WISE at Thermo Fisher: Gina Parker
Over the next few articles, WISE will be introducing you to some of the amazing women that work at Thermo Fisher Scientific. With locations around the world, Thermo Fisher Scientific is a biotechnology company that aims to lead in the science industry.
For this week’s post, we will be sharing our interview with Gina Parker, a Quality Engineer in Microbiology at Thermo Fisher Scientific. Gina shares with us her greatest past and present struggles and her advice to undergraduates.
Thanks for taking the time to interview with us!
Let’s start off by talking about fears. What has been the scariest experience in your life?
My little brother was going through treatments for Leukemia throughout my undergrad, it was terrifying. The scariest thought to me was living life without him in it and watching him go through agony without being able to help him directly.
What has been your most difficult decision?
The most difficult decision for me was to seek help for an anxiety disorder. I had always been good at keeping it under control, but when my brother got sick — between that and juggling work and school — facing the anxiety every day became increasingly difficult. I had to suck up my pride, push aside the stigma and confront the issue head on. To this day, this is one of the best decisions that I’ve ever made.
What are you passionate about?
Throughout university I was the National Chair for the Get Swabbed! Program with OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network, in addition to be the University Champion at Carleton University for 4 years registering over 4000 stem cell/bone marrow donors. I was also the VP Student Issues at the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) which lead me to become involved in transit issues impacting the municipality of Ottawa and many other issues directly impacting students. I have been a stakeholder in MSM policy discussions for over 5 years, and was involved in changing the lifetime ban to 5 years, and again to 1 year just last fall. I remain involved as a stakeholder in discussions moving forward in my capacity on the Regional Liaison Committee for Ontario and Nunavut (Canadian Blood Services). I am passionate about helping people live a long and healthy life, health policy and enabling every day people to achieve extraordinary accomplishments by tapping into their passions.
Who is your greatest role model?
It’s hard to pinpoint one person who has been the single greatest role model. I have many different role models for different areas of my life. I admire people who handle difficult situations with composure and look up to people who display integrity and hold themselves to account.
How would you define success?
Success to me is waking up every day eager to learn and work towards bettering myself and the greater community. Feeling as if I have made a difference at the end of the day is very rewarding to me.
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
I see myself in a high level leadership position in both work and philanthropy, continuing to put every effort into bettering society.
Finally, what advice would you give to younger students if you could go back in time?
In my experience employers don’t care if you got straight A’s in university. Post-secondary is about learning how to interact with people, how to network and how to optimize your effectiveness through time management.
Thanks to Thermo Fisher for generously sponsoring WISE! They will be attending our WISE & Cheese Networking Reception on February 26th, 2018. Find out more about the event here.
Do you know an amazing WISE that you want to nominate an for an interview? Do you have an woman that you look up to whose story you want to hear? Nominate them today by commenting on this article or by messaging our Facebook page here!
Originally published at https://medium.com on February 20, 2018.
