My Life, My Heart, and My(osin) Binding Protein-C.

Abstract

Although I currently lead a team of cardiovascular investigators at the University of Cincinnati, my beginnings were humble as I came from a farming family in a small village in the southernmost part of India. The path I traveled was arduous, and it involved significant struggles, but I’ve finally realized many of my career goals. My story recapitulates the essence of some of the common career hurdles that many early-career cardiovascular scientists must overcome these days, and in this article, these career hurdles are discussed, as well as some strategies to overcome them. This article presents common hurdles encountered by developing and early-career cardiovascular scientists and outlines some effective strategies to overcome these challenges. Students, whether at the undergraduate level or beyond, often do not establish clearly defined career goals, and even established long-term plans can encounter daunting, unforeseen stumbling blocks. It is convenient to blame our failure to succeed on a lack of resources, including family support or time constraints. Sometimes, however, our lack of success may simply depend on not being at the right place at the right time. Yet, fundamentally, it is the lack of resourcefulness, not resources, that poses the greatest barrier to achieving our goals. Resourcefulness is defined as the ability to find quick and clever ways to overcome difficulties. Resourcefulness involves optimizing the resources available to you by finding alternative ways to push forward. In the recesses of our minds, we all have an idea of our potential. In this sense, we are all obligated to create, make, or change our environment, academic, or otherwise so that we can achieve our potential. Therefore, we must all strive to find the environment that will best nourish our innate abilities. I grew up in a village named Pattiveeranpatti located in the state of Tamil Nadu in …