excel.”

In fact, one of the reasons she is most proud of working at Charles River and which has inspired her the most, are the number of women in high-level executive positions. “I have gained so much respect for Jim Foster [Charles River President and CEO] for his leadership. He has encouraged women, given them a chance and confidence so we can take their careers higher.”

Her advice to the upcoming generation: “Dream big and never give up on your dreams, never settle for less! Don’t be afraid of failures as failures teaches you the most important lessons!!”

Rossalin Yonpiam, MS, Spencerville, Ohio 

At an early age, Thailand native Rossalin Yonpiam loved both animals and science, so her career trajectory was, in many ways, a no-brainer--veterinary medicine. She worked for a time as a clinical practitioner but felt herself pulled between multiple disciplines. Rossalin loved caring for animals, but she also wanted to do research. So, she shifted her focus to veterinary pathology.

“I was able to use my expertise and skill to improve the well-being of animal and human medicines through my work in preclinical safety assessment,’’ says Rossalin, who works at Charles River’s Spencerville site.

Rossalin found her way to Charles River following her graduate study with residency training at University of Saskatchewan, Canada, and Michigan State University. One of her resident mates was doing work at Charles River in toxicopathology, and shared their work experiences, convincing Rossalin to apply for a veterinary pathology position.

Pursuing a career in veterinary pathology was the culmination of a dream she had as a child to work with animals in some capacity, but the journey wasn’t easy. “ As an immigrant, there were times when I felt like I need to work harder or longer hours to prove myself,” says Yonpiam. “Also, English is not my first language, so I would spend longer time for my study to make sure I understand the context correctly.” This was especially necessary during her residency training, in board preparation and public speaking engagements.

Back in Thailand, the challenges were different. “There was limited access to resources such as residency training or mentorship programs, and it was a difficult work culture as often times your voice and opinions rarely were heard.”

Perhaps this is why Rossalin’s science heroes are two women who have broken barriers – chemist Dorothy Hodgkin, who confirmed the structure of penicillin and advanced the technique of X-ray crystallography, and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first British woman to qualify as a physician and surgeon. “We should provide the training and mentorship and give an opportunity for those women to explore the different roles in science,” says Rossalin.