SEGMENT 4: Dr. Phyllis Zee provides advice to young/aspiring scientists

Dr. Gary H. Gibbons, Director, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute:  I know that you’re a mentor and know a few of your mentees, in fact.  What would you say to the next generation of researchers, what advice would you give them in these particular times of both opportunity and challenge?

Dr. Phyllis Zee, Northwestern University:   I would say to the young folks out there that they are the future and that the area of sleep and circadian research, in particular, I think that intersection and interaction between sleep and circadian rhythms is a goldmine right now and that they should not be discouraged by all that gloom about NIH funding because they’re really, really important, of course, to the NIH but also to the field and that we’re just at the tip of the iceberg.  We’re just seeing – what we talked about the relationship between sleep, circadian timing and cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, neurocognitive disorders, really you could be interested in any disease process, you can be interested in any organ of your body and sleep and circadian timing will be relevant to that.  So it’s a hugely bright future and it is like a circular thing where the more we know now about the basic science, about the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulates how sleep and circadian timing is regulating the function of all these other tissues, the more there will also be for translational research and then eventually into the clinical practice.  So I think the future is very bright, just be resilient.  I think it’s really important to be resilient and keep resubmitting your applications.

Dr. Gibbons:  Okay, sage advice.  I have to end with this one last burning question.  How much sleep does a sleep researcher get?

Dr. Zee:  I try to get as much as I can.  I’m actually a bit of an owl so I go to bed a little bit late, but I’m pretty cognizant of that so I get on average at least seven hours of sleep, on average.  

Dr. Gibbons:  Well, it’s good to know you practice what you preach, and we really appreciate the time you spent with us today Phyllis.

Dr. Zee:  Thank you Dr. Gibbons.