Gertrude B Elion was a biochemist best known for discovering groundbreaking drugs (6-MP, azathioprine, aciclovir)
She is one of only 12 women to win the Nobel Prize for Medicine.
As medics we have much to learn from her.
Here are 5 lessons on life + careers from Elion: 🧵👇
1: Don't be discouraged by being the first.
Most of us are disheartened when nobody's done it before, or we're told we can't do something.
Elion kept going after 15 rejections of financial assistance from Grad schools.
She was the only female graduate in her Chemistry class.
"Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Don't let others discourage you or tell you that you can't do it. In my day I was told women didn't go into chemistry. I saw no reason why we couldn't"
Don't let others dictate your life map.
Find your own path.
2: You won't know until you try.
If we don't try new things, we will experience:
• Frustration with our job
• Lack of inspiration
• No motivation
Pushing boundaries is a challenge, but it's the best way to feel fulfilled.
"I hadn't been aware there were doors closed to me until I started knocking on them"
Ellion was told that as a woman, she would be a distraction to the men in the lab.
She didn't let it stop her
She took the job and eventually worked with George Hitchings, who invigorated her
3: Make sure you love what you do
Elion understood that enjoying work led to success and fulfilment.
This unlocks:
• Working well with teammates
• Having successful projects
• Being happier in our personal lives
Over time, Elion's job brought her increasing joy.
"It is important to go into the work you would like to do. Then it doesn't seem like work. You somehow feel it's almost too good to be true that someone will pay you for enjoying yourself."
Many of us aren't happy in jobs we are in.
Elion reminds us to find a job we love.
4: Don't wait for the world to come to you.
Work out what you truly want, and go for it.
"Nobody took me seriously. They wondered why I wanted to be a chemist when no women were doing it. The world was not waiting for me."
Often we let fear hold us back, but Elion was bold.
5: Forget about what others think of you
Finally, this is the most important and underrated advice of all.
What separates people who worry about what other think from people who just go for it, is they can follow their heart and be brave.
Don’t wait.
Start now.
"Maybe I was young and 'cute' but I've learned over the years that when you put white lab coats on chemists, they all look alike".
Elion knew that it didn't matter what other people thought of her.
Once she was in the job she proved herself more than worthy.
She excelled.
TL;DR - 5 life + career lessons from Gertrude B Elion
• Lesson 1: Don't be discouraged by being first
• Lesson 2: You won't know until you try
• Lesson 3: Love what you do
• Lesson 4: Don't wait for the world to come to you
• Lesson 5: Forget about what others think of you
If you found this thread valuable:
1. Follow me for more threads on learning, and surviving medicine → @TessaRDavis
Organisational psychologist @adammgrant is best known for helping us find meaning in our work.
This month he delivered a TED talk on languishing: a sense of stagnation.
The cure for languishing is finding our flow.
These 4 ideas from Grant allow us to get out of our rut: 🧵👇
Languishing isn't depression. It's not burnout.
It's:
• muddling through your days with no real purpose
• the sense of 'Meh'
• the void between depression + flourishing
• the absence of the dreaded 'wellbeing'
Is that what so many of us have felt over the last 18 months?
At the start of the pandemic we all felt fear. But after a while that changed to apathy.
Our days felt repetitive. A sense that we were stagnating.
We didn't feel excited at the prospect of socialising again.
We spent hours doom scrolling and 'revenge bedtime procrastinating'