Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly Wong.

Hi Kelly, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

I have been involved in the field of science and education for nine years, going on for ten years now. I was a science teacher for six years, starting from the age of sixteen until twenty two when I decided to pursue science research full-time. While being a science teacher, I was also pursuing science research on the side, starting at the age of 16 to this current day. At the time I didn’t want to put all my eggs in one basket in case I wanted to switch careers at any point since I loved both. But at the same time, it was hard because it tripled or even quadrupled my workload. The biggest challenge was knowing that no matter how hard my personal life was, no matter what events were going on in my personal life, I still put a smile on my face, got in front of people, and shared my knowledge of science. There was this one day I won’t forget that I had an important presentation for my research and it was in front of powerful scientists. Leading up to that presentation I barely slept that whole week because it was finals week. I was a master’s student at the time as well as an adjunct professor, so I had to study and take exams as well as make and grade exams for the students that I was instructing at the time. I pulled three all-nighters that week straight and I was presenting my scientific findings at the end of the week. I was told the night before that I had to scrap everything and redo everything although I didn’t know if I could make a whole new presentation and I submitted it 2 mins before the deadline at 6 am. During the whole presentation, I was anxious, exhausted, and unprepared but still pushed through. I will never forget that day because it was the moment I realized no matter what challenges were thrown at me, everything will work out at the end. After that experience, I decided to quit being a science teacher becasue I realized i didn’t like grading and I wanted to focus on making science discoveries so I started with virus research and fast forward to day I research cancer.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

There has been multiple challenges ranging from personal struggles, career struggles, and internal battles with my mind. I struggle with anxiety and I have all my life. It was never to the point where I had to take medication but it was severe enough to have an effect on my day to life. There are days that I don’t want to get out of bed, days that I don’t want to see people, and days when I don’t feel internally good. When I was a low point in my life, my anxiety was a huge struggle with my mind telling myself things I knew deep down where not true. My mind was telling me “Why am I not good enough”, “If I am so amazing and smart why did I get dumped”, Overall it wasnt a healthy mindset and things I didnt think would ever cross my mind but my mind was telling me they were true. It made it harder when I would open about my anxiety and then people would ask me “If youre so anxious all the time how are you going to become a teacher if you can’t even keep yourself together. Up to today those words really stuck with me because there are people who can keep there personal issues seperate from work and some people cannot. I personally was able to unless my anxiety was bad enough to the point it would affect my career which it never did. There was a time in my life where I had to take a six month hiatus from science research because I was in a ocean of self doubt and I questioned whether I should scrap my whole career and start obver from the top which I knew in my heart I didn’t want to but I am forever grateful I didn;t quit my career. But I did need time to re-evaluate myself and wht I truly wanted and the answer to that was happiness. I ignored the unhappiness for so long and therefore it was making me more and more miserable constantly battling with myself. I had my answer right there on why I wasn’t happy in my field and it was because I was constantly battling my own mind and knit picking on all my mistakes and then beating myself up over it instead of staying calm. It was a mentality I had to battle and that I what I spent those six months doing while finding a new job because at the time I had just quit my job. It took alot of work but I didn;t give up and I just kept going.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?

My work is trying to find a non-chemotherapy cure for cancer. Cancer is hard to treat because it stems from a genetic standpoint, which makes it more difficult to cure. Yet, it is a hard disease for anyone going through it or knows someone who is going through it. My proudest moment was getting co-authored three times in one year because getting published is hard enough, but to do it three times in one year was something I didn’t think was possible. Getting published in a journal is major to scientists and we are constantly working to make it because it is time-consuming an expensive process. I have been dedicated to two careers for six years because I came to a decision that I want to dedicate my life to science research. I think that is also what sets me apart from others because simultaneously I had more than one job and I did that a majority of my life growing up.

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?

The field of science research is innovative, and transformative and defines what humanly is possible. No matter how people try to rebuttal that science isn’t true or realistic, the data is there. As time passes, technology will continue advancing, paving the way for new research and new discoveries. Science discoveries have dated back centuries and paved the way to our discoveries today. Take Marie Curie for example, her research discoveries on radiation paved the way for protective equipment to ensure scientists are safe when working with radiation chemicals. In the next 5-10 years, I am hoping there is a cure for cancer without chemotherapy or with less chemotherapy and a low risk of relapse. I also see myself continuing science research because I find joy in making new discoveries. The only way for medicine to improve is through research and I know there is a lot of stigma surrounding it but research is the best way to learn.

Contact Info:

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