are proteins made by the body that promote
healing and growth, not only in the brain, but
also in the liver, kidney and heart. One such
growth factor is called er ythropoietin (EPO),
and is already a commonly prescribed drug for
anemia patients or cancer patients undergoing
chemotherapy, to promote red blood cell count.
Her research investigated the effect of EPO on
oxygen deprived cells from the hippocampus (a
common injured area from newborns afflicted
with stroke) and returned promising results.
Her successful career is perhaps even more
pronounced at a time when there were very
few women role models for anything. “It never
happens anymore but when I was a resident I
went to my first academic meeting in neurology.
Neurology is a very male dominated specialty
and still is. I was standing there, I was standing
close to this big hall and the coat check room
was right over there. Some guy came up to
References
[1] Ferriero, D. M., (2004). Neonatal Brain Injury. The New England
Journal of Medicine
. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra041996
[2] Zanelli, S. A., Stanley, D. P., Kaufman, D. A., Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy. (2015)
Web Article retrieved from Medscape
.
費
列羅教授很早就知道，她比許多女性有更高的事
業抱負。科學，一門她自高中就愛上的學問，開展了她的豐
富旅程。在羅格斯大學取得動物學學士學位和免疫學碩士
學位後，費列羅教授在UCSF完成了她的醫學學位和博士
後研究。她不僅在男性主導的行業中克服重重障礙，並繼
續取得更多成就。費列羅教授現同時擔任UCSF貝尼奧夫
兒童醫院主任醫生，以及UCSF的新生兒腦部疾病中心研
究員。
在過去的20年，費列羅教授的研究聚焦在發育中神經
系統（即初生嬰兒）缺氧缺血性損傷的病理學。這種損傷
是指流向腦部的血液不足以維持其正常功能，及動脈血液
含氧度低於正常水平，主要由腦中風所導致。許多個案都
會因此出現活動上或認知上的障礙，而出生過程中的窒息
情況，佔全世界初生嬰兒夭折原因的23％[1 , 2]。對於初
生嬰兒缺氧缺血性損傷的成因，專家們仍未有定論。費列
羅教授就此提出了一些理論：嬰兒自身保護機制的過度反
應、外傷、感染或者遺傳，都可能是罪魁禍首。懷孕期間的
子宮破裂及胎盤剝離，亦會阻斷母體往胎兒的血液供應。
目前，費列羅教授大部分的研究是關於生長因子的信
號傳遞與修復，旨在尋找新方法，醫治受缺氧缺血性損傷
影響的初生嬰兒。這些生長因子是一種由身體製造的蛋白
me and handed me h i s coat because he
thought I was the coat check girl!” While gender
discrimination is not as marked as it was before,
she believes that there is still an unconscious bias.
“It will take your generation to fix that but I think
we’ll get there. We need more women in science
and medicine!”
The balance between being a physician
and a researcher is one that Prof. Ferriero tries
to maintain by spending 25% to 50% of her
time attending and performing research in her
remaining time. Her passion for both is evident –
“I really enjoy the science but it’s almost selfish
in a way because it is intellectually stimulating, I
hope it will benefit mankind, but I get much more
immediate gratification from interacting with a
baby in the family or a child”. It is that passion
which she advises prospective science students
to look for in their own careers because “it’s not a
job, it’s just fun, it’s your life”.
質，能夠促進癒合和生長，不僅針對大腦，而且對肝臟、腎
臟和心臟的細胞也有效用。促紅細胞生成素（EPO）是其
中一種生長因子，通常會處方予貧血症患者或正接受化療
的癌症病人，用以增加紅細胞數量。她的研究檢視了EPO
對海馬體缺氧細胞（初生嬰兒因腦中風而受損的常見部
位）的影響，並取得可喜的成果。
當年各行業都少有女性榜樣，令費列羅教授的事業成
就更顯出眾。「當我還是一名住院醫師的時候，首次參加神
經內科學術會議。神經內科曾經是一個非常男性主導的專
業，現在還是。當時我站在衣帽間接近大廳的位置，一位男
士向我走過來，遞給我他的大衣，以為我是服務員！」在費列
羅教授看來，時至今日，儘管性別歧視不常發生，潛意識偏
見依然存在。「要等你們這一代來解決問題，但我想我們總
會做到。我們須要有更多的女性投身科學和醫學的範疇！」
費列羅教授花大概25％至50％的時間診症，餘下的時間
做研究，以保持兩方面的平衡。她對兩者的熱愛是顯而易見
的-「我真的很喜歡科學，甚至近乎自私，因為科學帶來知
性上的刺激。我希望科學能夠使人類受益，但我透過與孩子
嬰兒的互動，可以得到更即時的滿足感。」她勉勵有志科研
的學生，要在自己的職業中找到激情，因為「它不是一份工
作，它是樂趣，它是你的人生。」
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