On the eve of revolution in 1978, Pardis Sabeti’s (video interviews here) family fled Iran for the United States. Sabeti has embraced change ever since. A crucial pivot came when, en route to medical school, she instead took a Rhodes Scholarship, studying evolutionary genetics (and learning to relax by playing guitar). “I thought I was just passing time on the way to my real life,” she says. But today she blends her interests in health and evolution, tracking mutations in pathogens and their human hosts.
Your career started with a stumble, didn’t it? I flunked my qualifying exam in the early phase of my Ph.D. The professors said I had no business in science. But I embrace failure. It sharpens your focus.
How did that lead to the central discovery of your career? I strengthened my resolve to prove my work worthy. At the time, I was seeking evidence that ...
