Monica Malta
BIO
Global Health Epidemiologist, professor at University of Toronto and Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 3 kids.
Twitter: @MonicaMalta7
Monica Malta
“What kept me going? The sparkle in my daughters’ eyes every time they told someone about their scientist mom.”
I am a Brazilian global health scientist and professor at the University of Toronto. My academic journey started later in life, after I left behind an abusive marriage of 10 years. Struggling with invisible disability, I worked full time and studied at night. Many times, I doubted if I would ever graduate. I spent months hospitalized, struggling to overcome many infections. Against all odds, I survived and fell in love with global health.
After graduating, I received a NIH award and moved to the US with my daughters, aged 7 and 13. During the day, I studied at Ivy Leagues and at night, I worked as a dishwasher. We lived paycheck to paycheck and I almost gave up many times.
What kept me going? The sparkle in my daughters’ eyes every time they told someone about their scientist mom.
I knew global health could change many lives, ours included. During graduate school, I worked with amazing women scientists. They were my role models and main cheerleaders. My mentors also became close friends during my graduation, and never stopped working together. With them I published, drank, cried, traveled, and laughed. They supported me during hardships while I lived alone with my kids in the US. They cherished my successes and were always there for me, when I was alone, sick, or just sad.
Women in STEM should always support each other; the journey gets easier and our success paves way for the new generation. My life experiences have always inspired and informed my scientific agenda and vice-versa. A few months after my oldest daughter came out as a queer woman, her girlfriend was beaten and rejected by her family. She moved to our home, later on her family accepted her, they got married and that led me to start studying about human rights violations of LGBTQ+ persons. I also developed many interventions to address LGBTQ+ violence and prejudice, like the Dandara app. When my other daughter was 16 years old, she was sexually abused by my brother-in-law. We denounced him the day after, but justice was served after a long and painful process. We are now denouncing Brazil at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; to address the country’s repeated omission and negligence in addressing violence against women and girls. My daughter became an activist, role model, educator and child advocate. I also started researching and advocating for women’s rights and addressing women’s rights violations in Latin America.
To the new generation of women in science reading this post, I would like to say: “DO NOT GIVE UP”. A quote by Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, French Virologist and Nobel Prize laureate always kept me going strong: "Certain people—men, of course—discouraged me, saying [science] was not a good career for women. That pushed me even more to persevere”.
To all overwhelmed moms in academia reading my journey: look for support. Build a supportive network. We need to push for more supportive environments for parents in academia, labs and healthcare. We can challenge and change this scenario, but we need to work together. We need more diversity in STEM. Only 30% of scientists are women.
If we look into people of color, immigrants, queer people and other underrepresented groups, the percentage is even lower. Many think that STEM is only for straight A’s students. I failed 6th grade due to my Math and Science grades, but later I became a scientist and epidemiologist. I use numbers, statistics and science almost every day, and such studies makes people’s lives better.
Don’t believe when someone tells you that you don’t belong here or there, or that you are not good enough. Many think that people working in STEM are ‘nerdy’ and socially awkward. Although I studied a lot to become a scientist, I also had lots of fun. My work took me to almost all African and Latin American countries. I met with many different cultures and populations with specific needs that my studies try to address. I know that I am making the world a better place. About being socially awkward. I’m a tattooed surfer. I was the only girl in my beach group, and my friends knew I was into science. They always asked me about the wind, maritime currents, and waves. You can be a cool scientist and have fun. Science is for everyone. The more diverse STEM field is, the better. Regardless of our gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, color/race/ethnicity, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, religion/creed, sexual orientation.
We are stronger together.