Her Story
About Vanessa
Vanessa Voltarelli is a biomedical researcher and scientist with experience dating back to 2009. Her educational background includes an undergraduate degree in physical education and sports sciences, a master's degree received in 2012, and a PhD completed in 2016. Her early research centered on exercise, skeletal muscle, and heart diseases, later shifting during her postdoctoral work to include cancer research. She currently holds dual roles as a staff scientist and instructor at Harvard Medical School in Boston. In this capacity, she manages multiple research projects, performs experiments, assists with grant and paper writing, and trains graduate, undergraduate, and high school students in laboratory techniques and scientific methods. Originally from Brazil, she came to the United States for a one-year internship during her PhD and returned permanently in 2021. She attributes her success to ambition, hard work, pursuing her dreams, and some luck and opportunity. She is affiliated with the American Heart Association, from which she has received grants, and the American Association of Cancer Research. Her professional values include empathy, honesty, authenticity, and standing up for oneself, and she advises young women entering the field to be resilient, strong, and confident in a changing but still male-dominant environment.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Vanessa
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think everybody has a little bit of luck. But also, like, I'm ambitious and hard work, maybe? And I always wanted also to come to the U.S. to improve my skills. So I'm originally from Brazil. I came to the U.S. for an internship during my PhD for one year, and then I went back to Brazil, and then in 2021 came back, and I'm here. I've been here since then. And I think that's it. Basically, I just pursued my dreams and my goals in life. And a little bit of luck and opportunity, too, I think.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I think the first advice of career was, like, my dad and my brother. They just told me to explore the world, and to not be afraid, and to be independent, and follow my dreams. And then I have a very special mentor in my master's and my PhD in Brazil, also, and then she was always very supporting of our dreams, and now I have another mentor here that is my boss, and he was mentoring my postdoc here. Robert. And he's also always super supporting.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I think they have to be resilient and strong, because you need to have resilience in research, and it's not always easy, because it's still a male-dominant field, but it's just changing a lot. And I think they have to be confident about it, and strong and resilient.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I think empathy, for me, is one that I like the most, caring about others and understanding their background and their struggles, I think it's really important. And I think it works for both personal and professional life too. I think honesty, being an honest person, I think this is very important to me, being authentic. Being yourself, and also standing up for yourself.
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