The 2019 Field Museum Women in Science event opened with an interactive networking session that included more than 30 female students from Chicago Public Schools, members of the Chicago Sky WNBA team and women professionals from around Chicagoland, and featured keynote speaker Dr. Amal Alachkar.

Dr. Alachkar, a Syrian neuroscientist and pharmacologist delivered a powerful address on the impact trauma and environmental conditions have on mental health. She explained how the Syrian war and the resulting tragedy shaped her career and research, how she “couldn’t see the light in the darkness,” but ultimately found the light through research and becoming a tenured professor at the University of California Irvine.

Attendees were encouraged to discuss career paths, educational choices, opportunities for women and much more.

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