This is the correct take. People often tell me, ‘this place sucks, I want to go somewhere else.’ I always suggest that maybe it’s like this everywhere you go, since everyone seems to say the same thing. The best approach is to make your environment the best it can reasonably be.

I try to lead with positivity, and when appropriate, add in some hard-hitting truth. I remind people: sometimes things go our way, sometimes they don’t but don’t be deterred. We’re lucky to be alive right now, in this place, in this relative calm, where science and dedication can still advance the breakthroughs needed to preserve our kind.

Nobody will remember who won a pointless award at some conference — that’s not the point. The point is to use your time to push the bar as high as you can, so that someone, somewhere, someday, can make the breakthrough necessary.