Interview Dusoulier (2000) Rayward/CNRS

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Education and Early Career

Rayward

Please tell me about your family background and your education.

Dusoulier

I was born in Nice, France, to Russian parents. I attended school in Nice.

Educational path

I studied pharmacology in Marseilles and earned my Ph.D. in pharmacology in Paris. While in Paris, I also studied other related subjects such as biology, serology, and virology at Institut Pasteur.

I decided to study business administration because of my husband. He has a Ph.D. in political science and a diploma in engineering. I received a diploma in business administration when it began in France—during the first year, but I was not very good because law did not interest me much. I was selected because there were not many scientists studying that. There was only one pharmacologist and one veterinarian.

Rayward

Were you the only woman in the program?

Dusoulier

No, there were other women.

Rayward

When was this?

Dusoulier

Around 1960.

I studied supplementary diplômes (diplomas) in the pharmaceutical industry in order to work in industry; I didn’t want to work in a pharmacy.

Car Accident

At the end of 1960, I was in a car accident, and stayed in bed for about a year. After that, the doctor said that I could not work standing up for at least three or four years, so I had to find a new job. I had been working in pharmacy doing biological analysis. I didn’t even know what other jobs I was qualified for that wouldn’t require standing.

Just before my accident, I had found a job at the Laboratoire de la Grange, a pharmaceutical laboratory for the control of drugs. Today, I don’t think the subject is that interesting, but, at the time, I was happy there. Then came the accident, which was just terrible.

My husband and I were in the car with our three children.

Rayward

Were they hurt as well?

Dusoulier

Not really. My husband was hurt; he was pinned in. I was thrown out of the car.

I decided to put an advertisement in Le Monde stating, “Doctor of pharmacy with these diplômes, knowing French, English, German, Russian, and Spanish, would like to find a job that doesn’t require standing.”

Employment at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Dusoulier

Rayward

Dusoulier