A Talk to Inspire with Matilde Hernández González

As part of sharing inspirational stories from women, I talked to Latin American Women who proudly made their dreams come true by conquering many STEM and STEM-related fields outside their countries of provenance.

These women shared their stories with Science to Inspire, and here is one of them.

I had the pleasure to talk to Matilde Hernández González who is a scientist in the STEM-related field of dentistry. She studied and worked in three continents: South America, North America, and Europe, and works as a Clinical Research Innovation Manager at Colgate.

Matilde has worked as a volunteer for Operations Smiles in Venezuela, to help children with cleft lip and/or palate, she is an active member of the Hispanic Dental Association Foundation Scholarship Committee. Matilde leads a joint initiative between the University of Pennsylvania and Colgate Research & Development as well as The Care Center for persons with disabilities to develop novel products and approaches to addressing the unique oral healthcare needs of this vulnerable population.

QUESTION 1:

Matilde, what inspires you the most?

“What truly inspires me the most is people, who overcome obstacles, who persevere and achieve success.

Today we have a lot of problems and inequalities in society, so my calling is to do good, to do what's right, and to help others, and I am blessed to have the opportunity to collaborate from where I work specifically in health and wellbeing.

Anyone can be the best version of themselves, and I like to help with that.

I think that life is full of choices or paths, Albert Einstein said " the measure of intelligence is the ability to change".

Having flexibility when making decisions is paramount. We have ideas about what the future could look like, however, things most probably do not go as envisioned. I believe in the constant review of the path that we have chosen in life.

We should not forget that the main path is not unique and if something goes not as planned sidetracks are good.

What makes us successful is the fact of embracing flexibility for finding diverse paths towards success.”

QUESTION 2:

How was the journey of studying and working in different countries?

“Very Fulfilling!

It has been very interesting and challenging but created the necessary step-stones towards success and further happiness.

I worked and studied in many continents: South America, North America, and Europe.

One of my first experiences was to be an assistant for a famous maxillofacial surgeon, in a district in Venezuela called Santa Rosa de Lima. Working as a prosthodontist linked to social benefits in Venezuela, enlightened two of my passions: teaching and caring for the wellbeing of low-income and underserved communities.

Afterward, Colgate-Palmolive opened me the chance to work with social responsibility programs in South- and North American countries. Since then, I have been deeply engaged with communicating science and assisting with programs to encourage children towards a better oral health and wellness practice.

As I mentioned before, growth and success are never linear. It takes courage applied with the flexibility to select new paths for completing goals.

That is why, and with the support of my family, we went together on the journey to move to Europe, after to New York, USA, and later to Toronto in Canada. Changing continents, with unique cultures, led me to challenge me more as a Latin American scientist.

Once I moved to New York and Toronto, I had the unique vision, built from experience, to compare gender and racial equality and inequality in STEM in three different continents.

Geographically, a Latin American Woman can be faced with discrimination and microaggressions due to her origin and educational background. However, that is a given chance to prove that we can do it, and we can do it great and excellent!

My path is unique, but I hope it serves as an example to encourage young Latin American girls and women to follow their dreams even if the dream is a road trip with many crossroads, lanes, and paths.

The best is to start with a footstep and convert it into the best thought toward success.”

QUESTION 3:

What are you passionate about?

“I am passionate about caring and nurturing people.

The health and well-being of children are especially important to me.

I become inspired and passionate about health care when I was a child. I had the immense luck to have had a mother who worked in medicine (OB/GYN). I used to accompany her to her medical practice where she led me to be involved in small tasks such as helping her to arrange certain objects at the office. A spark of passion grew within me driven by being in the moment and observing the dynamics of the medical practice.

I have to say that I was lucky in life to have lived those experiences as a child because they stayed with me until today. That led me to be passionate about my profession and gave me an important principle to follow in life: that to care for others is the right thing to do.”

QUESTION 4:

Do you have an inspirational story that you would like to share?

“While working in the dentistry industry, in Canada, and in the USA, I had, and still have, the chance to work with people with disabilities.

Teaching and guiding children with motor or people with disabilities on how to better take care of their oral health is inspiring!

Children with special needs are eager to learn. Showing them dental health care can be very challenging for the parents.

During my professional journey in North America, a colleague of mine once introduced me to the idea of how to develop better practices for encouraging children with disabilities to have better oral health. It started with the research about how to reach families, and how to let them know that there is a concept in development for sharing knowledge, techniques, and technologies (e.g., Applications for mobile phones).

Many questions came to light, like: what should a dentist do for children with motor or cognitive disabilities? how do we teach a daily routine for brushing and flossing? How to prevent children with special needs not having tooth decay?

During the development of the idea, one important issue was pertinent and was to show empathy and inclusion towards the family at the personal and community level. Not all families have the chance to get the proper information and assistance about this topic.

I kept myself inspired on the topic.

Fundamental are caring strategies for both, the parents and the child to encourage oral hygiene like for example singing a song or counting or saying the alphabet while brushing the child´s teeth.”

QUESTION 5:

Matilde, would you like to share an exciting experience you had that transformed you, and modeled you to be the woman that you are today?

“Yes! I have an interesting one: I took a class in comedy acting.

Laughing and making people laugh is a resource made for success.

How important is it to feel joy? Very much important!

I think that comedy can play a role in social change, especially as using it as a positive tool to have difficult conversations in science.

Comedy can break the ice, comedy can light the room, and comedy can create bonds among peers.”

QUESTION 6:

With three keywords, what would you say to the younger generations?

“I would say these three words:

First, be courageous.

Second, have optimism.

Third, care about what you do and do the things you do with care.

I think that the fusion of these three keywords, which are translated to be strengths in life, is especially important to be happy.

One thing is finding the paths to step on in your personal and professional life, but another thing is to make them true, and that is what being courageous takes part.

Optimism is necessary to cheerlead yourself toward all kinds of difficulties and differences on the way, but, if you want to be successful, then everything that you do it has to be done with care.

And do not forget to laugh and have joy during the ride!”

QUESTION 7:

To end the interview, Matilde shared some fun facts about herself:

What is your favorite food?

“Chocolate, of course!”

Which kind of food is always in your fridge?

"If it is not outside, is again chocolate, of course!”

From Dr. Gabriela Marcano and Science to Inspire:

THANK YOU, Matilde!

Keep yourself inspired!