Pharmacology professor advises women in academia on finding balance

By SUSAN JONES

Steffi Oesterreich, a Pitt professor of pharmacology and chemical biology, had some practical advice for women in academia about work-life balance — or as many call it now, life-work integration — during the opening session of the annual Women in Medicine and Science Forum.

Now that her daughters are adults — both pursuing advanced degrees — finding balance is easier for Oesterreich, a breast cancer researcher and co-director of the Women’s Cancer Research Center at Magee Women’s Research Institute and Hillman Cancer Center. But she readily remembers her toughest times as a junior faculty member at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, when her children were both very young.

She and her husband, fellow researcher Adrian Lee, were both trying to get funding and publish papers for separate projects and they were living on paltry assistant professor salaries.

She went to a talk by researcher Mary-Claire King who said one of the most important things when you start out is to get help with cleaning at home and to spend time with your partner. King made the point that saving money at that point is less important than surviving, both at work and at home.

Oesterreich went home that day and told her husband they needed to hire a cleaner and have someone take care of the kids once a week. They also traded child care every other week with another couple.

Though she readily admits there is no cookie-cutter way to balance home and work, Oesterreich had some useful suggestions. The first was to be authentic in defining your goals and core values. Your activities at work and in the rest of your life need to align with those core values.

“For myself, I knew early on I had a tremendous passion for science and for medical research. But at the same time, I also knew that I wanted to have a family,” she said. She always knew that, if needed, she could walk away from the job for her family, but could never give up her family for the job.

She presented a chart in which you fill out the importance you currently give, by percentage, to four aspects of your life: work/career, family/home, personal well-being and community. Then you rate your current focus in these areas by percentage and your satisfaction in each on a one-to-10 scale. After completing the chart, have the major stakeholders in your life — partner, children, boss, co-workers — fill it out too.

Chart on home life balance

Osterreich said she had felt guilty about the attention she gave her daughters since she put them in day care at age 6 weeks, and she expected her children, who were older by then, to say on the chart that she was spending too much time at work. But instead, they said, “Continuing with what you’re doing, putting your family first and taking time to spend with us.”

Your mental and physical well-being also should be a priority, she said. “It’s not trivial and it is very difficult to change your daily schedule. I think it’s almost easier to come home and sit on the sofa with a journal, not really reading it, … as it is to get up again and go swimming (or other exercises).”

With time management, Osterreich said you have to get creative. Some of the techniques she uses include:

Make to-do lists. She makes a short-term goals list every day and a long-term running list.

Limit social media and other distractions. While being online can be a necessary part of the job these days, it’s easy to get pulled in. “There’s so many distractions which prevent us from being as effective and as efficient as we could be,” she said. Osterreich tries to limit her time on social media twice a day.

Make the most of time commitments. If you’re meeting with someone who has limited time, make sure to be prepared.

Learn to say no. “It’s bad to say yes to everything,” she said, and leadership might actually expect you to say no from time to time.

Use flex time wisely. In science and academia, she said, there often is more flexibility about where and when the work needs to get done. She spent many of her daughters’ swim meets reading and writing grants and papers. She also does work while riding her Peloton and has virtual meetings while traveling. Osterreich also has set aside one day a week where she schedules no meetings.

Her final advice was to find a community of people, particularly other women, who will support and mentor you. She has two groups of women, mostly breast cancer researchers and other scientists, she meets with for one or two weekends a year. They have fun and try to discuss the positive things happening in their work and lives, and they also talk about how they can help each other.

Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.

 

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