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Interview with Hala Mansour

Hala Mansour, Post-Doc at Institut Pasteur de Lille, France, in work package 2 working now mainly on DDU384 and EUCAST experiments.

What is your role in ERA4TB?
I’m working in a project to find new drugs and treatments for tuberculosis.

Which ERA4TB work packages do you work in?
Work Package 2 (In vitro).

How did you end up working in TB research?
I did my PhD in malaria and plasmodium and wanted to shift to microbiology, so I ended up in the same centre but working with a different team.

Are there many women working in your field of interest at the moment?
There are other women working in my field of interest.

Why is it important for women to be involved in TB or drug development research?
Women should be involved in TB research and others because, just like men, they are equally capable of driving innovation and saving lives.

What advice would you give to girls or women interested in a career in TB or drug development research?
Follow your dreams and stay committed, being a good scientist isn’t about gender. We’re not in a fight with men; together, we create a complete and balanced society because we are half of it.

The theme for International Women’s Day this year is #AccelerateAction – Advancing and celebrating women’s equality worldwide.
My wish for International Women’s Day is that one day we won’t need to celebrate it anymore, that we achieve equality soon that our children hear about it as a distant story, just as we once thought our grandparents’ struggles were fiction. Today, we’re no longer begging for a seat; we’re building our own table. Tomorrow, we’ll share it without discrimination, hopefully.

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