Jennifer's Story

As a Computational Medicinal Chemist who designs and synthesises new drugs, Jennifer has her sights set on one day developing a cure for breast cancer. Having completed a PhD and recently returned from six months in the United States where she undertook a prestigious international fellowship, it may come as a surprise that Jennifer initially had no desire to go to university after finishing her HSC in 2000. Jennifer simply felt uninterested in the prospect of further study, and, after becoming a mother at the age of nineteen, she spent the next decade of her life working in a series of hospitality jobs to support herself and her family. By the time Jennifer reached her late twenties, she began to wonder whether she had made the right decision, sharing that she felt curious about “how it could’ve been” if she had continued with her education.

At the age of 28, Jennifer stumbled across a newspaper advertisement for an Open Foundation information session which she decided to attend despite feeling that it would likely be a waste of time. Jennifer remembers thinking “I’m not going to be able to get into uni, but I’m just going to give it a go”. Jennifer was pleasantly surprised that many of the other attendees were mature-aged, and she realised that university was not strictly reserved for those who had just finished high school. Feeling inspired, Jennifer surprised herself by enrolling in Open Foundation that same day, and her impressive results in the program enabled her to enrol in a Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Laws the following year.

When asked what initially sparked her interest in medicine-related scientific research, Jennifer fondly recalls a moment when one of her Open Foundation lecturers likened the class calculations to those performed by scientists who develop cancer treatments. For Jennifer, this was her “lightbulb moment”, inspiring her to pursue a career in the medical sciences. After finishing the third year of her combined degree, Jennifer realised her passion for science far surpassed her interest in law, and after dedicating an honours year to medicinal chemistry research, she went on to complete her PhD in Medicinal Chemistry in 2020. When she reflects on her ability to juggle university with her professional and parental responsibilities, Jen remarks that “you’ve got to want it, you’ve just got to really want it”. As part of her postgraduate research, Jennifer focused on a specific protein that was found to be overexpressed in breast cancer, essentially attempting to develop a drug that would serve to inactivate it, which would kill the cancer cells as a result.

As of this year, Jennifer’s research has taken her overseas, recently completing her Fulbright Fellowship with the Scripps Medical Institute in San Diego. From tentative steps into higher education in 2011, Jennifer is now hopeful that she may one day synthesise a drug that could stop breast cancer in its tracks.

Story by Isabel Whittle

Photos by Ben Collison

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