Special Friends with Dr. Audrey Gaskins

Ep 7 // Dr. Audrey Gaskins ScD, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health (and a prolific researcher in reproductive health and environmental epidemiology), discusses her personal journey into motherhood as a career-driven academic scientist. She describes navigating a modern-day approach to raising her son with a nanny, who provides flexibility for the advancement of her and her husband’s careers. She details the feeling of unconditional love for her son, Charlie, and her unique and close knit relationships with her siblings and family, comprised of incredibly strong women such as her mother and older sister (each with healthcare backgrounds) and her paternal grandmother (the OG Dr. Gaskins). Influenced by her parents’ divorce and witnessing (and experiencing) ongoing changes and growth in who we are as people throughout adulthood, she discusses qualities that she would like to pass on as a mother, qualities she looked for in a partner, and her desire to set an example for her children of how to show love and to have an emotionally mature adult relationship. In addition, I discuss my own experience with thinking about breaking the cycle of intergenerational trauma related to my parents’ experiences as Vietnam War refugees and boat people and the legacy of qualities that I would like to pass on or end. I dedicate this episode to my brother, Viet, who has a context of me that no one else has because of the environment of our upbringing; and my husband, Matt, who supports my exploration in trying to break the cycle.