From Biomedical to Marine Science: Erin's Journey to Becoming an "Ocean Doctor."
By Erin de Leon Sanchez
Erin holding up a sea urchin by a marine touch pool
As a first-generation Filipino woman, my parents ingrained in me the importance of pursuing a stable career so I could avoid the financial instability they had faced as immigrants. I knew my only option was to pursue a reliable career in the biomedical field since my parents had never seen a successful Filipino woman outside of medicine. Feeling bound to their expectations and dismissal of other careers, I started my degree in cell biology at the University of California, Davis (UCD). But when I entered my pre-requisite biology courses, I was immediately captivated by ecology and how scientists research organism-environment interactions and their cascading effects across communities and ecosystems. As I learned about coral bleaching, I grew more interested in organismal responses to global warming. My parents dismissed my newfound curiosity and urged me to focus on “real” science classes, like organic chemistry. They stressed that the sacrifices they made to give me an education did not mean I could deviate from their path towards financial success. I hesitantly stowed away any thoughts I had in pursuing my interests in ecology.
I really struggled in my first few years of undergrad. I actually failed most of my classes. School was difficult, my mental health was suffering, my imposter syndrome was at an all-time high, and the academic system wasn’t made for first-gen women of color to succeed. Luckily, I found my safe haven: research. I began my research career cleaning glassware in the UCD Dept. of Pharmacology. But after attending several lab meetings and discussing my interest in the research to the Principal Investigator (PI) of the lab, I quickly began an independent research project developing a new approach to reveal unidentified signaling proteins associated with calmodulin- dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) – a protein that has been definitively linked to heart failure and arrhythmias. I also applied, and got into, the University of California Leadership Excellence through Advanced Degrees (UC LEADS) program at the end of my sophomore year, which prepared me for a future in graduate school. I figured that if I wasn’t going to be an M.D. for my parents, I could at least become a Ph.D.
It was not until the UC LEADS Symposium of my junior year that I found the will to change from a future prescribed to me, to a future I could shape for myself. During the symposium at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) I opted to tour a laboratory in the marine science building that would unknowingly transform my life. It was there in Dr. Gretchen Hofmann’s lab that I first discovered how molecular approaches with marine invertebrates can help us investigate organismal responses to climate change. I was immediately captivated by their research as I asked question after question about how ocean acidification could induce epigenetic modifications in sea urchins. An epiphany struck me as I felt a giant red sea urchin’s tube feet grazing my hands for the first time: I could be the one answering these questions! At the end of the tour, Dr. Hofmann approached me with a research opportunity in her lab. I felt ecstatic at the prospect of exploring marine molecular ecology, but I knew I would disappoint my parents if I forfeited my spot in the University of California, San Francisco’s Summer Research Training Program (UCSF SRTP), a biomedical research internship. Afraid of straying from this safe path, I sacrificed my own interests and regretfully declined Dr. Hofmann’s offer.
Later that day, I smiled on stage with an award for my poster presentation feeling like an imposter: I wasn’t genuinely interested in biomedical research. I knew I had to seize the unique opportunity to become the Filipino-American marine scientist that my family never knew of. My dad warned me, “Bahala ka sa buhay mo,” (it’s your life) in Tagalog. That threat, rooted in my parents’ fear of instability, echoed in my head as I withdrew myself from the UCSF SRTP and secured a summer research experience in the Hofmann Lab. I broke the generational ties that restrict many first-generation students from following their interests and I never looked back.
During my summer at UCSB, I conducted an independent research project: a physiological and molecular assessment of thermal tolerance of the white sea urchin, Lytechinus pictus. I spent hours in the lab investigating how projected increases in ocean temperatures would affect the larval stages of L. pictus. I injected urchins with KCl to induce spawning, reared the larvae to certain life stages, conducted thermal tolerance trials on larvae, and extracted RNA to look at differential gene expression of a heat shock protein (hsp70) via qPCR. Applying my existing molecular toolset to a new field transformed me into a more versatile scientist, allowing me to understand the urgency and my passion for exploring marine organismal responses to climate change at the molecular level.
Erin injecting urchins with KCl to induce spawning.
Upon my return to UCD for my senior year, I pivoted my coursework to focus on marine ecology. I took an intensive experimental invertebrate biology course at the Bodega Marine Laboratory (BML) with Dr. Eric Sanford. I gained my first experiences in rocky intertidal field work, species identification, and analyzing large datasets. A classmate and I designed and completed a project investigating the effects of a record-breaking heatwave on mussel bed communities in Northern California. After graduation, I took on a full-time position as a laboratory technician in the Todgham Lab where I assisted multiple projects in freshwater ecophysiology. My time spent at BML and as a lab technician reaffirmed my desire to pursue a graduate degree and continue research in marine science and global change biology.
Today I am someone I never imagined I could be: a Filipino Ph.D. student in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology (EEMB). I now embrace the feeling of the unknown that my parents had so cautiously rejected. Buhay ko ito (it is my life), and with it, I will earn my Ph.D. to advance marine science research and continually use my newfound privilege to pave the way for other first-gen minority students to become “the first to.”
Follow Erin’s Journey on Twitter @ErindeLeonSanc1