I did it because first I think my children helped me a lot. Frankly, I think they made me incredibly organized. Before I had kids, I was this kind of scientist that was arriving, working 15 hours in the lab, making a mess, because the reality is at one point you need also discipline and rigor. I think that's what parenthood teaches you, it’s about being organized and not wasting your time and using your time [efficiently]. So, I think my kids have been an amazing experience of life to allow me to take perspective on what science is about, to have the emotional protection to give me the strength to continue. I had also a wonderful companion. My husband is actually my best friend, [he] is someone that believes in my dreams, and I think having a family around is an incredible support for your career. I have had this discussion numerous times with young women about family and having kids, I never felt that having kids was an impairment. On the contrary, I think honestly, they protected me. They gave me the strength to continue.

Yasmine Belkaid is a renowned scientist whose research focuses on the relationship between microbes and the immune system. She is the President as well as the head of the Metaorganism laboratory at the Institut Pasteur.

Belkaid earned her Master’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Science and Technology Houari Boumediene in Algiers, and a Master of Advanced Studies (DEA) from Paris-Sud University. In 1996, she earned her PhD in immunology from the Institut Pasteur, where she studied innate immune responses to leishmania infection. Belkaid then moved to the United States for a postdoctoral fellowship in intracellular parasite biology at NIAID’s Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases (NIH).

Belkaid has received numerous awards including the Robert Koch Prize, the Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences, the Sanofi-Institut Pasteur Prize, and the AAI Excellence in Mentoring Award. She also serves on the committees of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, the Microbiome Technical Advisory Group at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the NIH Anti-Racism Steering Committee, the American Society of Microbiology, and the Genentech Scientific Resource Board.