Katie McCullar

I attribute my success to a really great support system - great friends and great family. I know it's kind of funny, but also great sleep. I sleep really well, and I think that helps you achieve kind of great things. So I definitely incorporate my love of sleep in everywhere I can. What really motivates me is working with people who struggle with sleep issues. I work a lot with nursing staff and hold private meetings with them because so many nurses have insomnia. A lot of people have those struggles that can really be all-encompassing. When we fixed my grandmother's insomnia, a lot of things got better for her health. So I think that sleep is a really important and accessible tool that you can pretty easily communicate to people.

The best career advice I've ever received is to always consider your mentors. Your mentors are incredibly important, almost more so than the subject matter. You can pivot with the subject matter later on, but having really supportive mentors has been pivotal for trying to make it in academia.

I would say, try to find someone who has the job you want and speak with them. Try to find someone who is living that life, and go speak to them about what does that day look like, what did they have to do to get there, and actually get some of the concrete steps. I feel like that's such a big hurdle for women who are trying to break into this space - just not knowing what to do, where to go. So just find someone and reach out. People are usually much more excited to speak with you than you might think. I know I was really bashful about that growing up. So just reach out to people. Find the people who have the job you want, and talk to them.

The biggest challenge in my field right now is funding. Currently, funding is really dicey, so that's probably the biggest challenge - you always have to get grants to keep your projects running. At least here in the U.S., that's definitely a little bit of a struggle, just making sure you can maintain it for the duration of your career.

The values most important to me are honesty and integrity, which I think is the crux of what scientists really have to hold onto. Curiosity is also very important - having that desire to kind of understand how things work. I also think having a little skepticism is good, to be a little discerning when you're breaking into this kind of field. And open-mindedness, sort of balancing those two. I'm also very hardworking and believe in being respectful, especially to your participants. If I had to narrow it down, I think honesty, integrity, and curiosity would be the three main values.