Clarissa Whitehead
“My name is Clarissa, and I am a PhD candidate at The University of Melbourne. My research project investigates the mechanisms of cell invasion utilised by the most common and aggressive form of adult brain cancer, Glioblastoma, and how these may be altered following irradiation and chemotherapy. This is a topic close to my heart, as I lost my mother to Glioblastoma in 2016, a year before I commenced my PhD project. As Glioblastoma is currently known to be incurable, I hope that my research findings can improve our understanding of this debilitating disease and assist in the development of improved therapeutic options for Glioblastoma patients.
I received my ASD diagnosis at the age of 22, during the first year of PhD, after a newly formed friend suggested that I may be on the spectrum. Following the suggestion, I began researching the possibility and, like many other women who grew up unaware of their neurodiverse brains, everything began to make sense. As a research scientist, I believe that my autistic brain can be an advantage. For instance, I have always created detailed schedules of each day at the start of every week, and this detailed ‘to-the-minute’ planning has allowed me to efficiently manage multiple experiments simultaneously. Likewise, my ability to hyper-focus has been super handy for intricate, lengthy experiments as well as long days of writing (with a timer on so I remember to pause for a moment and eat).
Alongside the challenges we face, there are also so many positives to being a neurodiverse scientist, which is why advocating for neurodiversity in STEM is so important. If ample opportunities and accommodations are in place to assist neurodiverse researchers and students, I see a lot of us thriving in STEM careers.“
Instagram: @clarissa_xx_anne
