For females, I think things are better, so my advice is things are going to get better first. Remember that. I think we have gone a long way and I think we're going to keep going a long way, but we have to remain vigilant. We also have to remain vigilant to what are unique circumstances of women. We have to make sure that we also protect people, that we are creating mentorship and protection. Also, I think as a society we need also to make sure that we protect family life when people want to build one, which remains a real issue for women in science, but [also] for young couples in general. My advice is be stubborn. Don't let others intimidate you, just make sure that if something destabilizes you sometime, try to think about why someone destabilized you. It's always been a very good trick for me. If I feel unwell in the conversation or I feel diminished somehow, I reanalyze the conversation and try to understand the intent of the other person and usually [this] makes me feel much better after. I think the reality is surround yourself well, have friends and family [because] you're not going to do that alone, and remember that things are getting better.

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.