I am Science*

Hi, I’m Katie. I am a neuroscientist who meandered into science by way of Visual Arts, a passion for reducing the social stigma of mental illness, and a curiosity of the things our bodies do every day. It seems that I can never cease asking “why” even after people think they’ve answered my questions. I find the things our bodies do fascinating, particularly when we’re sick or things are not working as well as they could be. The technical term for this is pathophysiology, patho meaning suffering or disease and physiology the study of natural functions of a living being.

The plan for this blog is to post about a variety of conditions and how they cause the symptoms they do. I’ll take requests as well. Because I am a neuroscientist who currently performs research, I’d also like to blog about some of the science in my field which centers on the birth of new brain cells (neurons), aka adult neurogenesis. I’ll likely start with blogging the classic papers in my field and occasionally blog about new papers as well. Finally, I’m very interested in the path to scientific careers: alternative careers, funding (NIH, NSF, and otherwise), and fair treatment for underrepresented groups (minorities, women, LGBT) in all STEM fields so there will likely be posts on those topics as well.

*Credit for this title goes to Kevin Zelnio (@kzelnio) for starting the I Am Science hashtag last year. You can read the tweets here or learn more about the upcoming ebook here.