This is the second volume of selected
articles from the acclaimed “Women in Cell
Biology” column of the award-winning
ASCB Newsletter, those ranked by The
Women in Cell Biology Committee members
as providing the most helpful career advice
for life scientists. The first volume was pub-
lished in 2002 during the chairwomanship of
Zena Werb, who served as committee Chair
from 1998 through 2001, following the suc-
cessful leadership of W. Sue Shafer, who
served in the same role from 1994 through- Based on the success of the monthly
ASCB Newslettercolumns and the over-
whelming popularity of Career Advice for Life
Scientists, Volume I, we trust that this compila-
tion will prove even more helpful than the
sum of its parts.
At risk of inadvertently excluding deserv-
ing colleagues, we acknowledge proudly
some of the many people who together have
conspired to make The American Society for
Cell Biology Women in Cell Biology
Committee and its column widely imitated
and praised. Virginia Walbot, Mary Clutter
and Mary Lake Polan made up that small
critical mass from Yale that lit the spark in
1971; Susan Goldhor and Elizabeth Harris
were early editors of The Women in Cell
Biology Newsletter, whose job included gath-
ering $1 and $5 contributions from colleagues
to keep it going; chairs before The Women in
Cell Biology Committee became an official
ASCB committee were Ellen Dirksen, Nina
Allen, Kathryn Vogel, Patricia Calarco, Mina
Bissell, Jane Peterson, Susan Gerbi, Mary Lou
King and Ursula Goodenough (33% of
whom—Gerbi, Goodenough and Bissell—
were later elected President of the ASCB, as
was Zena Werb); Dorothy Skinner, who
served as the conscience of the ASCB Council
in the early years; Laura Williams and
Maureen Brandon, dedicated editors of the
ASCB Newsletter“Women in Cell Biology”
column (Laura did much of the research that
contributed to this history), and Emma
Shelton, Dorothea Wilson, Rosemary
Simpson and Elizabeth Marincola, ASCB
executives who helped nurture women’s
activities through the Society. Finally, but not
least, we thank the NIH Office of Research on
Women’s Health and the Burroughs
Wellcome Fund, without the support of
which we could not offer this resource. ■110 CAREER ADVICE FOR LIFE SCIENTISTS II