Yes. Unfortunately, I think there [are still differences between men and women in science]. I do think embryology as such, developmental biology is a more empathic field than let's say hardcore transcription factors or signal transaction. That, to me, was because I was part of it when I did TGF-beta signaling, a lot of alpha males there and developmental biology is traditionally a more female populated area, but I thought it was a done deal. I thought, we don't have to bother about this emancipation. We're there. I never felt a glass ceiling perhaps because I wasn't typically very ambitious. It just happened, but I do know from women who are ambitious that they are not well treated. There's been several cases of women being complained about to the extent of being, you could say sacked because of what they call bullying. Whereas I think that's not the way it should be. There are many male-run labs who behave exactly the same way and it doesn't happen to them.

And then if you start noticing things, a statistic, so Nature has a lot of these sort of studies, papers authored with a senior author's female are cited less than male. I think, huh, really? And then you start noticing your own papers. And I thought maybe it wasn't such a good paper, but it wasn't cited as much as a not such good paper from a male competitor sometimes. And so, I do think it's a harder world. I think there's benefits to be saying, why don't we anonymize authorships on submitted papers or on grant applications. Female grant applicants do not do as well as male. And often females are overloaded. If you are somewhere in a position of trust or responsibility, you get put as a symbolic female on every single committee going. And it's really hard work. So, I think we are not done yet. We do need to get the next generation of women to reach these top positions that the ones there don't get overloaded.

Dr. Christine Mummery is a professor of developmental biology at Leiden University and head of the Department of Anatomy and Embryology at the Leiden University Medical Center. Her work specializes in stem cell biology, cardiovascular development, and developmental biology.

In 1974, she received her Bachelor of Science degree in physics, electronics, and mathematics from the University of Nottingham, UK and in 1978 received her PhD in biophysics from the University of London, UK for her research at King’s College London. She received a post-doctoral fellowship at the Royal Society, UK from 1978 to 1980, and in 1981 continued her fellowship at the Hubrecht Institute working with carcinoma cells. In 1985, she was appointed to a tenured staff scientist working on developmental biology and differentiation.

In 2011, Dr. Mummery founded the iPSC&OoC Hotel facility in the Leiden University Medical Center. From 2009 to 20019, she was the head of the department of Anatomy and Embryology at Leiden University and guest professor at the University of Twente from 2015 to 2023. She was president of the ISSCR from 2020 to 2021 and is the founding editor of its journal, Stem Cell Reports.

Dr. Mummery has received several awards for her work in developmental biology, including the 2014 Hugo van de Poelgeest Prize for Animal Alternatives, the 2014 Hans Biomendaal Medal for innovative interdisciplinary research, being an elected member of the Academia Europaea in 2015 and Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2010, the 2021 Fondation Lefoulon Delalande-Institut de France prize for cardiovascular physiology, and the ISSCR Public Service Award in 2023.