Interview by Miguel Vieira Martins and Elisabetta Liuzzi

What inspired you to go from clinical care to research, and how was this experience for you?

“During my medical studies I was always looking for opportunities to learn and teach. It was only when I started my training in Paediatrics, when I combined my training with my PhD, that I integrated research into my work as well. I loved, and still love, doing research. However, I really had to go back to my chemistry and biology books to brush up”. By the time she chose to specialize in pediatric oncology, she admitted she had grown so enthusiastic about clinical research that she wanted to pursue it. However, she also recognized the need for time and experience to learn, as she didn’t know everything. This helped her reach where she is today.

How did the opportunity of becoming a Group Leader come about?

“After I became a Pediatrician and already with my PhD studies done I struggled to find my place in Pediatric Oncology. First I worked as a General Pediatrician for about 4 years. During this time I continued doing research and needed funding. It was a hard as both a General Pediatrician and a woman, back then. Nevertheless, I was able to get funding and started supervising PhD candidates. That was when I started out my own research group and everything grew from there onwards. I don’t think we necessarily need to aim high, so long as we keep moving forward with our ideas and dreams. We will get to the right place if we keep on working and believing in what we do”

When you were a PhD candidate what do you think were your biggest challenges, but also victories? What advice would you have for the PhDs of today?

“Every PhD student faces their own challenges, but one of the biggest lessons I learned during my journey was how not to treat my own PhD students. If you’re in an environment where you’re not being treated well, remember that there are people who sincerely want to help. Surround yourself with those individuals and lean on them for support.”

Lieve started her PhD in the 90’s and she remembers how her professor was brilliant at finding funding, but when it came to providing feedback on some papers, his comments were just dots and question marks.

“If I wanted more content-based input, I needed to seek advice from someone else. So, my first piece of advice is to find the right person for your specific problems; that took me nearly a year, and that’s why I consider my first PhD year sort of wasted and honest, many PhD students might feel like their first year is more about finding their footing than making real progress, but it is essential. It’s like learning a new language before you can start writing a novel” It’s essential groundwork that all of us have to make.

Which led to the next important advice given by Lieve: “I always point out to my students the importance of writing early on. At some point, you’ll have to write your thesis, and your introduction will essentially summarise the literature surrounding your project, so I strongly recommend starting with a review article. By doing so, you’ll start having an idea of ​​your introduction and then once you start to write the other chapters everything will fall in its place.” It’s like laying down the foundation early, so things fall into place more smoothly later.

“My last advice would be to invest time in deeply understanding the background of your project. Don’t just skim the abstracts, read the papers and truly grasp the content. This might seem time-consuming at first, but in the end, it will absolutely pay off”.

The deeper your understanding, the more solid your research will be.

Earlier this year you were appointed Professor of Biomarkers in Pediatric Solid Tumors. What an achievement! Could you tell us a bit about how you feel about it?

“I feel very very proud! So, as I mentioned when I moved here to the Maxima I had to basically start all over again from an Academic standpoint. And so I had an idea, I did preliminary research work, wrote grants and got funding to start off my projects. But when you get to the point where you need a Professor in the group to do the promotion of the work and so on, and to ask that of someone else, it just doesn’t feel right. I wanted to be able to do that! So, by getting this appointment it really felt like this is the “right time” for me as a researcher, and also as a woman in Science, to become a Professor”.

You also mentioned that it feels important to you that more women and other minorities have an active voice in Academia. What are your thoughts about this?

“Yes. I really hope that more women in Science will follow this path, because more inclusivity and gender-balance are often lacking in Science today. Not only more women are needed in these positions, but also more attention to diversity is warranted. I think that it is really important to have your voice out there and make an example out of it”

What kind of innovative projects is your group working on at the moment?

“We are now starting the first clinical trial with liquid biopsies called MonaLisa , and it really brings together everything we studied so far. In this trial we will use liquid biopsies to guide clinical decision-making. We can sometimes predict recurrence of disease as far as 5 months before any symptoms. Of course this is in a relapsed/refractory setting, and we do not expect to cure patients with this approach now, but we can set a predictive value of this tool”. Lieve further explained that one of her dreams is for liquid biopsies to become a standard of care, helping to reduce the disease burden on children and their families.

We know that you value the mental health of your group members, do you have any advice or tips that maybe other group leaders could find useful?

It’s important to acknowledge that group leaders carry a lot of responsibility. We often have to ‘absorb’ everything, from managing our teams to ensuring the success of our projects, and the stress can become overwhelming. But as group leaders, we have to remember that we are role models for our teams. A happy, motivated team will always produce better work. I’ve even found myself, at times, not realizing the impact my words, whether a ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ can have on my team members.”

And lastly, we asked Lieve to let the whole Butterfly and PhD community know about useful advice and tips for those who are starting their careers in Science. Check out the video below to find out more:

 

 

We are very grateful to Lieve for having taken the time to speak to us about her motivations, life experiences and hopes for the Future. It was very inspiring to listen to such a voice in science and medicine nowadays. We hope that it resonates with all our PhD community.