Okay. New year, new
resolve. Last year was pretty
rough. I have to figure out how to
balance the stress of everything I do while still doing everything I do…
People:
I managed, with much time on hold over the phone with immigration,
to help my research associate remain with my lab. Now he is motivated to become
a Canadian resident so we can avoid these issues in the future!
My post-doc had a rough year, losing his mother to cancer and
travelling home for a month. But, I hope
he can rally and really try to bring to fruition all his hard work these past
years – ie PUBLISH!
My technician is back “post-baby” and is on a roll.
And my new PhD student started in September and he brings much
needed enthusiasm and youthful energy to our group. He even got a recruitment scholarship. So far so good!
Papers:
I finally submitted and published our work
on dendritic spine densities in prion-infected cerebellar slice cultures. My technician really did most of the work,
and when she left on maternity leave, things fell behind somewhat and I was
never fully confident of all the data. Finally
this year we had enough pieces of the puzzle to publish. I seem to always want more or better data,
but in the end one has to just publish… or perish.
Grants:
Since my last blog, I contributed to a
collaborator’s grant in July, submitted 3 on Sept 30 (the day I returned from 2
weeks “vacation”), 2 of which were as collaborators, I submitted 2 in October,
1 in November, and I was part of a large collaborative grant due in December.
Grand total for 2013
As PI: 7
As collaborator: 7
That is 22 grants in 16 months…
Fortunately, I actually got four of them,
including two that I was PI on. Of
course, the trend is for them to applaud the work and then suggest even more
things to do, but for less money than requested. So now I am editing budget and rereading the
grants to remember what I actually wrote!
Equipment:
Ongoing assortments of problems – maybe they
should get their own blog…
The
Centre:
Still standing, despite the occasional
flood…
Clinical:
Just saw another case of CJD before
Christmas, and there is another patient I am scheduled to see soon who most
definitely is affected – in the latter case it is probably genetic. I hope to start doing some clinics focused on
rapidly progressing dementias in the coming year.
Talks:
I’m still talking up a storm, including on
Jay Ingram tours. Perhaps now I will try
to put that into my on line voice again this year…
Tenure:
I am fast approaching this dreaded
deadline, but I have found myself a mentor who is actually an advocate, and
that really helps. I also spoke to a
clinician scientist / neurologist I had worked with during residency, and by
the end of that discussion I felt much more confident that this is the career
path I truly want. Not that that alone
equals success…
Other:
I still play violin with Concordia Symphony
and LaFolia and am curling weekly in the winter. This year I got a new violin and bow, so am
really enjoying getting to know my new “baby”.
And as always, music has helped me through this past year. That and of course my ever patient
husband. There should probably be a
separate blog on how to live with someone pursuing a career as a clinician
scientist!
