Pakistan-born scientist Asifa Akhtar has become the first international woman vice president of biology and medicine at the Max Planck Society in Germany.
The Max Planck Society is Germany's most successful research organization, and since its inception in 1948, 18 of its scientists have won the Nobel Prize, making it one of the best research institutes in the world.
During her tenure, Asifa Akhtar will be in charge of institutes in the field of biology and medicine and will also be the contact person for Max Planck schools.
"My heart beats for young scientists," said Asifa Akhtar, according to the Max Planck Society's website.
"Academic science is a beautiful example of integration because you have people from all over the world who exchange knowledge across borders, culture or prejudice," Akhtar said in an interview with the Max Planck Society.
It should be noted that as Vice President she also wants to take the issue of gender equality forward.
"There is a need to continue working on gender equality, there are prominent women in science and we must make every effort and use our resources to bring them into the Max Planck Society," she said.
Regarding gender diversity in different career domains, he said that society needs maximum understanding and understanding.
"If we want women to progress in science, we need practical solutions such as childcare and time sharing or the home office option," Akhtar added.
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Asifa Akhtar was born in Karachi and received her doctorate in 1997 from the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London, UK.
She then moved to Germany, where she studied postdoctoral studies from 1998 to 2001 at the Adolf-Buttend-Institute in Munich and at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg.
Asifa Akhtar received the Early Career European Life Sciences Organization Award in 2008, EMBO membership in 2013 and the Feldberg Prize in 2017.
She was also elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences Lepoldina in 2019.
