Professor Melissa Brown started her PhD investigating blood cancers at Australia’s oldest medical research institute. Her research then took her to the Imperial Cancer Research and King’s College in London, contributing to the work on BRCA1, a genetic mutation central to understanding and predicting hereditary breast cancer.Melissa’s career has also been bookmarked by leadership roles. She has worked as convenor for higher degree by research students, Deputy Head of School, Head of School, and now Executive Dean for the Faculty of Science at The University of Queensland. And she did all of this while balancing teaching and PhD supervision.In our conversation, Melissa talks about working across countries, managing your time while still taking on opportunities and new challenges, and addresses impostor syndrome in a way you may not have considered before.Recorded on International Women’s Day.Donate now to support future episodes of Women in Science: www.justgiving.com/campaign/women-in-science-podcastRead more about Professor Melissa Brown’s work: www.researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/937Season 3 of Women in Science has been made possible with the generous support of Professor Aideen McInerney-Leo.