Barnard College - Women in Science

TAMARA VITAL ’08

THE DOCTOR

“Everyday life makes all that much more sense because of science.”

Vital '08, left, with fellow student scientists, Maika Takita '08 and Denise Napolitano '08

Tamara Vital ’08 came to Barnard in the fall of 2006 from Bard College at Simon’s Rock, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and immediately set about studying biology, starting with an upper level course on plant evolution taught by her advisor, Professor Hillary Callahan. Today, several science and language classes later, Vital plans eventually to apply to and enroll in medical school, perhaps to pursue an MD/PhD. The topics that most interest her are public health issues affecting women, as well as botany and agriculture. Vital’s more immediate post-graduation plan is to pursue a job with Teach for America to work as a science teacher. Below, she explains, among other things, her interest in plants and crops and a fascination with corn.

I’ve always been interested in science. Part of my interest is that I’ve always known that I want to be a doctor. I can’t remember anyone saying, ‘Oh, you’d be such a good doctor.’ But I do remember that always being what I want to do. My mom is a medical assistant and when I was little, she worked in the pediatrics department of a hospital. I would have my checkups there, and I’d visit and hang out there sometimes. At school everyone would always say, ‘Your mom is my doctor,’ even though she is not. So it was something that was always there and fed my interest.

When I was in sixth grade, I was diagnosed with scoliosis. I went through a whole process of going to an orthopaedic surgeon, having lots of X-rays, watching the doctor measure the degree of curvature of my spine, and then seeing the X-rays. Eventually I had to have surgery. That whole process really solidified for me what medicine is, what it is to be a doctor. I’ve known for a long time what that involves.

As a biology major, I focus on botany and plants. I think plants are really cool, and the diversity that exists within plants interests me. Also, I’m fascinated by certain crops, like corn. People might think, ‘What is there to know? It’s corn, it grows on a cob, you can eat it.’ But it’s so incredibly interesting. Last spring, I took a medieval history course, and we were reading a page from England, from like 1215. All of a sudden the word corn popped up in the reading, and I thought, ‘Hold on, they didn’t have corn in England then.’ It was so troubling to me. Why were they talking about corn since corn comes from Central America? So I researched this and found that corn has other meanings. It turns out the word originally meant any major grain that was harvested, so the text might have been talking about barley or oats. When English speaking people came to the Americas, the Indians grew what was known as Indian corn, and over time our corn just became so prevalent and pervasive that the “Indian” was dropped.

Being a scientist helps not just in knowing scientific facts—that a pineapple is a compound fruit, for example—but in being able to make connections between things that have nothing to do with science. It develops that inquisitive mindset that makes connections between this cause and that effect and the way that things happen.

As a woman in the sciences, I thought that it was a great idea to transfer to Barnard—a women’s college is a great place to study science. My opinions are valued and I’m surrounded by other female scientists. This idea that women aren’t scientists is pervasive enough in our culture that at times I catch myself thinking, ‘What am I doing? I am a girl. I should just be a sociology major.’ But no one has ever said, ‘Tamara, you’re a girl, why are you trying to be a doctor?’

There’s a lot of historical bias there. I’m sure male nurses feel this all the time. Even though we’ve had this paradigm shift for a while, I have an uncle who’s a nurse, and people think that’s weird—nurses are typically women, and even the word nursing is something that women do to their babies.

There are many forms of encouragement at Barnard. My advisor, Hillary Callahan, and my research mentor, Kristen Shepard, are both women in the sciences, and both are amazing. There’s also the idea that if a college offers science courses to women, then women must be capable of doing this. And if this larger university extends its resources and courses to women then women must be capable. Everyone and everything is saying this is something I am capable of. Even if I have a setback or two, this is something I can do.