A Winding Life Through Science: Virginia Man-Yee Lee • iBiology

Duration: 00:06:00
Transcript

00:00:18:04 Yeah you know Asian families.
00:00:20:00 I mean they really don't like the daughters
00:00:23:20 to wear the pants you know?
00:00:26:18 And particularly my mother's generation I mean
00:00:28:16 they're very old fashioned.
00:00:32:08 She said you know you're so tall
00:00:35:04 and you are just you know so dominant and you know
00:00:40:05 you like to be in charge
00:00:42:10 and no men will wanna marry you.
00:00:46:02 (gentle music)
00:00:59:07 But as a woman
00:01:01:04 you really need to ask yourself
00:01:04:08 what do you wanna do?
00:01:05:14 What do you like to do?
00:01:06:23 And you've gotta pursue that.
00:01:15:23 In Hong Kong I had the opportunity
00:01:18:13 to compete for this tough school in high school
00:01:21:12 and I was accepted and I was delighted
00:01:24:20 except that everything was taught in English.
00:01:29:16 I looked around the class and I said
00:01:32:02 well they're better than me in English.
00:01:35:00 But I said to myself well
00:01:37:15 we all have the equal opportunity for science.
00:01:43:15 In that high school
00:01:44:15 I realized that I have a good affinity for the
00:01:47:18 sciences and for math
00:01:52:04 but my mother didn't want me to go into sciences
00:01:54:22 so she sent me to the Royal Academy of Music
00:01:57:17 in London to study piano when I was 16.
00:02:04:05 I really didn't like playing the piano.
00:02:06:09 I mean I have no talent to be a concert pianist
00:02:08:12 and I don't wanna teach little kids playing piano.
00:02:11:08 That's not a good way to make living for me.
00:02:15:06 When I decided I wanna drop out
00:02:17:06 I said to my mother
00:02:18:11 I said I'm gonna apply to university and to study chemistry.
00:02:24:22 And so I did I got in and you know I got into university
00:02:28:24 and so my mother at that point and you know
00:02:32:07 and my father said well you gotta you know
00:02:38:05 But you know as a woman and being Asian
00:02:41:06 and particularly in those days in the sixties
00:02:44:03 not having role models
00:02:45:07 and not having really people around me
00:02:47:11 to tell me that you know you're pretty smart.
00:02:50:14 You can do the stuff.
00:02:51:19 I really just sort of bumbled along.
00:02:54:14 And I thought okay people get the PhD
00:02:56:18 and so I finished my PhD and at that point
00:02:59:03 I still didn't know what I wanted to do
00:03:02:17 but I was developing an interest in neuroscience
00:03:06:18 and the brain sort of is fascinating
00:03:08:22 and it fascinates me.
00:03:10:07 So I applied for a postdoc
00:03:12:14 at the children's hospital in Boston.
00:03:17:15 My boss actually he was not that smart
00:03:20:21 and I was not so interested.
00:03:22:22 And so didn't think I wanted a job in academia.
00:03:26:19 At that time I already met my husband John
00:03:29:08 and he transferred his residency from BMG to Penn
00:03:36:02 and then because I needed a job
00:03:37:22 I needed to move to Philadelphia.
00:03:39:22 I said well maybe I get a job in industry.
00:03:41:19 So that's how I end up in Smith Kline.
00:03:45:07 I was at Smith Kline for a year and I hated it.
00:03:49:08 My boss don't know any science!
00:03:51:19 I mean
00:03:52:19 (she laughs)
00:03:54:09 they don't know what's going on.
00:03:55:24 So after one year I was bitching and moaning
00:03:58:02 and John said either you shut up or you get out.
00:04:01:11 At that time his boss said to me well
00:04:03:22 if you get a grant then you come work here.
00:04:06:19 So I got two grants like within a year.
00:04:10:05 And so I have a position
00:04:14:19 but at the same time during that period
00:04:17:09 I was enrolled at the Wharton School for an Executive MBA
00:04:21:19 and so I did all of that all at once.
00:04:23:22 So I said to myself if I can do that
00:04:26:11 I should be able to be successful in science
00:04:28:13 for crying out loud.
00:04:34:02 My husband John
00:04:35:23 is a neuropathologist and I'm a biochemist.
00:04:37:17 And we developed this pipeline doing research
00:04:40:10 on neurodegenerative diseases
00:04:42:02 and built up this program at Penn.
00:04:46:20 I got grants I got promoted
00:04:48:09 and then eventually they gave me an Endowed Chair.
00:04:57:01 Now I mentor graduate students and post ops and
00:05:00:24 you know fellows.
00:05:02:21 It's so important
00:05:04:02 because I never really had much of a role model.
00:05:09:18 Working in science is difficult to do
00:05:11:21 but my scientific career worked out really well.
00:05:18:04 It's really keeping me from aging quickly.

This Talk

Speaker: Virginia Man-Yee Lee

Recorded: October 2020

Talk Overview

When Virginia Man-Yee Lee., Ph.D., was growing up in Hong Kong in the 1950s and 1960s, her parents had certain expectations for their daughter that did not include a career in academics and especially science. But Lee felt an inescapable pull to science. Challenging stereotypes at the time of what a Chinese woman could accomplish, she became a leading researcher of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. In this film, Lee recounts her inspiring journey made possible by her determination, positive outlook, resilience, and hard work.

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Speaker Bio

Virginia Man-Yee Lee

Virginia Man-Yee Lee, Ph.D., is the John H. Ware 3rd Endowed Professor in Alzheimer’s Research at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and Director of the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research. Lee’s research focuses on disease proteins that form pathological inclusions in hereditary and sporadic Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), frontotemporal lobar… Continue Reading