The hospital conversation that set a young epilepsy patient on the neuroscience career path
A child neurologist treating Christin Godale\u2019s epilepsy was so impressed with his young patient\u2019s interest in the brain he gave her some of his textbooks to read during an extended stay in hospital.
\u201cHe said I should consider a career in neuroscience. That moment really changed my life,\u201d says Godale, who followed his advice and went on to research epilepsy for her PhD at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Godale describes how at one point she was experiencing up to 30 seizures a day and spent periods in a coma, severely curtailing her quality of life, childhood friendships, and graduate school experiences.
\u201cI\u2019ve developed some habits to combat these cognitive impairments that I experience,\u201d she says. \u201cI find myself writing down everything that I\u2019m learning in a lecture and hearing at a meeting.\u201d
When the pandemic struck in March 2020 and labs shut down, Godale embarked on patient advoacy work and science communication via the Society for Neuroscience\u2019s early career policy ambassadors program.
She lobbied Congress members to increase federal funding for neuroscience research, and in late 2021 decided on a career path that would involve her in both academia and industry, working for a seed fund focused on life science and digital companies in southwest Ohio.
\u201cDuring my graduate studies, I networked a lot. I encourage any early career researcher listening to this podcast to prioritize networking while you\u2019re in graduate school,\u201d she says.
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