WIB-Seattle Leadership Spotlight: Tanya Brown

Tanya Brown 
Scientific Director at the TESS Research Foundation
WIB-Seattle 2021–2023 Sponsorship Chair

Tanya’s lifelong love of science has led her to combine her technical skills with her ability to communicate scientific knowledge to those who need it access it the most. One of the biggest factors in her pursuit of science was learning to understand her mom’s struggle with multiple sclerosis when she was younger. “There’s a lot of power in knowledge,” Tanya said. “That has been a theme throughout my life, thinking, ‘I don’t understand this, and maybe this situation sucks, but let me learn about it.”

Tanya earned her bachelor’s in biology from the University of Washington and joined a laboratory to study hair cell development and regeneration. Originally, Tanya had envisioned herself either becoming a doctor or teaching with her degree. “But I realized that I like doing these experiments and asking these questions,” she said. “So I thought, ‘Maybe I want to pursue just the scientist route.’”

Tanya prioritized her passion for research and wanted to go to graduate school to establish her credibility as a scientist. “I wanted to go to grad school, but I had imposter syndrome. I kept thinking, ‘Only smart people go to grad school,’” she said. Tanya earned her PhD in cell biology, stem cells, and cell development at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, where she studied the development of myelination and insulation in the brain. That specific topic was one that was close to home for Tanya. “It’s a very basic science question, but so important because my mom had multiple sclerosis. Watching my mom’s multiple sclerosis progress was really hard, especially because it was something that I didn’t understand,” she said. “The doctors and scientists who were involved were able to explain what was going on with her brain and her cells. Making her disease accessible to me was so powerful and so helpful.”

Although her mom often struggled with day-to-day activities, Tanya always remembered her mom’s straightforward advice. “My mom encouraged me to say, ‘Oh, you have a goal? Make it happen,’” Tanya said. “Even going to grad school—at that point, my mom was getting much worse and was in a wheelchair—my mom said she wanted me to go anyway, saying it was good that I was doing something that I’m passionate about.”

After completing her PhD, Tanya’s research topics varied from studying the role of oil in cardiac health in fish species to developmental neuroscience in zebrafish, specifically how the sense of touch is developed with Merkel cells. At one point, Tanya realized she wanted more from her research. “I kept finding myself gravitating towards science education and outreach,” she said. “I just love communicating science and making science accessible.”

Transitioning from an academic role to her role as the Scientific Director of the TESS Research Foundation took some time, but Tanya readily accepted the challenge. “I joined WIB right during the career transition,” she said. “I joined a MAPS group and let the other WIB members know that I was open to something new. There was someone else in the MAPS group who was also a scientific director at another nonprofit.” From there, Tanya was able to use her newfound WIB connections to not only talk to others who were in a similar role but also immediately connect when she wanted more specific advice during her career transition. “There is such a community of women wanting to support each other and navigate these careers together,” she said. Tanya also used her time on the WIB-Seattle board to develop the skills she felt she lacked. “I was intimidated by the Sponsorship Committee, but that’s why I needed to learn the skill,” she said. “I’m much more comfortable now talking about money.”

In her current role, Tanya thrives when she can empower patients and their families by sharing knowledge in an accessible way. “One of the most rewarding parts of my job is when I get to explain a scientific concept to our family community, and they start asking questions in return,” she said. “Hopefully, we can empower our affected community so that they can read and make their healthcare decisions based on what they know.” In addition to ensuring that complex scientific knowledge is communicated clearly, Tanya works with a wide array of stakeholders, including patients, industry members, academic researchers, and other nonprofit leaders. “I get to think about science in a very global way,” she said. “I think about what science we need to get from the bench to people. It requires me to think critically about scientific questions like, ‘What do we need to know to develop new therapeutic spaces in the rare disease space?’”

With such a clear direction and purpose, Tanya has found that she has been able to overcome her moments of self-doubt. “Over the course of grad school to my career now, I have changed by gaining a lot of confidence,” she said. “I still carry some insecurities. Standing up for yourself and advocating for your ideas can be hard in the moment of the conversation. But set a goal, and ask for help. And be prepared when you’re asking for help from someone. Come with research into what they’ve done. If you show that you’re invested and put in effort, you’re more likely to get that reciprocated.”

We here at WIB-Seattle count ourselves as the lucky ones who have had the chance to work with Tanya. We are so grateful for all of her hard work as Sponsorship Chair for the last two years, and we are excited to watch Tanya continue to empower people with accessible science in the community!

Submitted by Mariana Huben