Maria Augusta Arruda: ‘Poetry is my refuge’

The first time I got into a lab, I was 14 years old. In Brazil, we’ve got the federal technical high schools – it’s like a university for teenagers. And in the technical chemistry high school, they had three courses – pure chemistry, food technology and biotechnology. I chose the latter; I was totally obsessed with chemistry in biological systems.

I was the only Black girl in school for most of my life. I was the only Black woman in my class at university. Brazil’s population is 56% black, so it’s a systemic thing. But we now have the vocabulary to discuss these things that we didn’t have before. In the sciences there is a big push – people need more role models but, more importantly, actions that support diversity in science.

I did my PhD in two years instead of four. When people say ‘oh, you’re a genius,’ – no, it’s the consequence of having a life in science since a very early age. I did my undergraduate degree while working in the lab full time. During this process, I became more and more excited about biochemistry and molecular biology. My PhD is in pharmacology, but chemistry has always been in my life.