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90% of readers believe that mobile technology and increasing online access make social media an ideal platform for attracting younger generations of South Africans to SET fields of study. |
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5% of readers say they are not sure. |
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5% of readers say that this time and money could be better spent on outreach projects. |
Exoplanet extraordinaire… Only a few weeks into the new year and already four new exoplanets have been discovered. An exoplanet is a planet that orbits a star in a solar system other than that of the earth. It looks as though 2012 is going to be a year filled with discovery.
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NAMES AND FACES
Valerie Corfield
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Valerie Corfield in action in front of an audience of learners, exciting them about science. |
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A love for all things science led Valerie on the path to a very successful 45-year career in medical sciences, during which she became one of the first people in South Africa to clone a gene. GetS.E.T.go! spoke to Valerie about how she started out in science, her love and passion for medical sciences, future plans involving “Murder Mysteries” and the things in life that excite her.
Tell us about your work at the University of Stellenbosch:
I am a medical scientist in the Biomedical Sciences Department and I do research to find out more about human diseases. I am very lucky to have worked with a team of people who are all interested in finding out more about a particular group of genetic diseases. These diseases affect the heart and are inherited, meaning they run in families. So, although they are generally quite rare in the general population, half of the relatives within an affected family may have symptoms of the disease. This can be a heavy burden.
The team is made up of doctors who see the patients, a research nursing sister, other medical scientists, laboratory technicians and students who are studying further to get higher degrees after their BSc degrees.
Over the years, my job has involved learning a lot more about the diseases that I study, through reading, working in the laboratory, training students, writing about our work in scientific journals and going to conferences in South Africa and overseas where I meet other researchers and discuss our research. I have worked with scientists at other universities in South Africa, as well as in the USA, England, France, Germany, Italy and Denmark.
The wonderful thing about my job is that I have a lot of choices when making decisions about the work that I do, which of course comes with responsibilities and involves working hard. A medical research scientist’s job is definitely not an “eight-to-five” job. There is always more to learn. Extra reading, preparing talks, writing applications for research money and helping students complete their research theses usually has to be done in the evenings and on weekends.
Another way in which I have been very lucky is that I have also met with school learners and talked about my own work and about medical science in general. This started as a scientific “hobby”, but now that I am semi-retired from research work I have more time to pursue it. This in turn has led to trips all over South Africa, as well as to Namibia, the United Kingdom and India.
When did you join the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the university, and what did you do before then?
It is quite hard to remember and it would probably take up too much space to tell the whole story! I have worked as a scientist for 45 years; I joined the Department of Biomedical Sciences 25 years ago. Before that I had worked at the Universities of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and Cape Town and at the South African Institute for Medical Research. I had also spent about five years in the USA, where I did an MSc degree in cell biology at a University in Ohio. When I came back to South Africa in the late 1970s I decided to do a PhD at Wits and was one of the first people in this country to clone a gene. It was an early example of biotechnology; the gene came from one bacterium and was cut out and put into another, so that large amounts of the industrial enzyme alpha-amylase could be made.
Where did you grow up?
I was born in Bristol, England. My father was in the British Army so we travelled quite a lot when I was a child. We lived in Egypt, Germany and Wales – twice in each country. I went to schools in England, Wales and Egypt until my parents finally sent me to boarding school on the Isle of Wight to do my A levels.
What, and where, did you study after school?
I loved science subjects and I decided to go back to the city where I was born to study botany, zoology and chemistry at the University of Bristol in the UK, from 1963 until 1966. After that I came to South Africa to work for Wits and my 45-year career in science began. Along the way I collected an MSc in cell biology in the USA and a PhD in South Africa.
What are your plans for the future?
Some people might think it strange that I’m talking about my future plans after retirement! They certainly aren’t about sitting under a shady tree in my garden sipping iced tea. I enjoy the committee work that I do for the National Research Foundation and will carry on with that. I am also ramping up my scientific hobby, and have been developing the idea of using “Murder Mystery” events as an exciting way for school learners to explore DNA forensics. I plan to carry on developing workshops for school learners to be presented at science festivals and at science centres. I am also involved in education and awareness training workshops for the DNA Project, an advocacy group for the establishment of a DNA criminal intelligence database in South Africa.
What do you do in your spare time?
What spare time? I enjoy gardening, home decorating and taking my dogs for a walk whenever I have time.
What is your favourite dish?
I am a vegetarian (except on Christmas day when I eat a little bit of turkey meat!). I love curry and was very happy when I visited India where there is an amazing variety of spicy vegetarian dishes.
What excites you most about life?
Its amazing richness and diversity, from micro-organisms to plants to animals to mankind; from my little patch of garden to the Cape Floral Kingdom to all the wonderful places in the world that I have had the good fortune of visiting; to the ones that I haven’t been to yet, but which are on my “to-do” list.
Tell us more about your family.
I have three grown-up children who live in Cape Town, Johannesburg and London, an eight-year-old grandchild who lives with me and three other grandchildren. They are also part of the wonder of diversity: my two sons and one granddaughter have brown hair and eyes, my daughter has dramatic red hair and hazel eyes, and the other grandchildren have blue eyes and blonde hair. I am always asked what my grownup children do: one is a systems administrator, one a chartered accountant and one has an MA in political science and owns a tennis academy. The grandchild who lives with me is very good at art – I find it fascinating to see how genetics sets a path for each of us, yet we still have the power to make choices.