Learning to Know Myself

Carol Shoshkes Reiss

I can’t imagine a more stimulating, gratifying, and challenging occupation than being a scientist.  It has truly been a privilege to have devoted the last forty-seven years to being a viral immunologist and a woman scientist.

Dr. Carol Shoshkes Reiss

My interest in science started in public school in suburban New Jersey where I was one of the very few girls in science AP. And like many in my generation, my interest and enthusiasm for science were captured by one TV program: Mr. Wizard. I shared the love of science with my father, who was a physician. He was so devoted to his patients, and to the NJ Medical Society, that as a child, I had trouble distinguishing between the profession of medicine and his workaholic personality. Therefore, in looking for a more balanced life that focused on science, I chose to pursue a PhD, rather than an MD-PhD following my undergraduate studies at Bryn Mawr College.

At Mt. Sinai’s Graduate School of Biomedical Science (1973-8), I was the first doctoral student in the lab of Jerome L. Schulman.  Jerry was concerned that we might be scooped by another lab, and so was unwilling to publish my results on very basic studies of the mouse’s immune response to influenza virus infections and the protection by vaccines (subunit, killed or attenuated) — until I completed the dissertation research. Today, results are published rapidly and often not presented at conferences until papers are in press.

At Mt. Sinai, I also developed a vital relationship with Sandra K. Masur that has morphed over the years from role model to mentor, sponsor and valued friend.  She has established peer support networks, faculty leadership and development programs, which have been recognized by her professional society.

I brought the viral systems to Harvard Medical School where I was funded by an individual NIH postdoctoral fellowship for research on antigen processing and presentation with Steven J. Burakoff.  At that time, most labs at HMS were using model antigens (KLH, TGAL) and not pathogens.  Since I have always been interested in infectious diseases, understanding how a host responds to pathogens directed my research studies.  During my postdoc (1978-81), I established three important collaborations with Jordan Pober (antigen processing of viral proteins on human MHC-II), Kees Murre and Jon Seidman (using molecular biology to map the critical domains of mouse MHC-I genes needed to present influenza and vesicular stomatitis virus peptides; before there was a crystal structure of the molecule) and Alice S. Huang (pathogenesis of VSV encephalitis). Postdocs were compensated at $10,000/year in 1978.

Peer groups have continued to play an important role for me.

I joined the tenure track faculty at the Sidney Farber (renamed Dana-Farber) Cancer Institute (DFCI) as an Instructor making $20,000/year.  I immediately began writing grant applications to support my independent lab. However, there were competing pressures: I was “asked” by the new DFCI President, Baruj Benacerraf, to serve as the Director of the Animal Facility and Chair of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).  This was a command — although no extremely junior faculty member should ever be burdened with such a demanding responsibility.  I went from wearing jeans at the bench to suits needed for interactions with veterinarians, senior DFCI leadership, care staff members, maintenance employees, and faculty. While under my direction, the facility received accreditation by AALAC.

At Mt. Sinai I met and married David S. Reiss, a fellow graduate student then a postdoc at the Shriver Center.  One year after I became an Instructor, my first son arrived, and a second son was born three years later.  I could never have managed without Longwood Medical Area Childcare Center – open 8am-6pm, five days a week, 52 weeks a year.  It was very costly, $1k/month/child in 1983.

Was this overwhelming? Unambiguously.  Although at that time, 33% of NIH grants were funded (including my applications), my IACUC role meant that I was dealing with DFCI scientists who demanded approval of their grant proposals immediately before grant deadlines. I was at the bench, and the family was also growing and ever more demanding.  When I traveled to a conference, I would “lose” the first day because of utter exhaustion. 

Another challenge to my career was Massachusetts’ “Blue Laws” which meant that virtually everything was closed on Sundays.  Bear in mind that I was in the lab from 8:10AM to 5:50pm every day (dictated by hours of the daycare center), and stores were not open in the evening, and there was no delivery option like Fresh Direct or Amazon in those days. Finally, David was an observant Jew, so no errands on Saturdays.  If only I could have had a personal assistant or other support …

In retrospect, I don’t know how I coped – but I not only survived scientifically, my sons thrived. I was promoted first to Assistant Professor (1983), and to Associate Professor (1988).  To put this into context here are statistics from HMS in that era: Instructor (30% XX), Asst. Prof. (15% XX), Assoc. Prof. (7% XX) and Prof. (3% XX).  In the pecking order there, MDs>PhDs and XY>XX.  HMS was a very hostile environment for women.

A very important support system in this environment was the HMS Women’s Faculty Network brown-bag lunch meetings.  Peer groups have continued to play an important role for me at NYU, and I am the organizer of a mutually supportive, multi-generational “dinner club” composed of NY-NJ women scientists who have dinner together frequently.

A few years ago, when three sequential grant applications went down in flames, and funds were exhausted, I made the decision to close my lab. I do not regret the decision.

As an Assoc. Professor, I was informed by Benacerraf that I “did not have the meshugenah gene that mapped to the Y chromosome” that he considered essential to advancement, so I would not be considered for promotion to Full Professor.  Yes, this gender bias was actionable even then, but you do not sue a Nobel Laureate in your field and survive professionally.  A PhD at HMS on the tenure track has to be promoted to Full Professor in eleven years – or leave.  I started looking for my next position.

The timing coincided with Alice Huang’s recruitment to NYU to be the Dean for Science. She and I had a very productive research collaboration, so I was happy to be recruited as a tenured Full Professor to NYU in 1991.  I supervised both our labs. I was relieved to have a hard-money position. Since David and I divorced soon after I came to New York and his autoimmune disease was progressing, it was especially critical that I could support my children.  We will never know whether David’s occupational exposure to brain homogenates during his post-doc led to his development of multiple sclerosis.

My research focused largely on the pathogenesis of viral encephalitis, defining the cells, pathways involved in the host’s response, determining therapeutic targets for translation to human disease.  My lab also investigated using a genetically modified virus to kill tumors, a discipline termed viral oncolysis.  We received one patent and another application was ultimately not approved by the USPTO.

NYU was (and is) also a welcoming environment for women faculty members.  My three-bedroom apartment was in faculty housing just a short walk from my lab.  I was able to hire students to assist in childcare; Oscar (a student at the Tisch School of the Arts) stayed with my sons when I traveled to give talks or to conferences in exchange for my funds to produce his films.

At NYU, I joined the FAS Women’s Faculty Caucus and served two, two-year terms as chair.  I remain on the advisory committee.  We worked to maintain open communication channels with the Arts and Sciences Dean’s office, and lobbied for childcare, for stoppage of the tenure clock with births/adoptions and other family-related major care obligations.  We requested salary parity, diversity on search committees, and encouraged women faculty to run for elected offices in FAS.  We also asked that junior faculty be protected from demanding administrative responsibilities until they were granted tenure.

When Nancy Hopkins and her colleagues documented disparities in the way women and men were treated at MIT, I asked the Interim FAS Dean (Jess Benhabib, an economist) to assist us in a thorough and quantitative survey of NYU compensation, recruitment, promotion, and other metrics.  With his support, we published the first report on Equity in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at NYU (2000).  The Office of Institutional Research has been invaluable in providing every analysis we wanted, and collecting new data, when requested.  We are currently the only school at NYU that has undertaken this rigorous work. Each of the eight studies is available online. Addressing disparities, the sequential Deans worked to make NYU’s Faculty of Arts and Science Equal and Diverse.

With co-organizers Peter C. Doherty, Thomas J. Braciale, Barry Rouse and Rafi Ahmed of four Keystone Symposia on Molecular Aspects of Viral Immunity (1993 onward), we made sure that we invited a diverse group of outstanding science. It is shocking to me that in 2019, the NIH Director has finally decided to make a public stand, and decline invitations to participate in “manels”, panels with just male participants.

I have served as Editor-in-Chief first of Viral Immunology (2000-2006) and more recently DNA and Cell Biology (2012-present) for Mary Ann Liebert Publishers.  When initially approached by a soliciting editor at Cambridge University Press, I turned down a book request because I was so busy — but reconsidered and have contributed to and edited two editions of Neurotropic Viral Infections (the last published by Springer in 2016). In 2018, I was the principle co-organizer of the NYC March for Science.

A few years ago, when three sequential grant applications went down in flames, and funds were exhausted, I made the decision to close my lab. I do not regret the decision.  It was time for the next generation.  And as careers in science have continued to evolve, in late 2012, the Dean for Science asked me to be co-PI on a new initiative – the NYU Science Training Enhancement Program – a professional development suite for ~1200 doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows in Arts and Science and in the School of Medicine for five years. NYU-STEP was designed to prepare the few who seek faculty positions and the 80% who pursue other science careers. The grant with Keith Micoli at NYU School of Medicine, and Christine Ponder was among the first funded universities in the NIH BEST program. 

In 2016, both my biological father Milton Shoshkes and my scientific father Jerry Schulman passed away at 93 and 89, respectively.  My mother who enrolled in a post-graduate program for architectural interior design when the youngest of her 4 daughters entered school, has had an engaging career and retains her faculties and interest in the arts and ideas at 93; she is still taking and teaching courses.

I have been privileged to train dozens of students and postdocs. Their progress and achievements are gratifying. I continue to teach courses in immunology and infectious diseases, advise students in their academic and career planning, chair or actively participate on far too many committees, have the journal editorial responsibility, mentor peers, and also make time to smell the roses: enjoy life in NYC and my seven grandchildren.

What would I have done differently? First, I would have studied medicine and earned the joint degree. I am constantly reading both basic science and medical articles, and am a frequent resource for family and friends. Second, I would have found the courage to decline Benacerraf’s demand that I assume the IACUC-Directorship roles when transitioning out of the postdoc. It has become the basis for lifelong learning about why, when, and how to accept or decline a request. I have also tried hard to sustain a work-life balance and to make a difference.

Image by Ralf Kunze from Pixabay.