Marlene Belfort, PhD

What’s the most important leadership lesson you’ve learned?

Lead by example – be kind, be diligent, be forward looking

What do you consider to be your most important career achievement or milestone?

Election to the National Academy of Sciences

What do you aspire to accomplish in your career and why? What obstacles will you overcome?

Unlike most of the membership of AWIS, I’m a baby-boomer, toward the end of my career. So what I want to inspire the next generations to reach high, not allow perfection get in the way of excellence, and to follow your passions in science and in life.

Describe an amazing opportunity in your STEM career.

The most amazing opportunity for me was serving on NIH’s Council of Councils, the advisory board to the director of NIH, who was Francis Collins at the time.

How was AWIS helped you professionally and/or personally?

I’m fairly new to AWIS, but the organization inspires by providing tools and guardrails to the next generation.

What is your favorite word? (only one word)

Passion

How do you define it?

I define passion as an emotional drive rather than a rational dictate…but truthfully, we need a mixture of both. Starting out, my two passions were to become a mom and a respected scientist. Now my passion is to support the next generation.

How has this word influenced or inspired your career?

Passion was my driving force. It motivated me as a mom and a scientist to be the best parent and most dedicated scientist I could be.

How does AWIS impact your career journey?

My latest stop was to write a woman-in-science memoir Mommy Can Boys Also Be Doctors? A message to Young Scientists and Other Humans. 

What are you currently reading or listening to?

Tap In by Paul Joffee

What do you consider the best professional or personal advice you’ve ever received?

Go where you are wanted, where you and your voice and your talents are needed. Welcome into your world the ones who will tell you the hard truths, not because they want to bring you down, but because they want to help you get where you’re going. (Anna Nawaz)

Marlene Belfort, PhD, born in South Africa to German-Jewish refugees, lost her father to suicide. She earned her PhD from the University of California, Irvine. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, she holds the International RNA Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Despite her successes she suffered severe childhood trauma and late onset depression, and is an exemplar of resilience, providing encouragement to the next generation and inspiration to those with mental illness. She is a Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York at Albany.