CONVERGENCE: For Science & Technology Policymakers and Practitioners

(Continued from front page)

From a longer-term perspective, if students do not receive a rigorous science education, if they don’t have teachers who are prepared to teach those subjects, we won’t have students in the talent pipeline to fill the future need. We should be asking: In 10, 20, 30 years from now, will the education that students currently receive in our schools adequately prepare them for our workforce?

If not, we’re left with a talent pool that’s being depleted.

CONVERGENCE: Is it a matter of more investment in school programs? Or does it also require a change in perception?

Dr. Reede: Clearly, Massachusetts displays leadership in our country and internationally as a place of innovation. Our academic and industry research centers are in the forefront.

We are not necessarily prepared for a society that is changing dramatically. There are very few women in leadership positions. Yet there are more women going to college and earning degrees. As a society, we have increasing numbers of immigrants and people of color who are not reflected in our workforce, particularly our science workforce. It has been a challenge in the past; it will be more of a challenge in the future.

How do we help ensure science literacy across the community, including the best and the brightest across racial, ethnic and societal groups?

There are real issues of equity. We can’t afford to ignore the potential of students in our rural and urban and poor schools. Recently many of the scholarship dollars have moved from need-based to merit-based. I think that it’s a mistake to look only at merit-based investments without looking at issues of justice and disparate impact across communities.

CONVERGENCE: Can you give an example of what you mean by “issues of justice and equity?”

Dr. Reede: There is a huge gap between a suburban or private middle-school student with access to state-of-the-art technology and equipment -- in some cases even access to an electron microscope to work on a science project -- and an urban school student whose science teacher has only a package of markers to help her students prepare for a school science fair.

Our future workforce also resides in the urban classroom with limited access to modern approaches to science. Ultimately, our investments or lack of investments will have an impact on the capacity of industry to hire a competent workforce.

CONVERGENCE: What kinds of programs have you helped to create at Harvard Medical School to level the playing field?

Dr. Reede: At Harvard, we asked the question: How do we bring talent to Massachusetts that can not only survive but thrive? One of our programs invites fourth-year minority medical students from around the country to study at Harvard, because we’re interested in having these students enter our residency programs.

An average of 11 to 25 percent of these students each year has been matched to Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals, and 26 of the program alumni have held faculty positions at the Harvard Medical School. This program offers mentoring, guidance, and information. It provides students with the ability to reach their full potential—and to explore multiple careers paths and options.

We have also worked with students who are at other points in their education and training through the New England Science Symposium, a research symposium for minority students from across the country, that enables them to present their research at Harvard Medical School. The Symposium also serves as a place for the biomedical and pharmaceutical industry to recruit talent. We have worked with companies to create internship opportunities for these students.

Given housing costs and student debts, one of the biggest hurdles is getting people to want to come here, showing them that Massachusetts is a positive place to build a career, a place with many job opportunities.

CONVERGENCE: You have also helped to develop a successful collaboration with industry, the Biomedical Science Careers Program.

Dr. Reede: Yes, in the last 10 years, we have reached some 6,000 students from more than 25 states. Our partners have included Genzyme, Biogen, Boston Scientific, the Massachusetts Medical Society and academic medical centers, as well as law firms, in the effort to ensure that there is diversity in our workforce. Mentoring, scholarships, and resources are the keys to the program’s success.

CONVERGENCE: Congratulations on your being honored as one of the women physicians who have changed the face of medicine in America. You will be speaking in September at Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, as part of a traveling exhibition.

Dr. Reede: Yes, it is a great honor. It is an exhibit created by the National Library of Medicine in Washington, D.C., identifying women who have had an impact on medicine. There are so many amazing women who are part of the exhibit. As a pediatrician, much of my work has focused on youth and families.

At the exhibit opening, I was able to bring my mother and daughter with me. My daughter was able to meet some of the women who served as my mentors. For my mother, it was very much as if I was honoring her.

That was a very powerful moment in my life – my mother and my daughter there at the same time.

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Changes in Attitude