Overcoming a severe lab accident to become a chief scientist
Thea Ekins-Coward’s life changed in an instant; several years later, she has returned to science and is about to become a mum
Six years after a horrific lab accident in which Thea Ekins-Coward lost an arm, she has moved forward and is thriving. While her lawsuit against the University of Hawaii at Manoa and her supervisor remains pending, Ekins-Coward is now the chief scientific officer of Industrial Phycology (I-Phyc) – a water treatment supplier in Bristol, UK – and is pregnant with her first child.
The youngest of four children, Ekins-Coward grew up on the Isle of Wight, off the UK’s south coast. The summers there were glorious, she recalls, with lots of time at the beach, on bikes, and fossil hunting. Dyslexia made some aspects of school challenging, and she was always creative – making art and going with her mother to see art exhibits.
‘Throughout my A levels I hedged my bets, taking a mixture of creative and scientific subjects,’ she recounts. ‘It wasn’t until I was 18 and really had to decide a direction for university that I decided to study marine biology due to my affinity for the sea.’
Ekins-Coward believes that her dyslexia and creative background has helped her scientific career, having long ago forced her to acquire the skills of patience and problem-solving that are key for a researcher.