Member Highlight: Dr. Leticia Rittner

Member Highlight: Dr. Letícia Rittner
Associate Professor, University of Campinas, Brazil
 

Dr. Leticia Rittner Dr. Letícia Rittner is an Associate Professor (with tenure) at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil. She is the co-founder and currently Director of the Medical Image Computing Laboratory, and also part of the Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN). Dr. Rittner holds a Master in Business and Administration and MSc and PhD in Computer Engineering from the University of Campinas. She held fellowships at the Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University (Canada), and at the School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania (USA). She was also a visiting Professor at Università degli Studi di Verona, Italy and a visiting Researcher at the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, Brazil. Her research field is Medical Image Processing and Analysis, developing AI-based techniques, such as segmentation and characterization of anatomical structures, to support large-scale studies. Since 2012, she runs programming workshops for children and adolescents and has an active role in promoting gender diversity in the STEM areas. She is a member of the Brazilian Society of Biomedical Engineering (SBEB), of the International Photonic Society (SPIE) and a senior member of IEEE, serving on the IEEE Biomedical Image and Signal Processing Technical Committee.

We approached Dr. Leticia Rittner to learn more:

Q: What challenges have you had to face to get to where you are today?

After completing my bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, I was torn between pursuing a PhD or accepting a job offer in the industry. Ultimately, I chose to work in the industry, where I stayed for seven years. Despite the great salary and everything seeming fine on the surface, I was deeply unhappy. The first major challenge I faced was leaving what seemed like a dream job with a good salary to return to being a student. I felt confused, miserable, and like a total failure. I had to convince myself that it was okay to make a U-turn in my career in order to find my truth.

Once I realized that the only person I owe an explanation to is myself, and that no one else's opinion should matter, things began to flow more easily. Along the way, tough decisions will always need to be made, and if you're constantly worried about what others think, you'll never achieve what you want or reach where you're meant to be.

Q: What was the most important factor in your success?

Perseverance and confidence are absolutely essential in academia, especially as a Latin American female faculty member in STEM. When you consider all the disadvantages and stereotypes tied to these identities, trusting in myself becomes crucial for success.

I also find focus to be extremely important, especially in research. While there’s always room to explore new fields and interests, maintaining a clear main focus is essential. I have colleagues with strong backgrounds and more experience than I do, yet they often feel unsuccessful and unappreciated. While I’ve been dedicated to research in biomedical imaging and signal processing since my PhD, some of them have dabbled in many fields without giving enough time to see the results from the seeds they've sown.

Q: How does your work affect society?

As an individual researcher, I often felt that my ability to make a positive impact on society was limited. While I can envision a computer algorithm contributing to new medical discoveries, improvements are often incremental, and the impact can feel small. However, as a research group leader-and especially as a supervisor and mentor—I truly feel that I can make a meaningful difference. By guiding and providing resources for the next generation of researchers, professors, and developers, I am amplifying my impact on society in a much broader and more significant way.

Q: What is the key take-home message would you like the readers to remember from this interview?

Stop comparing yourself and your career to others; life and career are not a race or a competition, and it’s not you against someone else. Life-and your career-is a journey, a collection of experiences. There is no "right" path or choice, only the path you choose at any given moment. Follow it, enjoy it, and most importantly, don’t feel bound to it for the rest of your life. Feel free to take a detour, pause for a rest, or even start over if that’s what feels right for you.

Q: Failures are an inevitable part of everyone's career journey. What is the most important lesson you have learned from dealing with failures during your career?

After every failure, there is a period of mourning where feelings of frustration, self-doubt, or regret often surface. This phase can last anywhere from a few seconds to several weeks, depending on the expectations you had before the setback. However, each failure carries a valuable lesson. The sooner you identify what needs to be learned and move forward, the quicker you'll recover and be prepared for the next challenge.

Also, you should know that experiencing failure does not make you a failure. Every successful professional accumulates failures throughout their career.