Page 17 - Women Unlimited | Rochester Medicine | University of Rochester Medical Center

Throughout her career, Paige Lawrence, a widely “They didn’t push back, but they didn’t apologize either,”
recognized expert on how environmental factors she says.
influence the development and function of the immune
system, has encountered “many examples of where Those and other examples, Lawrence emphasizes,
gender played a role.” pre-date her 2006 arrival at the University of Rochester
School of Medicine and Dentistry, where she has felt
For example, when she started graduate school at “incredibly well-supported.”
Cornell University, there were no women’s bathrooms
within the research spaces. She had to walk from “When I went to my prior department chair to express
the lab area to an entirely different floor—and a need for something, we generally worked together to
different part of the building, where the secretaries meet that need,” she says. She also noted that this same
were stationed—to use the restroom, the closest collaborative spirit percolates throughout the school
one available for women. She encountered a similar and University of Rochester Medical Center, making for
situation in her first faculty position at Washington “a more positive work environment. While we still have
State University, although this time she led an effort to areas to improve upon, I love working here.”
turn the men’s room into a unisex space. She said that With support both at work and from her partner at
“having to walk far away to use a bathroom may sound home, Lawrence has navigated the many pressures of
trivial, but it is important. It sends a message that you having a career and family. She finds it heartbreaking
are not welcome.” that women in their 20s continue to approach her B. Paige Lawrence,

On two occasions, when she was the only tenure-track with questions about how they can have both. She PhD
woman in her department at Washington State, she had prefers the term “work/life integration” over “work/life Wright Family Research Professor
to deal with men who complimented her lab and then balance,” because she believes it better conveys that Chair of the Department of
announced they were going to set up shop in her space. being both a professional and caretaker is possible. Environmental Medicine
“It was very stressful,” she says. “I feel like the word ‘balance’ creates this idea there’s Director of the Environmental Health
Science Center
some attainable Buddha-like state you’re going to get
Lawrence talked with mentors before approaching the to, and I’ve never achieved that state,” she says. “A lot Professor of Environmental Medicine
and Microbiology and Immunology
men separately to let them know she was bothered by of times I’ve thought I was a complete failure because I University of Rochester School
what they’d said—and that the lab spaces were not couldn’t achieve that state. I finally realized that, overall, of Medicine and Dentistry
available to them to take. I can contribute meaningfully to both my family and
science without having to make binary choices.”

Full-time Faculty Positions 2019

100%

90%
80% 77 78

70% 64
61 61 61
60% 51 57 54 56

50% 49 46 44
39 39 43 39
40% 36

30%
23 22
20%

10%
0%
All Full-time Faculty Senior Instructor/Instructor Assistant Professor Associate Professor Full Professor
URSMD Women URSMD Men National Women National Men

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