Shelly Lu, MDCedar Sinai Medical Center, Keck School of Medicine, SEBM Member since 2006 SEBM What is your position and what do you do? SEBM Did you always wish to be a scientist in academia (industry) (government)? What else did you want to do? If you didn't do what you are doing now, what else do you think you would do? SEBM What path did you take to get where you are today? What did you do right? What did you do wrong? Did you have any periods of time where things just didn't work out? What did you do about them? How did they affect your career? My philosophy is to leave as many doors open as possible and to never ignore unexpected results. They are often clues of something more novel. What I did right was to have a great mentor in the beginning of my career. Subsequently I met my close collaborator and our collaboration helped further both of our careers. In academia there will always be times when things don’t work out (more often than the other way around) but perseverance is key. At the end of the day, if this is something that excites you then you stay with it. If not, think about another track. You only have one life to live. SEBM What people can you point to who significantly helped you in this entire career path? How? Were there important people along the way who didn't help you at all? What did you do about that? SEBM What advice would you give to a person, say, in college thinking about going into a career similar to yours? What about someone in graduate school? SEBM What do you really love about your position? What do you hate? I love that I get to do everything, from thinking about science, directing research, mentoring Ph.D. and M.D. faculty, writing, reviewing papers and grants. I also am still practicing clinical gastroenterology and involved in teaching medical students, house staff and GI fellows. There is never a boring moment. SEBM What is your laboratory (office) like? How many people do you supervise? Describe a typical day (week). A typical week consists of multiple meetings and conferences, one-on-one mentoring sessions with my junior faculty, attending in GI clinic, doing endoscopic procedures, writing and reviewing both papers and frequently grants (I am a standing member of a NIH study section). SEBM How are you guiding the careers of your mentees/students? What are you doing to help those who are not thinking about following in your particular career path? SEBM What do you feel are the most important aspects of your position? SEBM Do you feel that you have a good work-home/life balance? What do you like to do for fun or when you are on vacation? SEBM As a scientist, what do you feel about educating the non-scientific world-at-large about what you do and about science in general? SEBM What do you hope to be doing when/if you retire from your current position? SEBM If you had to do it all over again, are there any radical changes that would you have made? How do you think it would have made a difference in the way your life has turned out?
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