Yale psychiatry researcher Kristen Brennand has spent her career in labs, examining the genetic foundations of disease, and is co-director of the Yale Science Fellows Program, a Yale School of Medicine (YSM) initiative aimed at recruiting, supporting, and promoting outstanding young scientists. So it perhaps it comes as no surprise that one of her top recommendations for the summer offers insight into “a bad-ass scientist and peerless role model” for women in science — along with speculative fiction and magical escapism.
Brennand is the Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry and professor of genetics at YSM. She also directs an independent laboratory that seeks to decode highly complex genetic insights that can help identify the mechanisms underlying brain disease.
Kristen Brennand
Do you have a favorite book that you wish more people had read?
Kristen Brennand: “The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science,” by Kate Zernike. As a woman biologist trained by many of the contemporaries of Professor Hopkins, I want to emphasize what a bad-ass scientist and peerless role model she is for so many scientists like me. While some of the barriers she faced decades ago thankfully seem anachronistic and implausible today, too many of them describe circumstances and inequities that still exist today. I found myself not only underlining key passages but repeatedly sharing screenshots with female colleagues.
Is there a favorite book that reminds you of (this) summer (heat)?
Brennand: “The Ministry for the Future,” by Kim Stanley Robinson. I’ll warn you that this book is not for everyone. It opens with a catastrophic heatwave that seems depressingly plausible, and the plot builds slowly between discussions of the global political and economic response. Yet, what I love about this book is the sense of optimism it left me with. Even when it feels like everything is barreling inevitably towards disaster, if we are clever and thoughtful and determined enough, maybe, just maybe, things will be okay.
Is there a new book you are looking forward to picking up?
Brennand: “The Tapestry of Fate: An Amina el-Sirafi Adventure, Book Two” by S.A. Chakraborty. When I am stressed, I love nothing more than disappearing into a new world, particularly one with magic! The first book in this series was escapism at its very best. It drew me in quickly and didn’t let go until the very last page. I love books that feature a complex female heroine, and here our pirate-turned-mother emerges from retirement to take us on a fantastic adventure.
