Why Dr. Kent Became a Neuroscientist

Last in a series. 

As the first neuroscientist in the history of Culver City to run for the School Board, Prof. Kelly Kent, a candidate in tomorrow’s election, was asked why she chose that field.

“I fell into it so fortunately,” she said. “I got a lab job out of college that was removing cornea from cadavers for transplants.

“I really liked the job, and I worked there for a year.”

There were perspiration moments, though. “Two things made it uncomfortable,” Dr. Kent said.

“One, I had to ask families for permission in their moment of grief. That was difficult.

“Two, I worked on Wall Street proper, and Sept. 11 happened while I was there.

“I did have the experience of having to run from falling buildings. That was traumatic. I left the job shortly after that.”

How did Sept. 11 affect Dr. Kent’s subsequent life?

“In every single way you could possibly imagine, including who I have married and where I live,” she said. “It has been an immense influence on me.”

Returning to her career choice of neuroscience, Dr. Kent, the mother of two and a prominent parent at Lin Howe Elementary, said that “I needed a new job. I liked research, and I found a position at Columbia.”

Her fondness for research was not new.  “I had started as an undergrad,” she said. “I had a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology. So it was not uncharted territory. I had worked in labs before. You had to do that to get a Bachelor of Science.”

The appeal of research, says the methodical Dr. Kent, who did it for a decade, “is that it is proscribed. You write out a set of step-by-step instructions, and you follow them. It works or it doesn’t. You go back and you modify one step at a time and see if it works. You go back, and you modify again.

“It is very methodical, systematic. I appreciated that.

“I was kind of a math and science type. So I appreciated the rigidity,” Dr. Kent said.