Sandi Jo Estill-Terpack

Lab Manager
Diamond Lab, Center for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases

First UTSW job: Research Technician II in the Department of Biochemistry.

Best part about my job: Watching and helping so many young scientists find their feet and wings over the years. It’s always been exciting to help students and postdocs achieve the goals of their projects, then move on to new and exciting work. To be a small piece in the process of moving scientific knowledge forward is quite fulfilling.

How co-workers describe me: The answer I got the most was “a bubbly one-woman army.”

Hobbies: When I’m not busy painting, my husband and I are very slowly renovating our home as well as restoring a 1959 Ford Thunderbird together.

Surprising fact: I paint, and while I’m no Bob Ross, I really enjoy expressing myself in a variety of media. My favorite approach is using negative space to create shapes out of wild backgrounds – creating something beautiful from chaos, if you will.

Final note: Someone recently asked me, “How do you do it? How do you stick around so long?” To me, that answer is pretty easy: You build a team that makes coming to work every day enjoyable. Even when the things get tough and the days are stressful, I have a great team of people I can count on.