Michelle McNamara
Biochemist, Consultant, Enterprise Fellow, Transgender Activist (she/her)
|
Michelle McNamara obtained an Honours degree in Chemistry & Biochemistry from the University of Melbourne, followed by a master’s degree in Biochemistry from Latrobe University in Australia. She has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in various roles including the Research & Development director at Hospira (today Pfizer). Additionally, she has been a consultant to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies providing support for medical devices, not-for-profit, life science and chemical technology based organisations. Currently, she is an Enterprise Fellow at The University of Melbourne where she is teaching Biotechnology.
Why did you want to become a scientist?The reason I became a scientist is very interesting and it is connected with being transgender. I knew I was transgender from a very young age, but back then in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it was totally impossible and ridiculous for me to even attempt to live a life as a woman. I believed that, as I did not know anyone that was transgender, so I had to suppress those feelings of wanting to be a woman.
At the age of 13, I saw Carlotta, a drag queen in Sydney’s King’s Cross, in the Australasian Post (a weekly magazine). She was a beautiful looking woman and the subtitle was 'Once was a boy called Ricky from Balmain'. I realised that the career paths for transgender women were limited to being a drag queen or prostitute. I wanted neither because I wanted a career of the intellect and of the mind. I suppressed my feelings entirely, so I retreated into rationality and science was the obvious course to rationality - being based on facts and proving theories. That is what I wanted to do because I wanted a serious career. The last place I came out was at work, here at the university, very recently in December 2017. By and large, I have been superbly well accepted by my colleagues and I do not get any sense that students do not accept me. I do think the university, as an organisation, fails to actively promote the safety and well-being of transgender and gender diverse staff and students, but the people I deal with day to day are very supportive. I had a part time job at the university when I came out as transgender. In the first year after I came out, I was offered a full-time role and extended contract, which was a really good sign of my acceptance. I do not believe that the offer was associated with being transgender, I think it was associated with me doing a good job, but this showed that there was no barrier to me being transgender to performing my job. |
Michelle McNamara is VicHealth ambassador for the 'This Girl Can' campaign to help women overcome barriers to becoming physically active.
QUICK FIRE ROUNDWhy do you think it is important to share your story? The motivation for sharing my story is that transgender people are often very invisible. They are often hiding like me and they are scared to come out. I think coming out is a very good thing overall, even if you do have some difficulties. Sharing the stories and dispelling some myths is good. What are your biggest achievements? Having two adult children, who have professional qualifications, partners and good lives, is wonderful. I think coming out as Michelle was fantastic - actually being myself after all this time. They are both wonderful things: learning to be myself and raising two great kids. One of your favourite quotes? “It is necessary to constantly remind ourselves that we are not an abomination.” Marlon Riggs (1957 – 1994; American filmmaker, poet, and gay rights activist) |
What were some of the challenges at work of hiding your authentic self?
Looking back on my career now that I have come out as transgender, I think I was held back by the fact that I was not fully male, I was pretending to be a man holding up a male mask in front of my feminine self.
I had a moment of reflection when I went to a networking event shortly after I came out. A woman spoke about her experience of sitting in executive management meetings being the only woman and listening to the men talking about their that new car, their golf clubs, watches and their salary packages, while she was thinking about who she would be invite over for dinner on Saturday and how she was going to set the table, what flowers she will buy, etc. I reflected that this was exactly how I felt in meetings at work in the past. I had to study the cars, football and what golf was about to try and break into the conversation. If I was in any mixed group of people, I would normally end up talking to the women about parties or fashion. I just did not fit in and felt that it held me back, though it did not do me any great harm as I left Hospira (now Pfizer) as an R&D director before I started work in consultancy.
I was already out in my private life when I was offered the teaching job at the university. It seemed like a good opportunity for me to progress my career by teaching the next generation of biotechnology leaders. In parallel, I was very adamant that if I could not come out, I would have to quit. I made the decision to come out at work in 2017 during that very divisive marriage equality survey. This was quite a difficult choice as our vice chancellor encouraged all staff to have a free and open debate about the rights or wrongs of the marriage equality survey. This seemed to me just so inherently wrong – they were arguing about my rights, which I thought were my rights and not subject to debate.
I had a moment of reflection when I went to a networking event shortly after I came out. A woman spoke about her experience of sitting in executive management meetings being the only woman and listening to the men talking about their that new car, their golf clubs, watches and their salary packages, while she was thinking about who she would be invite over for dinner on Saturday and how she was going to set the table, what flowers she will buy, etc. I reflected that this was exactly how I felt in meetings at work in the past. I had to study the cars, football and what golf was about to try and break into the conversation. If I was in any mixed group of people, I would normally end up talking to the women about parties or fashion. I just did not fit in and felt that it held me back, though it did not do me any great harm as I left Hospira (now Pfizer) as an R&D director before I started work in consultancy.
I was already out in my private life when I was offered the teaching job at the university. It seemed like a good opportunity for me to progress my career by teaching the next generation of biotechnology leaders. In parallel, I was very adamant that if I could not come out, I would have to quit. I made the decision to come out at work in 2017 during that very divisive marriage equality survey. This was quite a difficult choice as our vice chancellor encouraged all staff to have a free and open debate about the rights or wrongs of the marriage equality survey. This seemed to me just so inherently wrong – they were arguing about my rights, which I thought were my rights and not subject to debate.
If you could give one piece of advice to aN aspiring scientist, what would it be?
Just be yourself. Accept yourself for who you are and get out there and study, work and be the best you can. I feel it is an act of courage to come out as any part of the LGBTQIA+ family, but particularly for transgender people, because you are so visible. Don’t show your fear, be your best and be courageous. I think that is probably good advice for any person, especially for people from marginalised groups.
How has their story inspired you? Leave your comments here!
Remember to be respectful to others in your comments. Comments using hateful language, keywords, spam or splog-like URLs, or suspicious information will be deleted.
|
© COPYRIGHT 2020. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
|