Catherine Anderson is a Canadian scientist. She researched

pre-eclampsia Pre-eclampsia is a disorder of pregnancy characterized by the onset of high blood pressure and often a significant amount of protein in the urine. When it arises, the condition begins after 20 weeks of pregnancy. In severe cases of the disease ...

, a potentially fatal disease that can impact pregnant women, at BC Children's and Women's Hospital and the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

. She currently serves as Clinical Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

and runs the Future Science Leaders program at Science World. ''

Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian persp ...

'' described her as a "nationally renowned science educator."

Life and career

As a child, Anderson dreamed of becoming a firefighter or a hockey referee, despite being unable to skate. Growing up, she was uninterested in science as her classes at school primarily focused on memorization. Anderson attended the

, graduating with a BSc in Microbiology. She then worked with youth with disabilities, sang and played the piano, and spent a year travelling internationally. After seven years, she began studying Medical Genetics, receiving a Ph.D in 2002. After graduation, she accepted a postdoctoral position, researching pre-eclampsia at BC Children's and Women's Hospital and the

. However, while studying pre-eclampsia, she "was forced to take long term disability leave." She began working at the medical department at UBC, tutoring students, and began working on outreach and writing articles for Genome BC. This work led to her current positions at UBC and Science World. In 2015, along with

Judy Illes Judy Illes, , PHD, FRSC, FCAHS, (born April 30, 1960) is Professor of Neurology and Distinguished University Scholar in Neuroethics at the University of British Columbia. She is Director of Neuroethics Canada at UBC, and faculty in the Brain Rese ...

, a neurology professor at UBC, Anderson resigned from the

Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame The Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame, was located at the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa, Ontario, honoured Canadians who have made outstanding contributions to society in science and engineering. It also promoted role mo ...

's selection committee to protest the lack of female nominees for the induction and she worried about the message being sent to female students by this. She stated, "It's important for young people to see people who look like them being successful. The Hall of Fame is supposed to represent the best and the brightest in Canada and it's just not doing that." In 2016, Anderson was a nominee for the YWCA Women of Distinction Awards in the Education, Training & Development category. Anderson is married and resides in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Catherine (scientist) Living people Scientists from Vancouver Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine University of British Columbia Faculty of Science alumni 21st-century Canadian women scientists Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Canadian microbiologists 21st-century Canadian biologists Canadian geneticists Alumni of the University of Nottingham Canadian women geneticists