On this International Day of Women and Girls in Science we are recognising the women who help shape better health outcomes for our community.

One of them is Sanzi­da Now­shin, a med­ical lab­o­ra­to­ry sci­en­tist whose work sup­ports diag­no­sis and treat­ment every day.

Sanzi­da works in the NSW Health Pathology’s mul­ti­func­tion­al lab­o­ra­to­ry at Port Mac­quar­ie Hos­pi­tal, which includes haema­tol­ogy, bio­chem­istry, micro­bi­ol­o­gy and trans­fu­sion services.

Every sam­ple col­lect­ed on the wards or in clin­ics pass­es through these sec­tions to help uncov­er why a patient is unwell.

“In bio­chem­istry, we look at things like kid­ney func­tion, liv­er func­tion or iron lev­els,” Sanzi­da said.

“In haema­tol­ogy, we check the blood cells, and some­times you can see signs of prob­lems just by look­ing under the microscope.”

She spends much of her time in trans­fu­sion ser­vices, an area she describes as busy and high-pressure.

“If some­one needs blood, espe­cial­ly in an emer­gency, it has to be right,” she said.

“We check every­thing care­ful­ly so the patient gets the safest blood for them.”

Sanzida’s love for sci­ence began when she was young. She grew up in a fam­i­ly where sci­ence was part of every­day life, with cousins study­ing micro­bi­ol­o­gy and geol­o­gy and an uncle com­plet­ing a PhD in agri­cul­tur­al science.

“I always felt inter­est­ed in sci­ence, espe­cial­ly health. I was not sure at the start exact­ly what field, but I knew I want­ed to help peo­ple,” she said.

Her aunt, who lives in Aus­tralia, encour­aged her to con­sid­er study­ing here. Sanzi­da went on to com­plete a Bach­e­lor of Med­ical Sci­ence with a spe­cial­i­sa­tion in pathol­o­gy in Wag­ga Wag­ga, where she also under­took a clin­i­cal place­ment at the local base hospital.

“That place­ment showed me how every­thing works inside a hos­pi­tal lab,” she said. “I realised how much sci­ence sits behind the care a patient receives. We might not meet the patient, but we help find answers for them.”

Sanzi­da says she is encour­aged by how many women she sees choos­ing lab­o­ra­to­ry science.

“In many labs I have worked in, it is close to half women. Some go on to do PhDs or research. Women are doing amaz­ing things in science.”

Her advice for girls con­sid­er­ing a sci­ence career is simple.

“Sci­ence gives you many options. Once you have that base, you can move into so many areas. There is sci­ence behind everything.”

Sanzida’s enthu­si­asm for sci­ence is shared across her fam­i­ly. Her sis­ter is prepar­ing to study envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence and her broth­er is study­ing mecha­tron­ics engineering.

“I also have a 15-month-old daugh­ter and when she grows up I will encour­age her to pur­sue a sci­ence career and fol­low in her mum’s footsteps!”

On this Inter­na­tion­al Day of Women and Girls in Sci­ence, Sanzida’s sto­ry is a reminder that sci­ence is for every­one and that the work hap­pen­ing behind the scenes is just as impor­tant as the care deliv­ered at the bedside.

Want to read anoth­er inspir­ing sto­ry of a woman in sci­ence? Check out our pro­file of genom­ic sci­en­tist, Hillary Omoregbe who is based at our Rand­wick Genomics Lab­o­ra­to­ry at Prince of Wales Hos­pi­tal in Sydney.

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