Meet Erin Yuet Tjam, PhD

the beauty obsessed scientist and author of skin sobering

THE BEGINNINGS

Erin’s vanity is known to all her friends, and her 6 kids—but so is her persistent quest for knowledge and improvement.

Not very many people would graduate summa cum laude with scholarships and awards (BSc from McGill), and not work a single day in the field. Just because she found out her Food Scientist job required her to wear a lab coat and hair net—an affront to her personal style!

How often does a young mom of a toddler dare to rock the boat of a cushy Speech Language Pathologist job (MHSc from Toronto), to compete for a Health Canada research grant? Winning it would mean a fully funded doctoral degree and living expenses, but a complicated life with part time work, part time study, and full-time motherhood. Erin won the grant, completed her PhD in less than 3 years, and defended before delivery - her thesis was born a few days before her second son. Finishing a PhD in 2 years 9 months was a record completion time even for full-time students at the University of Waterloo. Her thesis passed with no revisions – but whether it was because she did a fine job or her all-male committee was scared her baby would pop out, remains a closely guarded secret.

THE WINDING PATH

Twelve years of education seemed like a breeze compared to working in the real world and being a career mom. After her PhD in Health Studies, Dr. Tjam joined a pharmaceutical research firm in Toronto, and became a mother again in less than two years. Life was madness with 3 sporty and musical boys. Her busy family brought her work back to Waterloo where she was the Director of Research at St. Mary’s General Hospital, and Senior Research Associate at St. Joseph’s Healthcare for near 12 years. Concurrently, Dr. Tjam held adjunct professor and health researcher positions with UW, as well as honorary professorships with several universities in China. Throughout her career, Dr. Tjam has published in peer-reviewed journals, and has been awarded over $7.5 million in research grants.

The working world was challenging, but running her own business was a lot more high-stakes and rewarding. Erin’s entrepreneurial endeavours began when David Johnston, previous Governor General of Canada, appointed her as his Special Advisor when he was the President of UW. Erin founded a joint venture with UW in international training for senior executives. This expanded into the hospitality industry, where Erin established operational systems so her dependable staff could run the business while she focused on other developments.

FINDING THE BALANCE

Erin has lived in many places in China, Hong Kong, and Canada, and is bi-lingual and bi-cultural. She and her husband Bruce are parents to 6 wonderful grown children. Together with Grandparents Gong Gong and Po Po, Erin and Bruce have managed a vibrant household of 10 people under the same roof for over a decade. Now that the nest is getting smaller, Erin is devoting time to learning, deepening her relationships, and being healthy. She got back to downhill skiing two years ago at 53, initially to please her skier husband, but fell in love with the sport and became insanely devoted to the ideal of being a good-looking skier. So she skis with Bruce, their kids and friends in the big mountains of Western Canada, Colorado, Europe and Japan many weeks a season, and races on tiny local hills. The whole point is so she can ski gracefully enough to deserve fab ski suits. Erin practices yoga daily under the coaching of an Olympic swimmer turned yogi, and cycles long distances with Bruce at home and on trips. All so she can eat to her heart’s desire, and have a good figure. She and Bruce also enjoy raising chickens, ducks, fishing in their pond, gardening, cooking, and hosting parties at their country home.

THE MISSION

For over 35 years, Erin read, researched and experimented about anything she could find on skin. So becoming a published author on a public health book dressed up as beauty is a dream come true for this girly girl and scientist. Publishing a “skin-deep” book beats writing scientific articles that are lucky to get 50 readers😊. Erin would be happy if she could just get all her kids and future grandkids to do skin sobering.