Interview with Dr. Anne West: The Importance of Following Your Passions

According to Dr. Anne West:

“There are three things to know about me:

– My compliment sandwich

-My perfectly teased hair

-My laugh”

Dr. West began her path to neurobiology research at Cornell University, where she started in the same place as most, as an undeclared freshman taking a broad range of classes.  She knew her main interest was science, so she started with the general courses in that subject: chemistry, biology and psychology.  As she learned more about psychology she found the underlying biochemical processes of the brain to be much more intriguing than the study of psychology. While taking courses in neurobiology, particularly those about how it relates to behavior and diseases, Dr. West found her passion for neurobiology and more specifically the neurochemical basis for decision making.

One lesson Dr. West has learned is the importance of incidental events, especially those that may occur when attending meetings. At a meeting about women in science, Dr. West learned about the Medical Scientist Training Program, which is a six-year program to earn both a PhD and an MD.  She applied to both MSTP and graduate school programs. In the end, she decided to attend Harvard’s MSTP because it would give her a chance to maintain broader horizons than if she were to attend graduate school, where she would have to choose a research question right away. Dr. West enjoyed the first two years of medical school, but when she entered the lab years of the MSTP, she fell in love with research. While studying protein trafficking in neurons, Dr. West went to a meeting where the concept of viral vectors was presented, which Dr. West was able to apply to solve a problem relating to her own research question, helping her to successfully complete her thesis.  After finishing her PhD, Dr. West returned to medical school and felt like an outsider, being older and an expert in something irrelevant.  She realized that medicine was not the path for her, so after completing her MD, she continued to a post doctoral program and then received a faculty position at Duke in 2005.   The greatest lesson Dr. West learned throughout the MSTP, is that it is much more important to follow your passions, because talent does not guarantee success, it has to be applied in the right setting.

Her research at Duke initially focused on the molecular mechanisms of neural plasticity, and now her lab’s view has broadened to use mouse models and develop a more holistic view of the process from gene regulation to neural development.  To Dr. West, the fun part of research is getting to follow your own passions and interests, but it is complemented by the challenge that sometimes people will be critical of your work, and you have to learn to enjoy the process of fighting for your research.  Dr. West is always aware of the possibility that her research may never lead to a great discovery. However, it is the possibility of that discovery, as well as a desire to understand the fundamental biochemical processes, that sustain her passion for research.