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Dr. Marcia Otto is an Associate Professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center in the Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics, and Environmental Health. Marcia's research focuses on the effects of different aspects of diet on cardiometabolic health and cognition. Marcia received her postdoctoral training in Nutritional and Cardiovascular Epidemiology at Harvard T.C. Chan School of Public Health. 

She holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Health from the University of Texas School of Public Health, an M.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Sao Paulo, and a B.S. in Physics from the University of Rio de Janeiro State. Marcia’s work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, and the Department of Defense. Since 2020, Marcia has been serving as the leading investigator of a multi-site collaboration to inform the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Harris County, TX.

In this episode, we talk about: 

1. Why Dr. Marcia Otto became a scientist in the first place 
2. What drew her to study health and epidemiology
3. The beauty that Marcia finds in her work as a scientist
4. The relationship between the beauty of understanding and the usefulness of science
5. Navigating institutional pressures that may become an obstacle in finding beauty in science
6. Marcia’s advice for other scientists who struggle to find beauty in their work: “Do not forget your passion.”
7. How the dedication to contribute and being receptive to discovery opens you to finding beauty in the field of science.
8. What makes some scientists be open to being surprised, and why some are locked into a more confined goal?
9. Navigating the difficulty of communicating research to the public despite the provisional nature of science that is always undergoing correction
10. What Marcia wants the public to understand about her work and science in general.

To learn more about Dr. Otto’s work, visit: www.uth.tmc.edu

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