Women continue to break new ground in cancer care and research, at Ohio State and around the world. Read on for thoughts on the importance of women and girls in science fields and education from two oncology experts at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute. Amanda Toland, PhD, associate director for Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination (CRTEC) My interest in genetics started in kindergarten when my friend could not roll his tongue, and I was told by my parents that this was genetics. Later, when I was an undergrad, I studied a really rare mitochondrial gene, and then I got hooked on the applications of clinical genetics after listening to a talk. I was really fortunate to have mentors along the way that were strong advocates for me being a woman interested in science, including my undergraduate research advisor, who herself was a woman in genetics. I eventually came to Ohio State because we have a really outstanding cancer genetics program here and the cancer center is amazing. When I started here, again, I had really great colleagues and mentors who helped me along the way. It had never occurred to me that my gender might be an issue moving forward in my career because I always had people that looked out and advocated for me. As a result, part of my mission is to make sure that the next generation of women scientists — and all scientists — can have the training that they need to be successful. So, I think it's really important to get the message out and reach as many young bright minds as we can to tell them that this is a really cool career path where you can make discoveries and advance the clinical path forward. If we can reach out to our communities, give talks and represent women in the field of science, we're going to inspire a lot of bright young minds to enter the field and be successful. Dionisia Quiroga, DO, PhD, medical oncologist I think it's very important that women and girls pursue their interests in science fields, including medicine. When I was growing up, I found that there was probably a lack of a lot of women in the fields that I'm practicing today, both as an oncologist and as a lab-based researcher. But, I don't think that's because women are necessarily less likely to be interested in these fields, but maybe that we've been historically given less opportunities. What I really like that I'm seeing more often nowadays, though, is that young women and girls are given more opportunities to be involved in these types of fields. We have more role models maybe that are more visible in these fields, whether that's through social media or our own personal experiences. I like to see that there's a growing field of women and girls pursuing these types of careers. I think another important thing to bring up is that having more women in the STEM fields is important because it can add different outlooks in terms of some of the clinical or scientific questions that we may be asking. That only makes our field stronger and makes our science more advanced. Click here to learn more about care and research for several types of cancer at The Ohio State University.