‘It’s my job not to switch off’
Women of Influence winner Siouxsie Wiles knows she needs to slow down, but concedes to Hannah that it doesn’t come naturally.
‘‘For me it just became: ‘What can I do to help?’’’ Neon-pink haired microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles has become a familiar source of reassurance throughout the Covid-19 pandemic – a safeharbour from whom New Zealanders have been able to access easily-digestible, nononsense information about the virus.
It’s a role she was used to as an associate professor and science communicator, but not quite on this scale. When China started erecting hospitals to treat the disease, and doctors in Italy were deciding who to ventilate, ‘‘it became very clear this was something very different’’.
On Tuesday night, Wiles took out supreme winner at the StuffWestpac NZ 2020 Women of Influence Awards, as well as the science and health innovation award.
She said it was an honour, accepting the award with an elbow-bump and a reminder that Covid-19 ‘‘is not over yet’’.
The judges said Wiles’ accessible and evidence-led commentary about staying safe during the pandemic helped ease the nation’s anxiety and became the basis for World Health Organisation communications tools.
But taking up that mantle hasn’t been without sacrifice: Covid-19 has been allencompassing for Wiles since her phone first started ringing about the virus in January.
Even when she isn’t fielding media calls – which at their peak were more than 30 a day – Wiles is reading. Part of it is selfish, she says. She wants to know what’s happening in the UK, where her parents have been in a suspended state of lockdown all year.
She has almost entirely stepped back from her usual job, heading up the Bioluminescent Superbugs Lab at the University of Auckland. ‘‘I feel as far away from my actual lab and research as I’ve ever felt.’’
Wiles studied medical microbiology at the University of Edinburgh, followed by a PhD in microbiology in Oxford and
Napier University. She spent nearly a decade at the Imperial College of London, before relocating to New Zealand in 2009.
Wiles has made regular media appearances since, including during the 2011 E. coli outbreak in Germany and the Fonterra botulism scare of 2013, and was appointed amember of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to microbiology and science communication last year.
Even now, with New Zealand at alert level 1, Wiles is thinking about how she will next be needed. ‘‘Next year is going to be all about vaccines… I feel like
I’m going to be spending a significant amount of my time ensuring everybody understands what is happening, so we’re all on the same page.’’
Ensuring Kiwis have relevant information and can counter disinformation is forefront for Wiles. But between unrelenting interviews, reading and her usual work, Wiles hasn’t had much time for other things she enjoys, such as going for bike rides, or playing with Lego.
Wiles says her family has borne the brunt of her being so vocal and visible. ‘‘It must be hard for them, but they are incredibly supportive. They see this is important to me, they see the value in it.’’
Wiles has had few weekends in the past few months. ‘‘I do feel like I have to start slowing down a bit… it’s not sustainable.’’
After the first lockdown, Wiles, husband Steven Galbraith – a professor of mathematics at the University of Auckland – and their daughter bought a pingpong table, and got ‘‘pretty good’’ playing most days, but her workload eventually won out.
However, she is quick to shift attention off her work and prominence: ‘‘I feel like everybody’s in the same boat, right? Those who are still working are juggling 101 things, children, home-schooling, [there’s] all sorts of things going on.’’
She, like many of us, is looking forward to a holiday, but knows what a luxury that is given the reality for most of the world.
‘‘It’s very frightening seeing the cases just exploding,’’ Wiles says of nations like the UK and US, which continue to see ‘‘exponential’’ increases.
The comparison is jarring, she says, and as a result some people switch off to the reality of it. But ‘‘I feel like it’s my job not to switch off, I can’t ignore this.’’
Wiles says Covid emphasised how important science communication is, and highlighted the work of academics at a time when universities under financial strain are gutting departments.
Even with promising vaccine candidates, Wiles sayswe need to be realistic about how long they could take and that they may still not guarantee New Zealand is open for business.
During a recent Skype call with her parents, Wiles’ mother said she wasn’t sure when they would see each other again. That’s the reality and, she says, it’s her responsibility, and privilege, to remind others of it.
I feel like it’s my job not to switch off, I can’t ignore this.’ SIOUXSIE WILES