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Videos

Dr. Catherine Potvin: Canadian Pioneer

Find out more about Women's History Month.

Dr. Catherine Potvin: Canadian Pioneer

I went into biology for two reasons: first, the fascination,
I think, with all of the different forms of life on Earth
and the desire to understand them better,
and also a concern for the degradation of the environment.
Around the end of my thirties, beginning of my forties.
It was a kind of threshold to cross,
where my colleagues had to accept that I was more than
a brilliant and promising young research scientist,
but rather a full-fledged research scientist.
I would say to young women, follow your heart and demand and
require from your institutions the flexibility to achieve that
difficult balance between work and family life.

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