WiE-UC June Newsletter

ISSUE NO. 14 | JUNE 2021

WiE - UC Newsletter IEEE Student Branch of the UC - Women in Engineering Affinity Group

ISSUE NO. 14 | JUNE 2021

IEEE WiE interviews Margarida Silvestre Margarida Silvestre is a medical doctor graduated in the Faculty of Medicine of University of Coimbra. Her area of expertise is Obstetrics and Gynaecology, with a particular focus on Reproductive Medicine. In addition, Margarida holds a PhD in Bioethics from Universidade Católica Portuguesa. She is currently a Professor at University of Coimbra, where she teaches several courses in the field of medical ethics. Margarida is the current vice-chairperson of Sociedade Portuguesa de Medicina da Reprodução and of the ethical committees of both the Faculty of Medicine and Centro Hospitalar Universitário in Coimbra. She is also a member of several other Portuguese and European ethical committees and councils.

1. Why did you choose a career in science, and what influenced your decision to specialise in the medical field of Reproductive Medicine? Did you consider other options at the time?

My father was a medical doctor and my mother a Biology teacher, so I think that both genetics and social background influenced my areas of interest.

The beginning of life also fascinated me.

Being able to help infertile people to get pregnant, participating in the process of creating new lives, taking care of them until birth, is a unique opportunity to work in a cutting-edge area that at the same time brings me immense compensation from a human point of view.

2. Later on, what made you dive into the field of Bioethics?

I was invited to be an assistant in the first curricular unit of Medical Ethics at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra, and I immediately started to have a deep interest in the area. This personal interest, the university’s need to have someone with an ethical academic education, as well as the innumerable ethical challenges that arise in my clinical practice, were the determining factors for me to get a doctorate in Bioethics and start teaching medical ethics at my faculty.

3. What would you say are the most challenging aspects of teaching at the university level? And the most gratifying ones?

Teaching ethics to students in a scientific area is an enormous challenge, as they have not only to acquire new knowledge, but also

to develop skills in areas of analysis, reflection, argumentation and ethical deliberation. We have debates organized by the students in the last classes of the semester and it is very rewarding to see how they strive to demonstrate these new skills.

4. You currently hold a leadership role in different ethical committees and societies. Could you give us some insight on what such a role entails?

At this moment I am part of two Ethics Committees (of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra and of the Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra), of the National Council of Ethics and Deontology of the Portuguese Medical Association (NCEDPMA) and the Special Interest Group on Ethics and Law of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology .

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(SIG-EL-ESHRE). The acting context is different in all of them. At the academic ethics committee, we give an opinion on research projects and academic works (such as PhD and masters' theses) whereas at the hospital we also have to provide ethical assistance to patients and healthcare professionals. The NCED-PMA issues opinions on concrete situations in which it is necessary to analyse whether doctors, in the exercise of their functions, have or have not violated their ethical-deontological duties. At SIG-EL-ESHRE, I manage to cross my clinical and academic areas, in an international context, programming and organizing scientific events and sharing experiences with people who work in very different contexts from mine.

5. Currently, there are several Bioethics issues gaining momentum, namely medical data privacy and genetic engineering. What are your expectations for the field of Bioethics for the next decade? What topics will dominate both the scientific and the public debate?

The protection and minimization of the sharing of personal data is a constant concern for us. Researchers are many times unaware of this need and do not know how it should be implemented. It is one of the aspects that we carefully analyse in ethics committees.

The use of technology in Medicine has grown exponentially over the past few years, with the development of new means of diagnosis and treatment, previously unthinkable. We must be aware of the enormous benefits that we can reap from these advances, but keep in mind that humanization of care should continue to be a priority.

Contrary to health and education, technological areas have always been more dominated by the male gender. However, nowadays this situation is changing. The fact that women may want to become pregnant and have children is often a reason to reject a female candidate for a job or position. All initiatives to promote gender equality and protect women in the context of motherhood are fundamental.

7. Have you ever felt any kind of discrimination for being a woman at any point during your professional career?

I never felt any discrimination, but I often found it difficult to reconcile my family life with my profession.

8. What advice would you give to a woman who is starting a career in science?

If we are waiting for the ideal moment to carry out our projects, it never comes.

Sometimes we have to set priorities, but we must not give up what we want or makes us happy.

Finally, as a curiosity…

9. Which was your favourite trip yet / what is your favourite travel destination?

I love to travel and there are many destinations that I keep in my memory, from the most to the least distant. The last trip I did, in late 2019, was to Sicily. It was a destination that exceeded my expectations, due to the enormous richness and architectural diversity, scenic beauty and, of course, delicious gastronomy. In 2020 I had to cancel a trip to Argentina, which I hope to reschedule as soon as the pandemic allows.

6. Among your scientific interests and fields of expertise, what would be a relevant women-related issue that WiE could bring up for discussion, for instance in a WiETalk?

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M E D I A

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Ana Nunes

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ISSUE NO. 14 | JUNE 2021

Biography CAROLINA BEATRIZ ÂNGELO Carolina Beatriz Ângelo was born on April 16, 1878, in Guarda. During her life, she was always linked to the fight for women’s rights and is known for being the first woman in Portugal to perform a surgery and vote in elections.

Carolina grew up in a liberal family that allowed her to pursue her studies. In 1902, she graduated in Medicine at what would become the Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa , being the only woman in her class.

She began her medical practice as the first Portuguese surgeon and dedicated herself to gynaecology.

Besides practicing medicine, she became involved in several organizations that fought for women's rights. In 1909, she was part of the women's group that founded the Liga Republicana de Mulheres Portuguesas (LRMP), an organization that defended republican ideals, women's suffrage, the right to divorce and equal rights and duties for men and women. By Republic's Implantation, on October 5, 1910, Carolina was the leader of LRMP. In 1911, the first electoral code was published. It granted the right to vote to all Portuguese older than 21 years old on May 1st, residents in national territory, who knew how to read and write and were heads of household. Although it was implied that only men could vote, this was not clear.

Carolina Beatriz Ângelo, presenting all the conditions - she had a higher education and, being a widow, was head of household - asked to be included in the electoral roll. Only a court decision allowed it; the judge said "Excluding a woman (...) just because she is a woman (...) is simply absurd and iniquitous and in opposition to ideas of democracy and justice proclaimed by the Republican Party”. Thus, on May 28 of the same year, .

SOURCE: PT.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

Carolina voted in the elections for the Assembleia Nacional Constituinte , becoming the first woman to vote in Portugal. The event made headlines in the Portuguese and European press.

Carolina ended up dying a few months later, on October 3, not seeing the approval of the electoral code of 1913, which was clear and only granted the vote to "male Portuguese citizens". In the following decades, the electoral law suffered changes that allowed some women to vote, but the end of restrictions on women's voting was only achieved after the 25th of April, 1974.

For the way she fought, Carolina Beatriz Ângelo is still honoured today by several feminist movements. In addition, some places in the country have her name, as well as a school in her hometown and the Beatriz Ângelo hospital in Loures.

Ema Macedo

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Achievement MARGARIDA ABRANTES

Every year, to promote the role of women in science, L’Oréal Portugal, the Portuguese National Commission for UNESCO and the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) distinguish four women for their remarkable work in the most diverse areas of science. This year, Margarida Abrantes, Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra, was one of the four women awarded.

Her primary goal is to understand whether or not people with Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Syndrome, and in particular those who have a BRCA2 gene mutation, are more sensitive to ionizing radiation. Once this mutation is identified, these individuals are subjected to regular surveillance, namely through diagnostic imaging techniques involving exposure to ionizing radiation.

By characterizing the effects of ionizing radiation to which the bearers of the BRCA2 gene mutation are exposed during the diagnostic exams they perform, Margarida Abrantes hopes to add knowledge about the risk of its use in those patients and be able to contribute to its optimization.

SOURCE: NOTICIAS.UC.PT

Mariana Moreira

ISSUE NO. 14 | JUNE 2021

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ISSUE NO. 14 | JUNE 2021

Curiosity of the month...

Have you ever heard about “The Matilda Effect”? I bet you will not recognize the term but you are aware of the problem. Since the beginning of science research, there is a tendency to omit/deny information about women scientists and their contributions in research, whose work is often attributed to their male colleagues.

Matilda Joslyn Gage, a women’s suffragist and Native American rights activist, was the first to report this bias in her essay “Woman as Inventor” (published for the first time in 1870). However, the term “The Matilda effect” was only coined by Margaret Rossiter (an American Historian of Science) in 1993 in honor of Matilda Joslyn Gage.

A well-known example is the case of Rosalind Franklin, who worked with Francis Crick and James Watson in the discovery of DNA structure, but who didn’t receive the Nobel Prize with her colleagues. Nowadays, this bias still reflects in the number of cited papers whose first author is a woman, which is smaller compared with the ones whose first author is a man.

SOURCE: AMAZON.CO.UK

Reading Suggestion: “The Matilda Effect” by Ellie Irving. This book tells us the journey of Matilda fighting to honor the scientific work of her lovely grandmother who had made an important scientific discovery that was stolen and passed off as someone else.

Carolina Travassos

DOWN 1. Female member of the U.S. Supreme Court ACROSS who passed away in September 2020 (first 4. Current Portuguese Health Minister (last name).

2. Female Austrian physicist who contributed to name).

6. International Girls in ICT Day (month). the discovery of nuclear fission (last name).

3. The "E" in STEM. 7. IEEE Day (month).

8. Our SB-UC WiE's Newsletter project leader 5. Female Portuguese Aeronautical Engineer on NASA's Mars 2020 project (first name). (last name).

9. Former female Portuguese Prime Minister 6. Association for Women in Mathematics (abbreviation). and chemical engineer (last name).