La Laguna (Tenerife) (EFE).- The molecular biologist, cancer researcher and astronaut candidate, Sara García Alonso, remarked this Friday that, for the moment, it is not possible to speak of a cure for cancer since, “this disease harbors a spectrum of more than 200 different types.
At a press conference, Sara García has called for more investment in science in Spain, since it is a country that is at the bottom of Europe with regard to specialized publications.
Before giving a talk to university students and high school students, Sara García has recounted that as a child she was not at all clear about what she wanted to study, and that what she liked was to explore, and regarding her excellent academic record, she has confessed that it is due “to his demanding nature and his need to do his best.”
Her passion for science was gestated by mixing potions, experimenting with magnets and wearing a white coat to, and now it is researching cancer and having the opportunity to participate in international space missions, without being a woman being an impediment.
The researcher has completed her training in public universities, however, she has declared that she does not consider that “private or public academic centers have worse or better knowledge”, and has emphasized the importance of students having critical thinking foundations because they important “is to be willing to learn.”
In the last year, Sara García’s life has changed completely, so that with her work at the National Cancer Research Center she shares it with a second job that is a “great speaker”.
For García, the scientific trajectory of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) is not easy, because many carry a “pink” backpack full of stereotypes, low self-esteem, impostor syndrome and lack of references “of the one that it is necessary to get rid of or convert to “multicolor”, so that “courage, kindness, learning, effort and passion” predominate.
The ESA astronaut has confessed that on occasion she has suffered from sexism within scientific research, although she has boasted that her selection for the astronaut reserve was the result of “a blind procedure”.
Despite the difficulties and obstacles in the phases of her selection process, Sara said that having the opportunity to travel to space “is quite an adventure”, which increases when “you are surrounded by colleagues from up to 22 member states” with different professions, from doctors to engineers.
Being a researcher with different aspirations of responsibility, such as biotechnology against cancer and the space race at the International Space Agency, “does not allow you to have established routines, it requires you to be flexible and remain calm under pressure.”
Sara continues to work as a biotechnologist at the National Cancer Research Center, a scientific institution where she began her postdoctoral period in oncology research and in which she continues to “develop new drugs that help combat a type of lung cancer.”
“It is in our nature to want to advance in knowledge”, García has clarified when he has valued the multidisciplinary work of any space mission, at the same time that he has highlighted “the importance of freedom in the context of each student because it is the greatest form of power” .
Regarding his preferences in future space research, he has shared that he would love for them to be related to oncology, since it is his field of work, but he has assured that he will give “one hundred percent in any discipline because it is his way of being”.
Sara García has also stated that she believes that “strange examples of women” are very good so that the message that “there are no careers for men or women” can spread even more. EFE