F.A.M.I.L.Y.

I joined Eli Lilly and Company as a Process Chemist in 1984. Lilly had an incredible community of the world’s top chemists, and I was motivated and inspired by both the chemistry and medicine development that was being done, especially in the areas of infectious disease, oncology, and neuroscience.

Because I enjoyed teaching, I also took  teaching positions in the graduate programs of IUPUI and Butler Universities. I taught courses included organic chemistry, organometallic chemistry, and analytical chemistry. It was a joy to see my students learn and apply their knowledge to their “day jobs”, thesis projects, and eventually for many, future graduate degrees.

During the 1980’s, there were only a few women and minority Ph.D.’s in Lilly Research Laboratories (LRL), and the President of LRL, Dr. Mel Perelman, initiated an effort to increase the representation by forming a committee called “F.A.M.I.L.Y.:  Females and Minorities in Lilly.” Our incredible leader, Dr. Laura Mendelsohn, invited representatives from various areas of LRL, and I was chosen to represent Process Chemistry. Among the strategies the committee pursued was a funding initiative to support undergraduate and graduate women’s travel to scientific meetings to present their first paper. The rationale, somewhat obviously, was to enable funding for that all-important first step into public recognition and real-time feedback on one’s scientific work.  I volunteered to sponsor the travel award for the American Chemical Society.