It lowers barriers for scientists
I’m a molecular bacteriologist who spends a lot of my time in a lab. But another big part of my life is the work I do to support queer and LGBTQ+ researchers.
As a young researcher, I didn’t know anyone like myself — a queer, gay man in science. When I did my PhD at another university, there was no one I knew who was out. In a very fundamental basic science department, I felt alone. That’s why I started building community and networks to meet other queer people in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), and I’ve continued that work since I’ve moved to Toronto.
In 2023, I launched Pride in Microbiology with two other colleagues. Our network now has more than 200 members worldwide. As my colleagues and I explained in our launch article in Nature Microbiology, queer people in STEM face additional barriers compared with their peers.
Research shows queer people are more likely to switch out of a STEM-related undergraduate degree to a non-STEM field, and are also more likely to report feeling socially marginalized, professionally devalued, and having limited career opportunities, once on the job. This research tells us that we’re limiting and losing people who might be able to provide innovative ideas because of the culture of the space. And we’re failing talented minds because we’re not as supportive as we need to be.
If you come to work every day not feeling comfortable, and people do not treat you well, and you constantly face systemic barriers that prevent you from seeking mentorship or having the same opportunities as your peers, then you’ll be less engaged with the work you’re there to do.
When we think about strengthening innovation and discovery, it’s about ensuring people can come to a workplace where they feel respected, valid and comfortable, so their focus is on their studies and goals rather than overcoming additional barriers to their success.
I advocate for queer and LGBTQ+ people because it’s the right thing to do, and because it strengthens science.
Landon Getz is a postdoctoral fellow in Temerty Medicine’s Department of Biochemistry.
It serves the under-represented
Right now, science benefits some portions of society better than others.
Researchers are often trained to approach their work with an ethical focus on the protection of individuals. While that is absolutely necessary, it is not the focus of what I do. My research is primarily with Black communities — I worked in community health for years in Toronto before I joined the university in 2021. Black people have not had a history of good experiences with researchers or with academic institutions.
I want to see scientists integrate the ethical concept of protecting communities in their work, especially Black communities. We all need to hold researchers accountable in how they respect or disrespect Black communities.
This is where equity becomes crucial.
Equity in science means looking at access to data. The Black community has often been studied, but has lacked control of collected data and data analysis. It also means research focused on Black people, guided by their needs. And, it requires more Black researchers.
In 2016, a Statistics Canada census found that Black researchers made up 1.9 per cent of all full-time faculty in Canada, even though Black people comprised 3.5 per cent of the general population. (By 2021, that figure had grown to 4.3 per cent of the population.)
Notisha Massaquoi is the founding director of The Black Health Equity Lab. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Health and Society at U of T’s Scarborough campus, with a cross appointment to Temerty Medicine’s Department of Family and Community Medicine.
It drives inclusive research
My lived experience helps inform my work in medicine.
I’m in a unique position as an Indigenous physician who works with often underserved populations. I see equity from my individual lens as a Métis provider and from the lens of patients sometimes excluded from the conversation in health care and research. We still see racism and discrimination in health care. And, it happens to both patients and health care providers.
I remember being in medical school and self-identifying as Indigenous and people saying, “You must not have had to meet the same criteria because you are Indigenous.” But I had finished at the top of my undergraduate class, and then worked for seven years in public health. Just because of my identity, I was discounted and seen as an “equity hire.”
In the age of reconciliation, we need to include Indigenous communities in science, research, medicine and guideline development. It’s something we have never done well. Exclusion, racism and colonization have led to poorer health outcomes for Indigenous peoples, compared with the general population. We need to change this.
Similarly, people who use substances have faced a lot of stigma within the health care system. There is limited research on this population. Often, people who use substances are actively excluded from research studies, despite coming from every socio-economic and racial group. They span the nation, yet we have cut ourselves off from identifying ways to better care for them.
Equity means inviting and including all underserved populations into the conversation, informing what questions need to be answered and what research gets done. As we centre the patient voice more in research, we’ll see better outcomes, because we’ll have evidence-based medicine that works for all of the populations we serve.
Joel Voth (PGME ’23) is an addictions medicine physician and a member of the Indigenous Leadership Circle in Temerty Medicine’s Department of Family and Community Medicine.