About me

Hello there, I’m Ana

I’m a first-gen immigrant from Brazil, and I landed in Toronto back in 2018. Just so you know, I go by she/her pronouns. As a kid, I was all about plants and had a bit of a science obsession. However, as an ADHD person, I also had many short-term interests.

TV time was my downtime, and Beakman’s World was my absolute favourite. This show was all about a scientist, his assistant, and a lab rat answering kids’ science questions. Loved it! That’s when I decided I wanted to be a scientist when I grew up. But here’s the twist—I’d never met a real-life scientist. I wasn’t even sure if being a scientist was a real job in Brazil.

Fast forward to high school, where my love for science grew, and I ended up going for a Biology program at university. Botany was my thing. Did a research project in the Brazilian Cerrado, and even wrote a review article on the “Talking Trees hypothesis.”

After university, I jumped into a Master’s, studying drought tolerance in castor beans, followed by a Ph.D. in Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, investigating how climate change affects grass species using C4 photosynthesis. Became a bit of an expert in photosynthesis, especially C4 metabolism. Got a couple of book chapters and six research papers published, and even earned the third-place spot for the Best Thesis Award in the Department of Botany.

Post-Ph.D., I got a two-and-a-half-year post-doc position in Brazil, diving into the effects of nitrogen deposition in a Cerrado area. Did some teaching, supervised a few students, and got a few more publications under my belt.

Here in Canada, my international diplomas didn’t open all the doors, but I did get a cool volunteer opportunity with Dr. Rowan Sage, one of the best in C4 photosynthesis research. We were digging into how C4 photosynthesis evolved from photorespiration.

But 2020 happened, COVID-19 hit, and I had to pause my research with Dr. Sage. Jobless and dealing with anxiety, I started seeing a therapist. Took a career development course and found out that my true calling was science communication. Checked out the Master’s in Science Communication Program at Laurentian University, got in, and moved to Sudbury in 2021. Graduated in 2022 and worked for a year and a half at Science North, the second-largest Canadian science centre.

On the side, I’m a volunteer writer for RCIScience and part of SWCC and CASC. Let’s chat and dive into the world of science communication together!