Silencing Your Inner Critic: Spotlight on Michael D.L. Johnson
Written by ASM
Dr. Michael D.L. Johnson is a Keystone Symposia Fellow, a Health Scholar of the Aspen Ideas Festival, cofounder of the National Summer Undergraduate Research Project and assistant professor of immunobiology at the University of Arizona, where he currently studies how bacteria interact with metals, like copper, during infection. But, according to Johnson, identifying his propensity for science and finding the confidence to thrive in his field were limited by feelings of imposter syndrome early in his career. In fact, proving to himself that he belongs has been the most challenging thing he’s had to overcome as a Black microbiologist.