Her Story
About Latika
Latika Matai is a scientist and junior faculty member at Harvard Medical School in the Boston, MA area. Her research in an academic hospital setting centers around aging senescence, examining how some cells or tissues can be more resilient to age-related stress and developing therapeutic interventions to delay aging or health span decline. She recently achieved a meaningful career milestone by securing an NIH K award grant, one of the most competitive sources of independent funding, which enables her scientific independence as a principal investigator. An immigrant from India, Matai attributes her perseverance to a vision of building a life that allows her to fully embrace her identities as a scientist, mother, and daughter while advising young women entering the field not to let periods of setbacks define or reduce the size of their ambitions.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Latika
01What do you attribute your success to?
It's the vision of the life I want to build. It's the vision of a life where I can do my full to the two identities of me, one as a scientist, and one as a mother, or as a daughter as well. This vision of mine to build a life where I reach a stage where I can take care of both of these things parallelly keeps me going every day.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't let a period of setbacks define what you want to do in life. There'll be a period when there will be a downfall, or multiple downfalls, but that shouldn't reduce the size of your ambition. It might delay, but it shouldn't reduce the size of your ambition, because girl, you had it, and one day, it'll work. Keep going.
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.