Last Tuesday, one of Duke’s Nobel Prize winners came to speak to BSURF, Dr. Lefkowitz. To my surprise, Dr. Lefkowitz spoke very briefly about the focus of his lab work. However, his talk very quickly became one of my favorites because of his focus on determination in changing careers, applicable goals for success in science, and charismatic anecdotes.
Dr. Lefkowitz obtained a B.S. and MD from Columbia and was quickly met with a difficult problem after graduation. All doctors were required to enlist for the Vietnam war. In order to circumvent going to Vietnam, he joined a group of doctors at the NIH nicknamed the yellow berets, getting his first research experience there. He spoke of the great struggle he had in the first months there, as he never intended to do any research in his career, and his eventual fondness for research because of this initial struggle in the program. He then described his eventual return to research after some time as a clinician, his opening of his lab at Duke, and the work in his lab that led to his Nobel Prize. What I enjoyed most about his talk was his tips for success that he learned throughout this journey. He told us to focus, build this focus around interesting questions and not techniques, do lots of experiments, don’t talk yourself out of experiments, be bold, take risks, and fail, but don’t be afraid, learn to tell a good story, be ambitious, be persistent, and prepare, among other things.
What stuck with me about this section of his talk was not the exact tips themselves, but rather the anecdotes he told along with each one to better engage with the audience and explain what he meant by each one. With this, he additionally mused on the necessity of jokes (so long as you’re a funny person), his love for Duke basketball and his friendship with Coach K, and the absolute necessity of chocolate in order to become a Nobel Laureate. It was these stories that drew me most to his talk and were used excellently to better understand and characterize himself and his pathway in research. Dr. Lefkowitz wonderfully shared his life and his research with us this week with some excellent advice. I will certainly be eating more chocolate after hearing from him!
