The Principal investigator in my lab is a woman by the name of Marilyn Telen. She’s a very accomplished individual whose background is both peculiar and inspiring. With a degree in Philosophy and Asian studies and two post baccalaureate jobs as editor for yearbook and multimedia companies, one might wonder where medical school-as well as science in general-fits into this picture.
Growing up she had always been interested and proficient in the sciences.
However, growing up, the science environment was a hostile one to women. Consequently, it was one she avoided going into college. She decided to major in Philosophy and Asian Studies. Once she graduated, she got a job at Collier’s Yearbook. She worked there for some time and then moved on to work as an editor at a company that put together and distributed multimedia educational materials. It’s here that science reenters the picture. As an editor she frequently reviewed materials from different sources. Many of these materials were science related and came from professors of subjects like biology and chemistry. Dr. Telen told me that she thinks this was the spark that got her thinking about science again and what eventually would lead her back to school.
No longer interested in the career path she was on, she planned to return to college, complete all of the premed requirements, and apply to medical school. Which is exactly what she did. She went to Queens College where the cost of attendance was only $500 a semester. However as a post-undergraduate she wasn’t treated like the other students. One of the most inconvenient and frustrating aspects of student life as a post undergrad was that she got last choice of all of her classes. Which meant that she had to wait a number of weeks for students to drop classes in order to join and catch up. Unable to organize an effective and reliable course plan, she decided to see her pre-med advisor which, in itself, presented her with another problem. No pre-med advisor could fit her into their schedule. They were overloaded with undergraduates and didn’t make the time for anyone outside of that description. One day, as she describes it, she waited outside the office of an advisor who was meeting with a student. Unannounced and unplanned: as soon as that student left, she walked in. She looked at him and said “I have straight A’s so you have to meet with me.” And it worked. They met and spoke about her options. He told her that he had never gotten a post undergrad into medical school and that she had better chances at a different university. He told her about a premed program at Columbia designed specifically for students who had already graduated but wanted to return to college. With that in mind she applied, was accepted and enrolled the following semester.
Part of Queen’s appeal to her was the low cost of attendance. Colombia on the contrary, was a private university and much more expensive. There were scholarship opportunities but only for students who had been there for more than a semester. So she emptied out her bank account into that first semester betting on the award of those scholarships. She was awarded those scholarships the following semester.
She finished all of her premed requirements a year later and started applying to med school. Three months later before she started interviewing, she got engaged! Wonderful news for her personal life with ambivalent implications on her professional one. Dr. Telen told me that there wasn’t a single interviewer that didn’t ask the question: “Do you plan to marry and have kids?” It was a weighted question with no good answer.
She eventually came across one friendly interviewer-a female-at NYU. She was admitted into their program and matriculated soon after. In her fourth year of Medical School, she became pregnant. Again, a blessing in her personal life would prove itself difficult not only having to handle medical school but also in the application for residency. Dr. Telen is coming from a period in time where females constituted less than 10% of medical schools. Not believing that she could manage both residency and motherhood, every one of her interviewers came across biased and unfriendly. The interview process, as a result, was a very long and arduous one. She eventually grew tired of the whole thing when she arrived at one of her last interviews. She no longer cared about how her image as a mother might affect her. When she was asked by her interviewer what she hoped to get out of residency, she mentioned things like medical competence, good technique, but ended boldly stating that she wanted her child to know what kind of a mother she was. Little did she know at the time that her interviewer’s wife was also a doctor and a mother of seven! Needless to say, that interview worked out in her favor.
Dr. Telen began her residency at University at Buffalo-Suny School of Medicine. Sometime into her residency, a senior member in the residency program suggested to Dr. Telen that she get involved with research. So she did just that and she loved it. She’s currently director of Duke’s Sickle Cell Center, on the advisory committee for a biotech company, is constantly reviewing the work of her peers, writing reviews for her peers, and I’m fortunate enough to run into her every now and then in her lab where she fosters both intellectual growth and a sense of community as the Principal Investigator.
