If anyone in Fiona Costello's hometown of Stephenville, Nfld., had told her in her first year at Memorial University that she'd find herself at 39 "married, doing what I do and with four kids, I would have [fallen]down laughing."
Now a neuro-ophthalmologist and a professor at the University of Calgary, she says: "I've gotten further ahead than I ever could have hoped."
Dr. Costello was one of three children born to Fintan, a teacher, and Teresa, a nurse, who had emigrated from Ireland in 1967.
When she started at Memorial University, she considered journalism because she liked writing.
"I think I thought that journalism was the only creative outlet that there was," says Dr. Costello, "but I realized … science was creative in its own way. In science you don't have to accept anything anyone tells you, you can come up with a hypothesis and test it yourself. And you can be the first one to do it.
"There's more than one way to be creative. And you need out-of-the-box thinkers in science just as much as you do in journalism."
She knew right away about her interest in neurology and it didn't take too long for Dr. Costello to pinpoint the sub-specialty she would pursue.
"We didn't have a neuro-ophthalmologist in Newfoundland … and I noticed [while at medical school]that everyone seemed to be a little bit afraid of it. So I said to myself 'I can go through the rest of my career trying to avoid this or I can just jump in headlong.'
"I went with door number two," says Dr. Costello.
"I went after neuro-ophthalmology because it seemed to be the one people knew the least about. … It's a real grey zone area between disciplines and you either have to live there or never go there."
She went on from Memorial to study in Ottawa and Iowa. Opportunity drew her to Calgary two years ago; she is teaching and doing both research and clinical work. Her research focuses on nerve damage in the eye and its apparent similarities to nerve damage in multiple sclerosis patients, with a view toward potential new MS therapies.
"I would love to see MS cured, because that's my area of research," Dr. Costello says, adding she sees the real chance of a cure, particularly given the strengths of the "great group" she's working with in Calgary.
Married, and with two boys and two girls ranging in age from eight years to six months, Dr. Costello says she doesn't want to perpetuate any idea that being a working mother is easy "because that would devastate a nation of mothers. And they would all know I was lying."
She says she doesn't know anyone who's expert at balancing the demands of work and family. "I think the reality is … you can maybe do one thing well at a time. … What I hope is that on a good day my kids see it's important to work hard toward something that matters, that helps people."