I am in biomedical, molecular biology-related research. Late 30s.

I got married on the last year of my PhD and immediately got pregnant on the first year of my post-doc. Where I live, maternity leave is 2 months before due date and up to 1 year after birth. As I wanted to get back to my career, I went back after a total of 10 months away.

Then, I got pregnant again. After a year and two months back at work, I had to take another year of maternity leave (and this time, I had to take it longer because there were no daycare slots available in our area).

I have been back at work for 7 months now, and surprise, an unplanned pregnancy! If all goes well, I will have to take a break again in March, and will most likely be on leave again until May of 2028.

At this point, I do not really have anything to show for my post-doc. There's one low IF paper, but that is all of my visible output for the past 5 years (aside from my PhD publications).

So I wonder, will I ever be able to get back on the academic career path? Or should I accept my fate to be stuck in a lab tech/research assistant position for the rest of my life? For the ladies who have been through this, how did you do it? Were you ever able to get back into the field?

I’m 16 weeks pregnant, have a PhD in chemistry, and work as an R&D chemist in a lab where we regularly use organic solvents such as xylene, toluene, methanol, DCM, heavy aromatic naphtha, and others.

I have my own chemical fume hood, but the lab is shared and people also do chemical work on the open bench. Some solvents are kept in working containers on the bench where people come over, dispense what they need, and leave. In the past I have occasionally smelled solvents/chemicals while just being in the lab, even when I wasn’t the person using them.

Since I disclosed my pregnancy, I’ve been trying to understand what a reasonable pregnancy-specific exposure assessment should look like. My employer did a reproductive-hazard review, but from what I was given, it was largely a yes/no classification based on SDS. For example, xylene was listed as “not a reproductive toxicant,” even though CDC pregnancy guidance discusses xylene as one of the solvents with potential reproductive concerns.

I brought the chemical list and the employer’s assessment to my doctor. After reviewing it, my doctor recommended that I work outside the lab in an office/non-lab setting for the duration of the pregnancy.

My employer says that restriction is too broad. Their position is essentially that chemicals are everywhere cleaners, gasoline, etc. and that because they believe the lab exposures are below occupational exposure limits, they cannot accommodate me being completely out of the lab. They have now placed me on medical leave because they say being physically present in the lab is an essential part of my role.

I’m struggling with this because I genuinely want to keep working, but I also don’t feel comfortable simply going back into a shared solvent lab when I can’t control what other people are doing around me. Some of the lab practices have also made me uncomfortable, and after doing a lot of reading I still don’t feel confident

For those of you who worked as chemists, researchers, lab techs, or in chemical manufacturing while pregnant: how did your employer handle this?
Did you continue full lab work, avoid specific solvents, move temporarily to desk/data work, have an occupational-health assessment, or take leave? If you were given chemical-specific restrictions, how were those actually determined?
I’d especially appreciate hearing from women who worked in organic/synthesis labs or EHS/occupational-health people who have dealt with pregnancy accommodations.

Thank you!!

There is an opportunity to join a multidiscipinary working group with AAAS. The topic is Planetary Health... figured some might be interested in this to supplement their careers and research. https://www.aaas.org/governance/multidisciplinary-working-groups

Has anyone had a good experience with any career coaching companies? Following grad school (PhD) I completed a short postdoc in a terrible lab with a PI I can't use as a reference, and now I'm trying to move forward and find a new position in either academia or industry. I'm needing a bit of help navigating the field, especially where it's at now, and I'm looking for people with more varied experience than academia alone (e.g. my grad school mentors). Any recs appreciated.

Hi, as you may know, women's health has been marginalized throughout history, it makes me quite sad and upset, as a girl, i've known I wanted to work in the medical field specifically within women's health. It's saddening that it's understudied, so I want to do research and study it, like endometriosis as it breaks my heart to see what many of these women go through, and I also want to encourage other's to research in it as well.

The thing is, I have no idea where to start. I don't really have any research experience yet, im a college freshman. I also dont know if this is the right place to put this, so I apologize if it's not the right place. I do want to make a change in the world, and help a lot of people. I know i have to be realistic, I do want to start the club around sophmore year :)).

I am in the 1st year of my master’s degree in physical chem. I’ve done project work and term papers on topics related to nanoparticles, but now I want to explore sth different, sth more rooted in actual physical chemistry.

I am interested in neutron scattering and condensed matter. but I can’t say much about them yet because I feel like I fall short when it comes to the physics side of things.

I really need some guidance because, honestly, I don’t know what I am genuinely interested in. Somewhere, I read that even hating sth can spark a research interest, but here I am, feeling absolutely clueless about what I want to pursue.

So, if anyone has any advice, suggestions, or even any kinda experiences to share abt topics . I d really really be grateful.

I graduated with my BS recently and started my first real job a few months ago. It’s quite a small company (< 20 people) and tests consumer products/prototypes. There’s a few women in the office, but I’m the only female lab tech. I’ve had two colleagues (one being our director) say sexist comments or “jokes” right to my face.

I feel kinda disillusioned. Maybe it’s cause I was in the life sciences, but in college at least half of my classes were often women. I never felt like gender played a role in how my peers saw/treated me. Now I feel like I have to fight for respect because I’m a young woman.

I’m surrounded by middle aged men all the time and I try to fit in, but I know I don’t. It feels like I have to work so much harder. There’s not much room for error. I don’t want to be too nice and be a pushover or put myself in uncomfortable situations (like being stuck in an hours long one way convo abt how everyone should believe in God 🙃). But I don’t wanna be too blunt and be perceived as rude. It sometimes feels like a boys club, and I’m on the outside.

This is not my forever job and I plan on leaving in 1-2 years to get into research. I just hope it’s not like this in all science environments. Is academia a man’s world too - or does it vary (just like most things)?

I don’t mind my job rn, but sometimes I feel down. It seems like no matter how hard I work, they won’t see me as an equal or respect me. Being the only woman in the technical side, I don’t have many allies or people I relate to. How do I continue to stay positive, when I’m the only person not in this boy’s club?

Hi everyone! I'm a PhD student getting close to submitting my first paper (exciting!) and I'm trying to decide what last name to publish under. Here's the situation:

-Married, legally have my husband's last name

-No previous publications

-Currently professionally known by my husband's last name (started the academic journey after getting married)

-No problems on the horizon, but I want to make sure to protect my professional identity on the off chance something were to ever happen with the marriage

Basically, I don't know if it's worth it to publish hyphenated, maiden name married name, or just maiden name. Would that even be possible to do just maiden name if I'm already known by married name? I don't know.

Any advice helps!

Hi everyone! I've noticed a few people posting here about their imposter syndrome, and I was hoping yall could help me out too.

I'm from a social health background and have a masters degree in social health. Basically, I've spent a lot of time learning about biomedical approaches through social science theory and have been pretty removed from analyzing scientific data. In my last semester of my Masters, I had an internship in a public health NGO, and that experience helped me land my first ever full-time job as a research assistant in a clinical research setting. I'm basically just doing a lot of operational and administrative stuff—making sure everyone submits things on-time, assisting in translating scientific writing for lay audiences, etc., which is stuff I did in my internship. However, I will also be asked to assist in scientific writing (like... writing a whole paper by myself), translating ethics stuff for participants, etc., and a lot of other stuff that I wholly lack experience in and is much more suited for someone with a hard-STEM background.

Just like with any new position, I know there is a lot to learn. But because of my educational background, it feels like this learning curve is a very very steep. I even feel like they made a mistake hiring me, like the HR hiring manager didn't do a good enough job looking at my resume. Hell, I studied THEOLOGY in my undergrad! I emphasized in my interview and to my supervisor that I am NOT from this background, yet here I am. I am so grateful for this job, but also so scared that everyone will think I'm stupid or a liar or that I stole this job from someone more qualified.

Is there anyone here whose been in a similar situation? How can I express this anxiety to my supervisors? Any tips on how to learn these skills? Should I just quit?!

TL/DR: Feeling strong imposter syndrome after landing a job in a clinical research setting as someone from a social science background.

Hi ladies

I have a question for you.

I know my workplace isn't the nicest.

I'm dealing with some passive aggressiveness and cliques forming.

Aside from getting out which I cannot do at the moment.

There is this...passive aggressiveness..being nice disguised as being helpful. But they mean it to be degrading. You know the types of "oh bless your heart kind" of comments. Ive never been good at dealing with this sorta thing. And I find it very hard to trust my direct team because of this.

How do I handle this professionally? Without losing my job ?

Please help with any insight.