Professor Sara Rankin joined us for our 21st “Find-Your-Role-Model” session. She is Professor of Leukocyte and Stem Cell Biology at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London. She obtained a first class Hons Degreee and PhD in Pharmacology from Kings College, London. She then undertook postdoctoral positions in University of California San Diego and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now Cancer research UK). She joined the Leukocyte Biology Section in 1995. Her research focuses on understanding the impact of bone marrow in inflammatory disease and elucidating the molecular mechanisms regulating the exit of leukocytes and stem cells from bone marrow. There was a lively discussion about her career path, the skills needed to be good scientists, the importance of public engagements, and the way to create a good balance between doing research and having a family. It was impressive that she said it is important to have a clear vision of what you want to do and not to be afraid of changing research topics. She gave us lots of advice, which will help us create a clearer view of our future career paths.