Dr. Huiping Liu, the first PhD student from the Macleod Lab (2002-2007) was guest speaker in the UCCCC 50th anniversary seminar series! Now a Professor at Northwestern University in Chicago, Huiping researches how to target breast cancer stem cells. Proud of you Huiping! Huiping took part in a Podcast and when asked about what she learned from her time at UChicago said: “There are many things, definitely. I learned at UChicago and also benefited my entire
career. I want to just highlight a few things. First, I’m extremely grateful for the supportive
mentorship by my PhD advisor, Dr. Kay Macleod. She’s such a role model for women scientists,
and especially for me, and also as a mother of three, there’s a lot of work to balance between
your career and the life. I became a mother of two in her lab as a PhD student because she’s so
supportive, not only supportive, but also protective, and then protecting me from getting
exposed to any toxic chemicals in the lab. She would ask other lab mates to help me and then
protect me. I was just so grateful. As such a supportive mentor, I feel so fortunate. Then she has
also been very supporting the career development of women scientists, sending me to
conferences and talking to pioneers in the field. I really got so much support. I feel has been
really inspiring to me, and it makes me feel it’s my job to support the next generation, young
scientists, especially women scientists who are coming from the minority background who may
not have such opportunities previously.”