Dr. Sarah McFarlane | Work hard, play hard, and follow your passion

It was January, 1997, and the beginning of what turned out to be the worst winter ever, according to Dr. Sarah McFarlane, PhD, professor in the Cumming School of Medicine’s (CSM) Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, member of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, and Education Director at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI).

Sarah and her husband had just arrived two months earlier from sunny, warm San Diego, where they had spent four years while Sarah was completing her post doctorate degree.

“We were told about chinooks! We were waiting for chinooks,” says Sarah. “There was one and a half chinooks that year.” (Calgary is known to have, on average, 28 chinook days per year.)

Amazingly, they managed to survive that first winter in Calgary and haven’t looked back. “UCalgary does an excellent job of being very welcoming and positive, and Drs. Sam Weiss and Richard Hawkes sold me on the position, on UCalgary, and on the Neuroscience Research Group – the HBI’s predecessor.”   

Sarah began her life in a small town outside of Montreal. Her father, an entomology professor, and her mother, a biology teacher with a PhD, raised their two daughters and son with the notion that there were no constraints on their abilities. “My parents were always encouraging, and we felt as though the sky was the limit in terms of whatever we chose to do in life.”

“I decided to study physiology because I was drawn to all of the feedback mechanisms in the body. The human body is designed to ensure that homeostasis works; that we can adapt to our ever-changing environment. And to me, the brain is the most interesting of all the systems.”

Following completion of her BSc with honours in neurophysiology at McGill University, she obtained her PhD in neurophysiology under Dr. Ellis Cooper at McGill. She then realized she yearned for a new vista, so Sarah chose to take her postdoctoral training at the University of California at San Diego.

How did Sarah and her husband land in chinook-less Calgary? “After four years in San Diego, I really missed Canada, and yet I still wanted a new vista – a new geology – that’s how we ended up in Calgary. We love spending time in the mountains – that was part of our decision.”

Although she admits to never having a career plan, Sarah’s love for science has been a constant thread throughout her life, allowing her to do what she enjoys most. “I’ve never found anything I’d rather do more than science. Mine is a very interesting job: it changes all the time – every day is different. I get to spend time with a lot of young people who are still excited by science. And I also work with many extremely smart people of all ages – the principal investigators (PIs), the trainees, the staff – they are all so intelligent, and I feel privileged to be able to interact in that sphere. It’s one of the best aspects of my job – working with curious, engaged people.”

In her role as Education Director at the HBI, Sarah can offer some terrific advice nuggets to trainees:

1) “Choose your supervisor wisely. Make sure to choose someone who will support you.

2) Learn how to write well. Being an academic is all about writing – it’s easily 40% of my job. The better and quicker you are at it, the easier your job will be.

3) Reach beyond your comfort zone, learn new techniques, and try out your own ideas. You will gain confidence.”

As the mother of two teenage sons, Sarah says it has always been important to keep balance in her life.

“If I can offer advice to trainees and colleagues alike, it’s to make sure to have interests and enjoy yourself beyond the lab. Science is difficult – experiments are difficult – so it’s important to have fun. Whether it’s yoga, hiking, painting – make sure you actively pursue it.”

When asked what her future might hold, Sarah says she feels fortunate to be able to run an active laboratory, and that she’s not ready to give it up anytime soon. “I hope to keep my lab going for a long time. I still get to spend time on the microscope, and it never stops being interesting. Sometimes, when things get stressful, I find that just sitting at the microscope can be very peaceful. Nature outside and nature at a microscopic level – they are both fantastic. I can never get blasé about it – biology is fascinating. But my favourite part of the job is working with the trainees.”

Tidbits from Sarah:

Career plan B: “Musician, because I love to play the piano. But I like stability even more, so it would not have likely been the right career for me!”

Proudest moment: “I’m not comfortable tooting my own horn, but receiving the ‘Outstanding Supervision Award’ from the Faculty of Graduate Studies was very special, because my students nominated me anonymously.”

Most impactful mentor: “My PhD supervisor Ellis Cooper. He had an excellent way of balancing supervision and encouraging independence; he gave me the space to run with my own ideas.”

On leaving her mark: “It goes back to trainees. If I can inspire them to think critically about their experiments – how to design them, how to carry them out, analyze and interpret them – then I’ve done the right thing by a trainee coming through my lab.”