Intellectual Curiosity and Women

I am so wondered and amazed to observe the stark difference in people who are curious and those who are not.  Or is it the the difference in right brain oriented people and those who are left brain?

I spent four days in the company of my friend Dr. M. Traveling to Carmel and attending a conference of pediatricians.  They were specifically neonatologists.  Riding in the car with us was Dr. K.  She pointed out that UCLA doctors who do research are doing so for the intellectual curiosity and pleasure.  They are not as interested in monitory gains or fame or stature in society.

I had the honor to meet the late Dr. Joanne Brasel who attended this meeting years ago.  In her time she was the only woman in medical school.  Now these young pediatricians tell me there are just as many women as men in med school. 

These women have a tough time balancing career and family yet they are all so energetic and organized.  At the same time they are sensitive and caring.

Jewish History Highlights

Jewish history highlights

1. Destruction of first temple by Babylonians 586 BCE

2. Destruction of second temple by the Romans 70 AD.

3. Exile in Babylon the rabbis and the Talmud.  (The Talmudic Academies in Babylonia were  the center for Jewish scholarship and the development of Jewish Law in Babylonia from roughly 589 CE to 1038 CE)

4. Rise of Christianity, Spanish inquisition (1478-1834)

5. 1492 Expulsion of Jews from Spain.  Jews migrate to north Africa.  Maimonides is a personal physician to the Egyptian king.

6.  Sephardim are the Jews from Spain.  Ashkenazim are the Jews in Russia and northern Europe.

7. Pogroms in Russia 1821-1922 .  Jewish villages are burned down.  Jews migrate to America and European capitals.  Early 1900's are the years of enlightenment.

8. WW2 1939 to 1945 murder of 6 million European Jews.

9. Creation of the state of Israel 1948.

10. Immigration of the Jews of Mashhad and Iran to Israel 1949-1956. 

About me

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashhadi_Jews

The Jews of Mashhad were forced to practice Islam for one hundred and fifty years. They kept their Judaic traditions in hiding.  My parents were married in Mashhad then moved to Tehran where I was born.  In 1951 the entire family immigrated to Israel. The Mashhadi community in Israel kept their specific traditions for decades throughout the world: New York, London, Milan.

I was a quiet shy girl always curious and studious.  I excelled in school and were fascinated by the laws of nature as early as second grade.  Growing up in Tel Aviv we lived with both my grandparents and three uncles in one small house for eight years.  I started reading books when my uncle bought his first set of books.  My high school teachers were the ones who guided me throughout my studies and ultimately my future career as a research biochemist.  I married a man from California who had a similar background of the Mashhadi community.  We raised our two sons in California, while our respective parents had the continuous influence of keeping the Mashhadi traditions. To this day I am the only scientist in my extended family.

This is the story of my journey from the Jews of Mashhad to the study of protein chemistry.   Proteins that pump acid into your stomach, balance sodium and potassium in your kidneys, proteins that control your metabolism and proteins that turn into amyloids and cause neuro-degenerative diseases.