On February 8th and 9th at the United Nations headquarters in NYC, the Royal Academy of Science International Trust held a program to recognize women in STEM fields, and the importance of their presence for the progression of humanity, empowerment of society, and impact on the research currently being pursued.

As BMC is a diverse, international company that publishes research of sound scientific methodology, I attended this program and was privileged to listen to the stories and experiences of top female researchers from around the world.

While there have been many notable achievements by female scientists in all of the STEM fields throughout history, particularly biological research, women have been consistently and dramatically underrepresented and faced challenges in becoming respected leaders in their fields that their male counterparts have not.

The current alarming trend in the United States is that despite an increase in focus and funding to get young women interested in careers in science and technology, fewer are actually pursuing this profession.

As part of our celebration of International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we will be publishing additional blogs throughout the month featuring women in various biological disciplines, where we will highlight their achievements and what they have had to overcome to reach the pinnacle of success in a career of scientific research.

Be sure to keep an eye on the BMC blogs and Twitter feed for updates.