By Fatu Badiane Markey and Urmimala Basu
I first met Dr. Terri Goss Kinzy at an American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) advocacy event on Capitol Hill. Having had previous experience speaking to legislators about biomedical research, her insight was highly relevant to this event as well as my personal interests. That day, I unfortunately did not have much time to connect with her about her important role as the Vice President of Research for Rutgers University. To learn more, I worked together with fellow blogger Urmimala who was also curious about the Rutgers VP of Research to brainstorm interview questions for Dr. Kinzy. Afterwards, I contacted Dr. Kinzy for a quick phone interview to learn about her research, career and current job responsibilities.
How did you first get introduced into biology and the research field?
I have loved science from a young age. My parents are not scientists and did not go to college, but they supported my interest and encouraged my love of discovery. I think everyone is born with a love of discovery and experimentation, but the problem is we do not always encourage it. I originally started out as a chemist. I had an excellent chemistry teacher in high school and completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Akron, which is well known for its chemistry program. In college, I needed a way to earn money to pay for my education and participated in a co-op program. In this program, I was assigned to the molecular biology group and that is how I got my introduction to biology. I completed my graduate studies at Case Western Reserve University.
What is the focus of your current research?
My lab focuses on protein synthesis in eukaryotic systems. We study the translation elongation factors and their role in efficient, timely and accurate protein synthesis, as well as the non-canonical function of one other factor in actin cytoskeletal organization. The first protein is a target of several bacterial toxins and the second is only found in fungi and perhaps some single celled eukaryotes. Lately, we have been working on translation as a target for the development of new antifungals.
What is a major caveat, in your opinion, about how biomedical education is taught today?
I currently teach in several classes and from my experience, I had a really great graduate and post doc career, but I did not have enough speaking and writing opportunities. In my lab, with my students and postdocs, I really stress this. We have regular lab meetings, which serve as an informal platform for presenting people’s research, and also an RNA journal club. Your first talk should not be interviewing for your postdoc and this happens a lot more often than it should.
You have recently been appointed as the associate vice president for research administration. Can you explain your job and its responsibilities?
I basically try and make research work effectively for Rutgers University. This means dealing with efficiencies for getting grants in and out, making sure we follow regulations, and keeping a comprehensive university research portfolio. I also look for opportunities to get more research on campus and upgrading our IT infrastructure so that it becomes more compatible to support research.
What is the toughest part of your job?
Balancing our regulatory responsibilities with wanting to get the research done.
What has helped with this?
It’s hard sometimes, but I find really working with people one-on-one is the best way to address this issue. It’s a matter of reaching out to those that complain the loudest; they need to be heard. And when you really talk to them, you can explain that we are not trying to stop them from working. We just need the rules to be followed and there is a reason for them.
With regards to the recent presidential election, do you have any concerns regarding the future of research funding?
Research funding is always a focus. Always. I have been working closely with ASBMB to write a short document for the new administration to highlight the importance of funding research. We don’t really know what is going to happen. But I always want Rutgers to be in a good position to promote itself and cutting-edge research at the University.
What can we do as students in this regard?
I always encourage students to be positively proactive about what they do. Talk to people about what you do and find programs like ASBMB Hill Day to participate in. You should always feel empowered!
Have you faced specific challenges in your career as a woman?
Yes, and those challenges are still here. They don’t go away. I was frequently the only woman in my class as a student. This means you don’t always get picked for group projects and that can be hard when you are young. Even when I worked in industry, and here at Rutgers, I have had people say inappropriate things to me. At one interview at another university for my first faculty job in which I was invited to dinner, I literally had every single illegal and inappropriate question you can think thrown at me. When I first arrived at Rutgers, I was the only woman in the department. I found that the best way to deal with these challenges is to have peer mentors at your same career stage. Both men and women that you can trust and talk to. I met a lot of other junior faculty when I first arrived and this helps build community. We all had young children at day care and were all going through the same thing.
What is your view of the iJOBS program?
One of our jobs as a university is to train our workforce for the state. We need to train people for every job they could do. And compared to the other sciences – engineering, computer science, etc. – we are a little bit behind. They train their students for other careers, not just academia. We could learn a lot from others in other disciplines.
Any parting advice for graduate students?
Open communication with your mentor is critical. It is important to maintain this relationship; have an open dialogue and balance what you are doing. People think that if they go off in another direction from research, or academia that they will be ostracized. This is not the case. Build your network and keep those early relationships.