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Guest author Harish Ramadas, a researcher at GRAIL in Menlo Park, California, United States, develops machine learning algorithms to detect cancer at an early stage.

I grew up in the posh southern tip of the city of Mumbai, India, as a child of two scientists in a lush, beautifully-maintained gated community that was home to many of India’s leading scientists. Perhaps it is no surprise that 15+ years after I left home to attend college in 2007, I am today a scientist myself, using artificial intelligence to develop blood-based tests to detect cancer early.  

Being a scientist, however, is only one of many identities I hold dear; I also happen to be gay.  

India, despite being unimaginably vast and diverse, is by and large a deeply conservative society. Although I grew up surrounded by socially liberal scientists and other academics, many of whom had lived overseas, I did not know of a single openly Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender or Queer (LGBTQ+) individual during my entire childhood and adolescence. While I had a largely comfortable and privileged childhood, like the vast majority of closeted LGBTQ+ youth worldwide, I was insecure and fearful growing up.  

Coming out to each of my closest friends while I was in college at one of India’s most prestigious engineering institutes, I experienced an immeasurable sense of relief. I could finally be my true self, and our friendships became much more genuine once I no longer felt like I was constantly hiding some terrible secret. When I came out publicly in my final semester, the only reactions I got from family, friends and strangers were overwhelmingly positive. I know that many LGBTQ+ youth have much more challenging coming-out experiences, but at that time at least, my faith in the inherent goodness and kindness of humanity grew several-fold.  

Moved and emboldened by all the love and support I received, I worked with several members of the campus community to help found India’s first college LGBTQ+ resource group. After graduation in 2011, like so many of my college classmates, I was lured to the West by the promise of a high-quality graduate education. In 2017, I completed my PhD in mathematics and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to work in the tech / life-sciences industries on data science and machine learning. I consider myself incredibly privileged to live and work in a society where diversity of many forms – including sexual orientation – is not merely accepted but celebrated. 

Within a few months of moving here, I met the love of my life, both an incredibly talented musician and wonderful human being. Like me, he is also a gay man. Because of the blood, sweat, toil and tears of generations of LGBTQ+ activists before us, we can talk about getting married and having children, basic things that most people take for granted. 

My appeal to the Global Young Academy is to support the LGBTQ+ individuals in your scientific and personal communities. Although many of us are forced to remain closeted due to the fear of persecution, we exist in all societies and countries. Our only agenda is to live our lives in peace and dignity. We are represented among your students, professors, lab-members, non-academic coworkers, friends and family-members. Our appeal is to treat us with respect as you would any other person. Finally, if you are LGBTQ+ yourself, remember that you are not alone, and like all other human beings, you are worthy of love. 

Dr. Harish Ramadas works as a researcher at GRAIL in Menlo Park, California, United States, where he develops machine learning algorithms to detect cancer at an early stage. He did his B.Tech. in Engineering Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology – Bombay, followed by a Master’s in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics in Munich, Germany, and a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Washington in Seattle, United States.