{"doi":"10.1016/j.jbc.2021.100677","title":"Getting there: Thyroid hormone receptor intracellular trafficking","abstract":"A year ago, when I first contemplated writing this article, my intent was to provide a detailed review of the contributions of the diverse community of talented scientists in my lab to the nuclear receptor research field. In the throes of a deadly pandemic, political turmoil, and Black Lives Matter, however, I found myself compelled to tell a more personal story. While I will still cover milestones in our understanding of the intracellular trafficking of the thyroid hormone receptor, now these will be set against the backdrop of my path as a woman in STEM and on being intentionally inclusive. By sharing reflections on my journey, I hope to encourage young investigators to persist in their pursuit of a career in science. A year ago, when I first contemplated writing this article, my intent was to provide a detailed review of the contributions of the diverse community of talented scientists in my lab to the nuclear receptor research field. In the throes of a deadly pandemic, political turmoil, and Black Lives Matter, however, I found myself compelled to tell a more personal story. While I will still cover milestones in our understanding of the intracellular trafficking of the thyroid hormone receptor, now these will be set against the backdrop of my path as a woman in STEM and on being intentionally inclusive. By sharing reflections on my journey, I hope to encourage young investigators to persist in their pursuit of a career in science. Due to COVID-19 and the cancellation of ASBMB 2020, my acceptance of the 2020 Ruth Kirschstein Diversity in Science Award was deferred to 2021. I have now had a year to reflect on this humbling honor in the midst of chaotic times, filled with grief, fear, and division. My impact on the world at first glance seems akin to tiny ripples in a small pond, but as I think about the colleagues and students whose scientific careers I’ve encouraged and cultivated, I realize that those tiny ripples have set in motion forces of great consequence. If I am a ripple, my colleague, Dr Shantá D. Hinton is a surging wave. What are the characteristics of a successful scientist? I can think of many words—intelligent, courageous, persistent, and full of initiative. Notably absent from my list are descriptors alluding to differences across socially constructed identities, such as race, ethnicity, nationality, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, or socioeconomic background. It is abundantly clear that no scientific evidence exists to suggest that scientific potential and talent differentially segregate across these social identities. But if we are not part of the majority, “getting there” can be a daily obstacle course fraught with inequity and microaggression. Systemic racism takes its toll. Negative stereotypes about Black, Indigenous, and People of Color continue to be perpetuated. Sexist and anti-LBGTQ+ attitudes are pervasive. By sharing my unique path, I hope to encourage anyone starting out in science—who wonders if they belong—to persist. The year I was born, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr wrote “True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice” (1King Jr., M.L. Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story. Harper & Brothers., New York, NY1958Google Scholar). Through their actions, my parents taught me about justice, kindness, dignity, and respect, but they also passed on a heavy dose of low self-esteem and humility to a fault. My older sister and I were raised in a very traditional household, until my parents divorced when I was 16. My father was a high school chemistry teacher and my mother a homemaker. My father’s view was that girls should be educated so that they would be good mothers in the future. Not surprisingly, rather than a chemistry set, my first memorable gift was a kitchen play set, complete with a toaster and plastic waffles (Fig. 1). My early childhood experiences shaped important parts of me. Cooking, baking, and exploring the","journal":"Journal of Biological Chemistry","year":2021,"id":204244,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":4,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9439,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":585474,"name":"Lizabeth A. Allison","orcid":"0000-0002-1897-2030","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":17,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:51:22.166488Z","pmid":"33887322","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}