I would say, first of all, every time encourage them. They don't have to choose between family and science. They can have all. I have a daughter who eventually turned out to two-times Olympic champion, five-times world champion. She was in the fame in the family. Actually, in the US, is a rowing legend. I think that it is difficult for a woman because, of course, after all, still if the good, supporting husband is there still, we have to be pregnant. We are pregnant, we carry. When there is a problem, always everybody looks at it is our responsibility.

I could feel that when the woman scientist has a dream to do that and that, and this is just a dream, then the child is crying there and– or the elderly parents taking care of it is feel that this is a real problem and they give up their dream because this is a real thing, and that's the potential, the dream. I would say don't lower the bar that you will be assistant to somebody. You can do it. Then you ask for help. Help from husband, from other family member, to take care of that. I also say that you don't have to overdo assisting your child. None of the mornings I told her, "Come on, come on. Come on, the school bus is leaving."

It was six o'clock. I was in the lab because I had to go early because of the traffic, so I could be very early then I could beat the traffic, so she had to get up. She also had responsibilities, just like when I was a child, because my husband's working straight shifts and sometimes had to make breakfast for him. She knew that she has to get up and she has to be prepared and should learn. Sometimes women think, "Oh, I would spend the time. I would be with the child." They might be physically there but not necessarily there. When I spent time with my daughter, it was family time, so this is about the family things. You'll have your child vacuuming and cup cleaning alone. Well, it's part of life. That's one thing, and you can do it and you don't have to give up the family thing.

Dr. Katalin Kariko is a biochemist and adjunct professor of neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania. She won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her work in developing mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. She completed her schooling at the University of Szeged and carried out her post-doctoral work at the Institute of Biochemistry, Biological Research Centre of Hungary.

Dr. Kariko received her Bachelor of Sciences in Biology in 1978 and her PhD in Biochemistry in 1982 from the University of Szeged. She completed her post-doctoral work at the Institute of Biochemistry, Biological Research Centre of Hungary until 1985, when her lab at the Biological Research Centre lost funding. She then moved to the United States and carried out post-doctoral work at Temple University from 1981 to 1988 and at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences from 1988 to 1989. She then joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania in the Perelman School of Medicine’s neurosurgery department in 1989.

At the University of Pennsylvania, she began to collaborate with immunologist Drew Weissman, where the two experimented with modifying mRNA. In the early 2000’s, Kariko and Weissman discovered that swapping uridine with pseudouridine in mRNA created a molecule with favorable attributes such as reduced adverse reactions. This breakthrough led the way for many other modified mRNA molecules to be potentially used in a multitude of future medical applications, including developing effective mRNA vaccines against the COVID-19 virus during the height of the pandemic in 2020. For their development of mRNA biotechnology, Dr. Kariko and Dr. Weissman were awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Outside of the Nobel Prize, Dr. Kariko has received numerous awards for her contributions to science including the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award in 2021, the Novo Nordisk Prize in 2022, being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2023, the Harvey Prize in Human Health in 2024, and elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2025.