Skylar Bayer and Gabi Serrato Marks—Uncharted: How Scientists Navigate Their Own Health, Research, and Experiences of Bias

UNCHARTED: HOW SCIENTISTS NAVIGATE
THEIR OWN HEALTH, RESEARCH, AND EXPERIENCES OF BIAS
Skylar Bayer (NASW Member) and Gabi Serrato Marks, Eds.
Columbia University Press, August 8, 2023
Hardcover, $120, Paperback $30, Kindle, $14.99
ISBN-10: 0231203632, ISBN-13:9780231203630
ASIN: B0BY4DG9MV

Editors: Skylar Bayer (NASW Member) and Gabi Serrato Marks Contributors: Mpho Kgoadi, Jenn Pickering, Maureen J. Hayden, Sami Chen, Amanda Heidt (NASW Member), Daisy Shearer, Lauren A. White, Anonymous 1, Skylar Bayer (NASW Member), Furaha Asani, Alma C. Schrage, Alexander G. Steele, Sophie Fern, Sophie Okolo, Richard Wendell Mankin, Anonymous 2, Juniper L. Simonis, Syreeta L. Nolan, Amanda O’Brien, Stephanie Schroeder, Divya M. Persaud, Glyn Everett, Emma Tung Corcoran, Leehi Yona, Katie Harazin, Sunshine Menezes, Olivia Bernard, Jennifer L. Piatek, Taylor Francisco, Gabi Serrato Marks, Vincent Martin, Michele Cooke

Bayer reports:

Both Gabi and I dealt with unexpected medical diagnoses during our Ph.D. programs. Gabi was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a collagen disorder that causes widespread pain. I was diagnosed with a heart condition called polymorphic arrhythmia that required me to have an implantable cardioverter defibrillator surgically implanted, which ended my scientific scuba-diving career. We found our separate ways to The Story Collider, a non-profit dedicated to storytelling about science, to share our stories of how our medical challenges intersected with and impacted our lives as scientists.

In 2018, we got together and decided that we wanted to create a project or a book with lots of stories about disability and medical conditions from scientists. Our goal was to share a diverse group of stories about disability and medical conditions in STEM, help contributors tell their stories in their own voices, and provide representation for disabled scientists everywhere. We had no idea that this would take 5 years!

We issued two calls for pitches in 2018 and 2019 through Twitter, wrote an op-ed in Scientific American, and bought a book on how to write book proposals. In 2020, an editor from Columbia University Press approached Gabi about book ideas, so we wrote a proposal that included some of our writing and a summary of the pitches we had received.

After our proposal was approved, we recruited more contributors and applied to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Book Grants Program so we could pay all the contributors ahead of time. In addition to awarding us funding, Sloan gave us extra funds to hire an illustrator to develop portraits and illustrations for each chapter.

Working on this book with 30 contributors was incredibly rewarding. We have learned a lot about book writing, networking, and the publishing industry. We greatly appreciated having one another to lean on during this process—working alone as an editor would’ve seemed impossible. Our advice for others developing a similar anthology is to work with partners, take your time to develop your book carefully, be patient, and revisit your goals for the book often.

Contact info:

• Skylar Bayer: 617-771-5173, skylarrb@gmail.com, https://skylarbayer.wordpress.com/
  X (Twitter): @drsrbayer
  Bluesky: @drsrbayer.bsky.social
• Gabi Serrato Marks: 617-233-3298, gserratomarks@gmail.com
  X (Twitter): @gserratomarks
  Bluesky: @gserratomarks.bsky.social
• Book: Uncharted: How Scientists Navigate Their Own Health, Research, and Experiences of Bias, https://uncharted.ck.page/signup
• Publicist: Robyn Massey, 347-260-1085, rm3785@columbia.edu

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Banner image adapted from original photo by Gabi Serrato Marks.