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Rachel Medbery

Girlstart’s Women in STEM weekly series highlights various women who are making a difference in STEM. Be inspired as these incredible women describe how they became interested in their field, provide insight into a day in the life, and share learnings from their experiences.

Rachel Medbery

Thoracic Surgeon @ Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeons

Rachel Medbery is a Thoracic Surgeon @ Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeons. She has a passion for being in the STEM field and loves to help others. She is the first female thoracic surgeon in Central Texas and is thrilled to lead the path for other young women. We are so grateful to have her on our blog today to discuss her experiences and hear more about what led her to a career in STEM!

What sparked your interest and made you want to volunteer with Girlstart?

I’m hopeful to influence other young women to attack their dreams and passions head-on and not to be discouraged by the fields that are mostly male-dominated. We need more women breaking glass ceilings!

What would you like to tell girls who are interested in pursuing a STEM career? What words of encouragement would you share with them? 

DO NOT let anyone tell you that you “can’t” or that you “shouldn’t!” Also, do not be scared by a challenge. The challenging careers make success all the more rewarding. Keep your head down and keep your eye on your ultimate goal. Ask for help and lean on friends and family for support. Others want to help you succeed!

Was there a specific person, program, or event in your life that led you to your STEM career?

When I was in my 5th grade science class and got to dissect frogs, I just loved it! It’s funny because I was so scared that I actually asked my mother to write an “excuse note” so that I wouldn’t have to do it; luckily, she refused. I had so much fun that I went home that night and told my parents I wanted to become a surgeon. I never looked back. 

What are your favorite things about your career/field?

I love the instant gratification of surgery. It is very high risk but high reward. I’m able to see patients, take them to the operating room and fix a problem. I go home at the end of the day knowing I have helped impact other people’s lives for the better. 

Briefly describe your career/field.

I’m a general thoracic surgeon which means I operate on everything in a person’s chest except their heart and aorta. Approximately 70% of my practice involves removing cancers of the chest — most of which are lung cancers. I do the majority of my cases minimally invasively with the DaVinci robot. 

Why is confidence in STEM important for girls?

Young women need to realize they can be and do anything their heart desires and they need female mentors to help give encouragement.

What projects/programs have you worked on?

I am the first female thoracic surgeon in Central Texas! I’m so excited to lead the path for other young women. 

What is your greatest accomplishment?

I’m mostly proud of the fact that I never gave up. I had a dream and a kept on moving in a direction to make it come true. After high school, 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, 7 years of general surgery training and 3 years of cardiothoracic surgery training…I finally accomplished my dream. The road was long and challenging and I’m mostly proud of my perseverance.

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Anjana Sundarrajan

Girlstart’s Women in STEM weekly series highlights various women who are making a difference in STEM. Be inspired as these incredible women describe how they became interested in their field, provide insight into a day in the life, and share learnings from their experiences.

Anjana Sundarrajan

Graduate Scientist at AstraZeneca

Anjana Sundarrajan is a Graduate Scientist at AstraZeneca and an inspirational woman in STEM! Watch her interview to learn more about her and her career!

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Roopa Malavally

Girlstart’s Women in STEM weekly series highlights various women who are making a difference in STEM. Be inspired as these incredible women describe how they became interested in their field, provide insight into a day in the life, and share learnings from their experiences.

Roopa Malavally

Staff Technical Writer for Machine Learning Software Engineering @ Advanced Micro Devices

Roopa was inspired to pursue a career in STEM because of her father who always encouraged her to explore and try new avenues even at the risk of failing. She has received numerous awards for innovation and excellence in software documentation and has a passion for inspiring other young girls to break barriers and pursue STEM. We are thrilled with having her on our blog today to discuss her experiences and to hear about what led her to a career in STEM!

What sparked your interest and made you want to volunteer with Girlstart?

The patriarchal system continues to persist in certain sections of society in many countries. Girls are denied education in families and are encouraged to pursue domestic chores. I am passionate about equalizing educational opportunities and ending gender disparities. Girlstart allows me to eliminate stereotyping, fight cultural norms, and encourage girls to take up STEM.

What would you like to tell girls who are interested in pursuing a STEM career? What words of encouragement would you share with them?

Don’t be afraid of failure and open yourself up to new ideas. Believe in yourself and build resilience. Confidence helps us to try again and again with persistence. Find a role model, and know that you never have to choose between family and STEM!

Was there a specific person, program, or event in your life that led you to your STEM career?

My father was a voracious reader and always encouraged me to explore and try new avenues, even at the risk of failure. While I have two Master’s degrees in English Language and Literature, I am happy that pursuing a career in STEM has brought me immense joy and success.

What are your favorite things about your career?

I enjoy learning new technologies and writing is my passion. My career is a heady combination of the two!!
Technical documentation also requires interaction with people and relies heavily on networking with teams. I enjoy interacting with people at varying levels – from novices to leaders in the organization.

Briefly describe your career.

I get to work with some of the world’s smartest people, learn, and write about things I never imagined!

A technical writer writes descriptive manuals, guides, knowledge bases, and blogs about complex subjects. It includes researching topics, creating videos, tutorials, and editing work for publication. Documentation plays a significant role in an enhanced user experience to a variety of audiences. Our responsibilities are to ensure the most logical way to present information and simplify complex software for easy reading comprehension. Content strategy includes generating innovative ideas and workflow ideas. Technical writers work closely with subject-matter experts, Legal and Support teams, product managers. Sometimes, creating Curriculum and Training documentation also comes under technical documentation.

I work in a dynamic software environment, the Machine Learning Software Engineering (MLSE) team at AMD. I create technical documentation for novice and advanced users of AMD ROCm. AMD ROCm is the first open-source software development platform for HPC/Hyperscale-class GPU computing; it brings the UNIX philosophy of choice, minimalism, and modular software development to GPU computing.

Why is confidence in STEM important for girls?

Girls must know to break barriers. And confidence is key to breaking the subconscious stereotyping of associating STEM with boys and men. Cultural norms and gender bias are deeply entrenched in some societies and having faith in their innate ability to shatter the glass ceiling is important.

What projects have you worked on?

I started my career as a technical writer creating online documentation for an Integrated Development Environment, and have since worked on a variety of technical documentation projects.

These include:

  • Led teams to create inline context-sensitive
  • Help and served as Information Architect focusing on content organization and structure on websites for enhanced user experiences
  • Implemented knowledge bases for Support teams, a self-serve library of product information
  • Learned new technologies to document complex Software Development Kit (SDK) guides for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence applications. These include Programming and API guides.
  • Worked closely with Universities to create Curriculum documentation for Training teams and student textbooks describing parallel processing capabilities of AMD GPUs on a ROCm platform.
  • Participated actively in Women’s Leadership teams in companies to introduce inspiring women leaders in STEM
  • Won several awards for innovation and excellence in software documentation
  • Volunteer extensively with non-profit organizations for children’s education in STEM and academic welfare of children from underprivileged sections of society

What is your greatest accomplishment?

Mothers are known to be their children’s first role models. I believe in empowering girls to live a life every day that is worth emulating, showing curiosity, building resilience, being self-reliant, exuding positive energy, being empathetic, and reaching for the stars. My daughter wants to pursue an MD, Ph.D. in Reproductive sciences. My high-schooler son conducted summer camps for underprivileged children in India to encourage children to stay in school highlighting the importance of education and STEM.

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Bhanuja Nagore

Girlstart’s Women in STEM weekly series highlights various women who are making a difference in STEM. Be inspired as these incredible women describe how they became interested in their field, provide insight into a day in the life, and share learnings from their experiences.

Bhanuja Nagore

 

Analytics Lead @ Dell

Bhanuja was inspired to pursue a career in STEM because of the impact that her father has made as a civil engineer. She has achieved two master’s degrees and uses her skills as an Analytics Lead at Dell. We are so excited to hear more about her experiences and passion for STEM today!

 

What sparked your interest and made you want to volunteer with Girlstart?

There is a huge gender gap in Technology field and to fill that gap we need to start mentoring girls from High schools. The foundation should start at an early stage and hence would love to inspire and motivate girls from Girlstart. STEM field is magical and I strongly believe if girls get the opportunity from school, they can create wonders and we can have great future Scientists, Doctors & Engineers from Girlstart.   

 

Was there a specific person, program, or event in your life that led you to your STEM career?
My Father is a Civil Engineer and since childhood I have seen him building huge River reservoirs & Dams. He has provided Water to towns and suburbs for agricultural & household purposes. I was so fascinated by him as a child because I can see that he was supporting & helping thousands of people. I too decided to carry his legacy and through STEM if I can create difference in the lives of many by taking one step at a time.

 

Briefly describe your career.
Leads the Analytics capability includes reporting to Leadership and Sales, building Machine learning models, generating Leads for Business and working on new business opportunities to generate revenue and value for customers. Passionate about creating awareness for STEM education and mentoring students.

 

What are your favorite things about your field?
It is an intersection of Mathematics, Technology & Business. With the power of data, I can influence leaders to take calculative Business decisions that can drive value for customers & create difference in the society. This field is just like solving real puzzles but has a huge impact because you drive yourself to create innovation.

 

What projects have you worked on?
I have worked on projects related to Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning using Natural Language Processing & regression models. The text mining project using Natural Language processing has helped the company in evaluating Employees Feedback into meaning responses. The algorithm converts the heavy and large verbose text into Themes or Titles. It is so efficient that it can create the summary of entire document.

 

What is your greatest accomplishment?
As I am from India and grew up in a small town, I never thought that I will pursue Masters from the U.S. I am the only one in my Family who came to a land of opportunity & dreams and did second Masters from Northeastern University, Boston and was selected as a Young Scholar in Brown University. Now inspiring other girls in the Family to come here, study and make career in STEM.

 

What would you like to tell girls who are interested in pursuing a STEM career? What words of encouragement would you share with them?
Just try and it’s okay to experience failure because only failure can change your perspective and mold your career. Find your passion within STEM, EXPLORE deeper & learn from great leaders. Always believe in the power of your dreams to triumph.

 

Why is confidence in STEM important for girls?
Challenges for women in STEM are complicated because of the roles they often play in families. In families girls are taught to be silent and listen more. Because of the gender gap in the tech industry, especially in meetings mostly there is 4:1 male-female ratio where females tends to listen even they have some exceptional inputs and prefer to remain silent.  Women who succeed in STEM must be able to “speak up when they’re overlooked.” In all-girls learning environments, students should be encouraged to use their voice, better preparing them to speak up first in the classroom and later in professional settings. Hence Confidence is the key to speak up and make others hear your voice.

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