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Communicating a new science story

When your plans for the future don’t work out as you thought they would … it’s time to make new plans. Dr Amy Nisselle (TC 1991) explains how she came upon her rewarding career as a science communicator, and how her experience makes a great story to share when she visits schools to talk about STEM careers.
2018-07-24
When Dr Amy Nisselle (TC 1991) returned to 榴莲视频下载appin May as a Career Connect presenter, she loved revisiting her past. The rain might have been falling, but the combination of dusk, the 鈥榝ancy new鈥 Gateway Building鈥檚 shining lights and the comforts of the familiar oak tree and the old building created a beautiful, symbolic picture of Trinity鈥檚 past and future.

鈥業 really loved the pomp and circumstance, the history,鈥 she recalls. 鈥楪owning up for dinner. Sitting in the Dining Hall at the big long tables. My dad [Paul Nisselle (TC 1963)] went to 榴莲视频下载appand I like the sense of tradition, that I was sitting in the same hall.鈥

It鈥檚 not only Dr Nisselle鈥檚 榴莲视频下载apphistory that makes her the perfect adviser and mentor in this space: her own amazing career story illustrates how future possibilities can open up, no matter how unlikely they might seem.
She鈥檚 currently Specialist Project Officer with the Australian Genomics Health Alliance at the Murdoch Children鈥檚 Research Institute, and a specialist in a multidisciplinary niche that unites genetics, education and multimedia. But that wasn鈥檛 the plan. She had come to the University of Melbourne, following in the footsteps of her mum and dad 鈥 a physiotherapist and doctor. respectively 鈥 fired up for a future in forensic science. But she left lost and uncertain.

鈥業 got to 21 and was doing my Honours year in the biochem department and hated it,鈥 she confessed. 鈥業 thought, 鈥淚鈥檝e only ever wanted to be a scientist and here I am, finally in the lab, playing around with test tubes, doing research and 鈥 I鈥檓 not very good at it. I need to interact with people!鈥濃 she laughs.

鈥楳y entire life was planned around being in the lab and being really fulfilled by that. I thought, 鈥淲hat on earth am I going to do if I don鈥檛 do this?鈥 When I talk to students now, that鈥檚 the kind of message I try to get across: if you have your heart set on something and it works out 鈥 great, bingo! But not everyone has a vocation when they leave high school or uni, and that鈥檚 also OK.鈥

How could she be a scientist but not a bench scientist? She found clues on a five-year working holiday in the UK, with a job combining medical education and IT project management. 鈥榃hen I came back to Oz I saw an ad for a project manager with a genetics degree and I thought, 鈥淲ow, how unusual is that? I have that!鈥 So, I got into the world of medical research here at the Murdoch. I鈥檝e worked all over the world and the Murdoch is absolutely my favourite workplace.鈥

Her first project was medical research into genetic screening. But it was the extraordinary International Congress of Genetics in Melbourne in 2003, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA, that was the game changer. Awestruck and inspired, surrounded by Nobel prize-winners, she saw a presentation by a US specialist in genetics education and cutting-edge multimedia and she found her PhD subject and passion. Her pursuit of further insight resulted in an internship at the ABC TV鈥檚 flagship science program Catalyst. That experience, plus her PhD topic, then resulted in an internship at New York鈥檚 DNA Learning Centre, which in turn lead to a five-year 鈥榙ream job鈥, working with the cream of the world鈥檚 scientists and science communicators.

鈥榃hen I realised I could be a science communicator and could switch other people on to science 鈥 that was great! I didn鈥檛 have to personally save the planet through bench science but I could show other people that there are all these different ways to do it. You can still end up doing really rewarding things, but it just might not be what, or how, you thought.鈥

Dr Nisselle鈥檚 current project is in the field of genomics, as part of a large program funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council investigating how to incorporate the latest genomic technologies into routine healthcare, now that testing is accessible and affordable. Hundreds of researchers across Australia are working together to look at how genomic medicine would work: how to handle big data, privacy, insurance, legal issues and economic implications. Dr Nisselle鈥檚 research focuses on how to educate and train everyone from doctors to pharmacists, nurses to nutritionists, to deliver genomic medicine. She leads a team of researchers and students, drawing together the threads of her own education, training, experience and passion, as well as her talent for telling complex science stories simply.

鈥楾o date, a lot of research that鈥檚 been done has been like putting all your money into an F11 fighter plane; so you鈥檝e spent billions of dollars and you鈥檝e only got a dozen or so people who can fly this thing,鈥 she explains. 鈥楴ow we need Qantas. We need to flip it on its head; we need tens of thousands of people who can do it, efficiently and economically.鈥

She鈥檚 more than happy, too, to share her personal career story in schools, especially with girls and young women, as women are still disappointingly under-represented in science, especially at the highest levels. She fears many women in science fall victim to 鈥榠mposter syndrome鈥 鈥 doubting their value 鈥 which, combined with the juggle of raising children while working (she has a five-year-old son), can limit careers.

Dr Nisselle volunteers with the impressive Sisters In Science program, visiting schools to inspire teenage girls to consider science careers. 鈥楢ll I do is give my spiel: follow your heart!鈥 she enthuses. 鈥業f you鈥檙e not sure what to be when you grow up, do stuff you like in the interim and don鈥檛 discount the fact that your job may not exist yet.
鈥楾he world is changing so fast that if you don鈥檛 know what you want to do, that鈥檚 fine. Twenty years from now, there鈥檒l be a completely different set of jobs anyway. Take bioinformatics 鈥 the qualification didn鈥檛 exist when I was at uni but now it鈥檚 one of the hottest, and well-paid, jobs in my field. You won鈥檛 have two or three different careers 鈥 they say you鈥檒l have 17! I鈥檓 already on to my third or fourth, and I didn鈥檛 anticipate it happening that way.鈥

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