Profile of Board member Dr. Kim Hellemans

Animal allergy leads professor to true calling

Developing a lab allergy may have been devastating news to most PhD researchers, but for Kim Hellemans it was a blessing in disguise that allowed her to focus on her true calling – teaching.

“It feels like my spirit lights up inside me,” says Hellemans of teaching.

She was completing her second post-doctoral fellowship at the University of British Columbia when she developed an allergy to lab rats used in her research. Hellemans explains that she developed an acquired lab allergy which often happens to people with pre-existing allergies. She became extremely sensitive to the rat dander and urine to the point where she found it extremely difficult to breath.

It was this and the constant feeling of being unfulfilled that pushed her to leave research to pursue a full-time teaching career and she couldn’t be happier. “I love the interaction and dynamism that comes from teaching,” says the professor who is now a member of Carleton’s psychology department.

Despite the fact that Hellemans’ focus is no longer research, she is still continuing to publish. Just last month, along with four other colleagues, she published a paper entitled, Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Increases Vulnerability to Stress and Anxiety-Like Disorders in Adulthood.

The study used an animal model of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) to explore whether the offspring of mothers who consumed alcohol during gestation increases depressive symptomatology when these rats are tested in adulthood. In humans, ninety-four per cent of adults or children born with FASD show some form of mental illness, including depression and addiction. In the Hellemans study, both males and females exposed to alcohol in utero showed significant increases in anxiety, which may be a symptom of depression (rather than its own disorder), particularly in women. Prenatal alcohol-exposed rats have a huge response to stress, and stress is a large factor in mental illness and addiction. The neural system responsible for mediating the stress response, and producing the hormone corticosterone (cortisol in humans), becomes hyperactive in these animals.

An important aspect of their research is that they studied both male and female rats, which isn’t the norm due to the complexity of the female ovarian cycle. According to Hellemans, in humans and other species (including rats), resting cortisol levels are much higher in females than males, and this may be one reason why women are more at risk for depression. As well, and based on the results from her study, females experience depression differently than males. She argues this is why it is important to study both sexes.

Hellemans says the next step of their study will examine the possibility of administering anti-depressants to pregnant female rats that consume alcohol throughout gestation, and whether this could offset the anxiety and depression which they observed in their earlier studies.

While Hellemans is dedicated to teaching and her career, she admits that a position in this field can be difficult for a woman. To help change this reality, Hellemans is entering her second term as a board member of the Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology (SCWIST) which is a non-profit association established to promote, encourage, and empower women working in science and technology. Hellemans says that women in this field often feel isolated and face many gender issues. The society is designed to support women through a series of workshops and brown bag seminars.

Hellemans explains that some of their SCWIST volunteers go into grade schools to discuss these issues and also have mentoring programs for young women in high school and at the undergraduate level. “We want to support these women when they begin as undergrads so they will stay and complete their degree and perhaps go onto grad studies,” says Hellemans.

While SCWIST is mostly active on the West Coast, members of the society are hoping to expand into Ottawa now that Hellemans is there.