Thread by @FZMarques

Truly grateful to announce I have been promoted to Associate Professor at @MonashBiol 😊

I would like to thank my team & former team members, my collaborators, mentors, colleagues for the support and feedback @BBM_Wong and @RobertB_R, & my boss @OBryanMoira for the push to apply

Inspired by @jane_bourke_phd I would like to share how I got here because I look up to many & constantly think I am not doing 'well' enough. What I learned over the years is that on paper things look much more glamorous than they are (I call it the Instagram of academia) 1/

I came from a developing country (#Brazil) where research is not valued and there is little $ available. But I had amazing lecturers and teachers, and amazing opportunities to do research since I was an undergrad. This resulted in 5 papers prior to my PhD & helped me a lot 2/

I came to Australia in 2006 to have a gap year and I immediately fell in love with this country, its people and culture. I was fortunate to be offered an Endeavour scholarship at @Sydney_Uni. But I had a terrible PhD supervisor and I almost gave up after 8 months into the PhD 3/

I spoke to the postgrad coordinator Prof Frank Lovicu @lensresearchlab who gave me a lot of support to move labs and start my PhD again. And so I did it. I was lucky @profbrianmorris was willing to take me as a student, and that's how I started in the field of #hypertension 4/

I had a great PhD, published plenty and had great support from my supervisor. But I also had many struggles including being far from family (eg mum got diagnosed w cancer during my PhD) and not being a native English speaker (still struggle!) 5/

But I was still an international student. Like @jane_bourke_phd I didn't want to go o/s for a postdoc. This was my 'o/s experience'. So I applied for jobs and was fortunate to be offered a position w @FadiCharchar at @FedUniAustralia 6/

I wanted to become Australian 🇦🇺 more than I wanted to go o/s. I was so happy that my job allowed me to do that. Because of it I was able to secure a @nhmrc and a @heartfoundation ECR fellowship. Through @FadiCharchar's o/s collabs I was still able to engage w many 7/

And also through @profbrianmorris and @FadiCharchar I had great exposure to my 'work families', the @HBPRCA and @ISHBP, and I have met amazing people

But I also had many struggles through those first postdoc years w workload and bullying from a PhD student 8/

I then transferred my fellowship to the @BakerResearchAu where I had 3 amazing supervisors (!), David Kaye, @GeoffreyHead & @glamb3004. I loved working at the Baker and I learned a lot

But just before I started there I was diagnosed with #ovariancancer 9/

My first day at @BakerResearchAu was 3 days after my first #chemotherapy session. I worked PT for 5 months while I had regular #chemo. I love working during chemo as when I was at work I was a 'normal' person. But it was tough & I was constantly v tired. I had to say no a lot 10/

But having #cancer opened up my eyes to many things inc the importance of #scicomm, translational research, how kind & supportive researchers are, and overall just gave me hope about the world we live in. I saw the best in people and still do. I feel v grateful for that 11/

While I was at @BakerResearchAu, I also secured a @heartfoundation Future Leader Fellowship (my current fellowship) - I'm so grateful to the NHF for the trust and support they have put on me

I also became increasingly worried I would not be able to secure another fellowship 12/

So I considered leaving research. Because as much as I loved being a researcher, I had to prioritise 1) my health and 2) having a job

But the more I looked the less I wanted to leave

That's when I decided my dream job would be in academia and I started applying for jobs 13/

I did not get the first job(s) I applied, and I am thankful for that. I was fortunate to be offered a position at @MonashBiol in 2018, and I love working there, I believe that was the right choice for me and my career path

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I am very lucky to have supportive supervisors, mentors and sponsors along the way, that have encouraged me on all steps.

Including Prof Frank Stagnitti who was the DVCR at @FedUniAustralia and told me to apply for level C when I was awarded my NHMRC fellowship 15/

So the moral of the story is:
1) Don't give up your dreams
2) Make a plan, develop the skills you need to get there
3) Be resilient and persistent
4) Help others along the way

Thanks for reading it 😀

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