AC Caregiver Grant helps UTM chemist balance research and new motherhood

As an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences at the University of Toronto Mississauga, Alana Ogata runs an active lab, overseeing the work of postdoctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students. Her research group is focused on improving women’s health through point-of-care technologies, like biosensors, to better detect and diagnose gynecological diseases.

Solving problems with analytical chemistry and nanomaterials keeps Ogata busy. But in November 2026, she became even busier when she welcomed her first child into the world. The arrival of a newborn baby brought new priorities and time away from the lab.  

“The fourth and fifth years as an assistant professor are a stressful period because you’re still building your research program. It requires a lot of hands-on time supervising students and writing grants, so starting a family at the same time is typically a challenge,” she said. “I put a lot of time and effort into planning and preparing the lab for my leave.”

To help Ogata and others like her in the U of T community meet such a challenge, the Acceleration Consortium runs an annual grant program called the AC Caregiver Grant, which provides up to $90,000 in annual research funding to its members who are associate or assistant professors and caregivers of a friend or family member.  

The unique grant supports the hiring of roles like research associates, postdoctoral fellows, and lab managers, as well as covering associated laboratory operating expenses. This helps keep a lab running smoothly and sustains its research productivity during the recipient’s caregiving leave.

“When I think of the goal of the AC Caregiver Grant, to help retain women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields, it was incredibly successful in my case,” said Ogata, who is the grant’s second recipient. “Without it, I think the amount of pressure to choose between being a mother and running a lab pre-tenure would have been far greater.  Instead, I focused on me and my baby, as the funds enabled my students to be supported and productive while I was on leave.”  

Ogata used the grant to cover the costs of a postdoctoral fellow, who helped supervise graduate students during her time away. She also used it to cover the cost of facility user fees for her students to access hands-on instrumentation training in her absence.  

“Motherhood has been much more intense than I ever thought it was going to be, and the grant allowed me to focus on my family,” she said. “I always understood that caregivers do a lot, but after having a baby, I’ve gained a new appreciation for everyone who balances a career and caregiving."  

Since returning to work in April 2026, Ogata has been navigating her new reality as a young faculty member with an infant at home. She said she would like to see the AC Caregiver Grant replicated elsewhere at U of T and at other institutions.

“Grants like these are incredibly important and I’m grateful that the AC decided to invest in my dual role as a researcher and as a mother.”  

A diptych of Prof. Ogata in the lab and at home with her newborn.