Ruy Ribeiro

When I was a teenager, I walked to school everyday. I remember my imagination wandering widely in those 20 minutes. Often I was wondering how things worked. In those days, I was especially interested in astronomy. We had a local astronomy club, and would go out camping to remote places to see the marvels of the Universe. One very cold, damp December night—I was 17—we went out to see the Geminids meteor shower. Out there, in the middle of nowhere, as I lay gazing at the show of lights streaking the dark sky, it came to me: I would go to college to study physics. Achieving that was not easy, since good grades were required for acceptance. But I had a math teacher who pushed us to study hard, and although at the time it seemed all too much, it really helped me get into college. My physics and chemistry teacher, too. Some people thought she was crazy, but she was so excited about science and the world, and so interested in her students, that she really inspired me. In college I learned a lot about the physical world, but also had a lot of fun with the tight knit group of friends that I made. Long days in the lab were followed by late night hamburgers at the local diner. Many of my friends, like me, wanted to be scientists. The amazing thing is that all these people, from all over Portugal, rich and poor, men and women, outgoing and shy, with good grades or average, actually became scientists in all kinds of research areas: astronomy, particle physics, biology, solar energy, satellites, environment… One of them even became a CSI for the Portuguese police!

In my senior year at university, as I studied more and more esoteric areas of physics, I realized that the physics that I liked the most was that of our daily lives. I did not know what to do after graduation, and felt lost. I developed a nervous twitch in my eye. Almost without noticing it, I postponed my real decision by getting a job at an international management consulting company. I worked there for two years, learning about the business of banks, insurance companies, television and supermarkets. This job paid well, was prestigious, and gave me a clear career path. My parents were really happy! But slowly it dawned on me that my dream of becoming a scientist was slipping away. So I quit my job and applied for a fellowship to the University of Oxford in England to study HIV with Martin Nowak.

I had gone to visit Oxford, where some of my good friends from university were studying. I nervously appeared unannounced at my future supervisor's door. I can clearly see his office, which was in this really ugly, dark building, the Zoology Department, which recently was described as “a forbidding concrete structure that looks like an Eastern European police station.” My intention was to try to meet Nowak and ask for a position in his group. He looked me over coolly and said, “OK, we can talk for five minutes, because I need to go soon.” He really meant, “Who is this person and why is he bothering me?” We ended up talking for more than a hour. He introduced me to other researchers in his group. His excitement about his work spilled over to me. That was another turning point in my winding path to science. I ended up doing my doctoral work with him. The lesson I learned in leaving business and returning to science was that you should always follow your passion!

Graduate school was even harder work—and even more fun—than university. Work and fun are not incompatible! I never looked back. When I graduated, I came to Los Alamos National Laboratory, which I had learned was one of the best places in the world to do my research. Here I work with an amazing group of people that have a passion to understand infectious diseases and the immune system, and realize that this work can have impact in improving lives across the world. But what strikes me the most is the diversity of people I encounter. Nothing seems to be a barrier to becoming a scientist. Some people are older, some have children to care for, some are from far away, some do not speak English that well, some are well off, some just get by, some have parents who are scientists, some have parents that never finished high school.

The purpose of my research is to understand how different virus, such as HIV and hepatitis viruses, work and how the body fights them. I collaborate with scientists from all over the world. I develop models and computer simulations to help interpret data from experiments and clinical results conducted in New York, Thailand, Australia, and elsewhere around the world. I work hard, but I love to take off and go hiking or skiing or have my friends over for dinner. I love cooking—but only for other people!

I am a scientist simply because I love to learn new things and I like to know how things work. I have learned that science gives us a great perspective on the world, and empowers us to have real impact on the issues we care most about.