Two local women left good careers and went back to school to pursue careers in science.
Christy Eslinger and Lydia Ostmo light up when they talk about science.
“Mr. Spock was my favorite,” Lydia said. “I gravitated towards scientists. They were just very curious about the universe and analytical, wanting to understand why things were the way they were and dig deeper.”
Science is a passion they didn’t fully discover until later in life.
“Coming from a small town and just not even knowing the kind of science that was available to learn, it just opened my eyes to all the possibilities that I had no idea were possible,” Christy said.
Christy spent two decades as an assistant.
“It’s kind of hard to keep working out. It’s a 24-hour job. 24 hours a day you’re on duty, it just took a toll on my body,” Christy said.
At first, the plan was to go back to school to become a registered nurse. Christy started at TCC.
“I really had to go back to studying to get my brain to realize that ‘you can still learn.’ It took me a while to get into the swing of learning, but once I did, I loved it again,” said Christy.
So much so, that she continued. She first earned her associate’s degree, then pursued a bachelor’s in Microbiology at Oklahoma State. She began working in the lab, doing research on colitis and Crohn’s disease.
Her wife is a Crohn’s patient.
“It added another layer of passion to something that I could look at and try to make a difference, not just for everyone there, but for my wife. I was able to take a lot of my knowledge that I knew as an Everything I knew that culminated in illness and took it to a cellular level,” Christy said.
Northeastern State University biology professor Dr. Sapna Das-Bradoo asked Lydia to work in her lab in March 2020.
“I am inspired by students like them,” said Dr. Das-Bradoo. “I think we need people who can communicate science. I’m not looking for the best grades students have, I’m looking for a passion.”
“Her lab studies DNA replication, so there are a lot of proteins involved in that mechanical process of replicating your DNA. I’m looking at this result and no one has seen this before. It’s really amazing to think we’re blazing trails you know,” Lidia said.
Lydia had many emotions in her old career as well. A decade ago, she was executive producer of FOX23 News This Morning, but she says it was time for a change.
“It takes so much, it’s so demanding. Not just the hours, but your emotional breadth, but the night work, your physical breadth. It just takes so much. It’s such an important job and I have such admiration for people who keep going to do it, but for me I had just gotten to the point where my mental health was really suffering,” said Lydia.
In 2022, Lydia graduated from NSU with her bachelors in Cellular and Molecular Biology. In May, she earned her Master of Science, and NSU named her the Outstanding Graduate Student of Spring 2024. She plans to receive her Ph.D.
Dr. Das-Bradoo shared what her family said to motivate her growing up earlier this year when the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence presented her with the Regional University Teaching Excellence Medal.
“Okay, do it,” said Dr. Das-Bradoo.
She wants to see more women pursue science.
“Wherever they go, they’re going to inspire a lot of women, a lot of students. I think their stories are just inspiring. They inspire me every day,” said Dr. Das-Bradoo.
Christy says there were times she wondered if she had made a mistake and she faced huge challenges.
“My second year of my PhD, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. They did incredible things to bend over backwards to help see me through chemotherapy and radiation. Just the encouragement, just the support I had going through it was incredible I thought, OK, I’m making the right decision, I’m following the right path,” said Christy.
Christy is interning with Eli Lilly and will return to Oklahoma to defend her dissertation in January.
“Once you’re in a career, it takes so much courage to start over, to try something else. It did, but the reward has to be huge, unbelievable. Just knowing you can see a difference so great on the Research you’re doing and the fact that it could culminate into something that becomes a treatment for a person to think that I can relieve not only inflammation but also pain,” said Christy.
As Spock said, “change is the essential process of all existence.”
“Just the curiosity of it all. Now I’m closer to being Mr. Spock, if you will,” Lydia said.