Sylvia Metcalfe

Sylvia Metcalfe first became interested in science as a teenager at high school in England, where she was born. “I particularly liked biology but my interest grew after reading the science fiction book by John Wyndham called The Trouble with Lichen. The protagonist was a woman biochemist and this led to my reading about biochemistry, and I found it fascinating. Also, my Italian grandfather who was living with us at the time died of oesophageal cancer and that influenced my interest in science going forward.”

Her high school was an all-girls Catholic establishment and quite progressive for its time, she says. “I was there in the 1960s and 70s and the school was already very committed to teaching science. Even though my family was not at all academic, my parents were delighted that I decided to pursue a career in science, and gave me lots of encouragement.”

After leaving school, she undertook a BSc in Clinical Biochemistry at Surrey University followed by a PhD in lab-based toxicology/cancer research, with post-docs in London and in New York. “I came to Melbourne in Australia for personal reasons (my partner was Australian) and continued with lab-based research in different areas but was increasingly involved with teaching. So, I came to genetics relatively late in my career (after a short break having children) to teach medical genetics at The University of Melbourne. It was at this time, around 1997, that I embarked on a completely different research path in social science at the university and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and never looked back!”

She retired from her university role and research group leadership in 2018, although she has continued with honorary positions and consulting until quite recently and is still publishing.  Making the switch from lab-based research to research that involved interacting directly with people was definitely the best career decision she took, she says. “As much as I loved research at the bench, it is researching people that I find more gratifying. And surrounding myself with students, both in teaching and research. While they learn from us as lecturers, supervisors and mentors, it is not a cliché to say that I have learned so much from working with them.”

Sylvia Metcalfe played a leading role in setting up the Genioz project, which launched in 2015 and set out to understand Australians’ understanding of online genomic testing. Their early findings have informed subsequent stages of the study, and thus contributed to strategies for supporting Australians to understand and make meaningful and well-considered decisions about the benefits, harms, and implications of personal genomic tests. She is concerned, though, that finding funding for such projects has become more challenging, particularly at present when more and more people are attracted to non-scientific health beliefs and treatments.

Since retirement, travelling has been high on her wish list. “I have been lucky to have been able to visit so many new places, and will continue to do so. Travelling has also allowed me to practise speaking other languages, something else I decided that I should try to do in retirement.” She is also treasurer of her local rugby club, where her husband is president. “I have been able to bring in some grants to the club. It was interesting to see how skills in raising finance for research projects can be quite transferable to other settings!”

Other interests include keeping chickens (“I enjoy spending zen time with them as well as eating their delicious eggs”), painting and picture-framing. The chickens will have to cope without her while she attends ESHG, though, where she will tell the conference about the three main areas of research she has been involved in over the last 25 years or so. “These areas revolve around people’s understanding of genetics, genetics/genomics education, informed decision-making (including population genetic screening) and family communication. I won’t have time to go into all of this, but I will do my best to give an overall flavour of the research that led to the ELPAG Award.”