MARGARITA NELIPA
I am a qualified medical scientist with twenty years experience in the medical pathology field. Primarily my work involved molecular biology, virology and cancer research which included immunology in the later years, in various Australian universities and hospitals. Much of the work involved tissue culture procedures, radiography, hematology and microscopic evaluation of tissue samples, and including the use of small animal models. I was appointed briefly to take charge of a histopathology laboratory at the Melbourne Dental Hospital, processing bone samples for microscopic evaluation. In between some of these duties I was a practical demonstrator to Biology students at the tertiary level. Changing my geographic location I tackled the commercial Pathology field, but realized that my skills were better suited to research. I then accepted a research assistant position to the professor of Biochemistry in cancer research at the Australian National University which provided a short scientific publication and poster presentation at the Australian Microbiology Conference, before settling into the John Curtin School of Medical Research. After a few years I diversified my academic profile, to complete a post-graduate Diploma in Legal Studies at Canberra University, majoring in medical negligence law and constitutional law.
Both my parents are Russian born, arriving to Australia as displaced refugees post WWII. My mother survived a nazi concentration camp. My parents imparted their culture and beliefs during my formative years, which involved attending 10 years of Russian School that ran co-currently with my Australian educational program. For all of my life I have been immersed culturally and socially within the Russian migrant communities around Australia. Such a rich background offered me a wonderful opportunity to appreciate my Russian heritage, which today I am sharing with my own daughter. From an early age I became immersed in Russian Imperial history, and now have taken my long-term personal interest to a professional level. During the last few years I have had a number of academic style discussion papers published that concern medical-historic issues and I now continue this path fulltime.
Throughout my career, because of my bilingual capability, I have translated numerous scientific and less academic papers into English. More recently I was involved in reviewing a book for publication on the Russian Imperial Court. With my occasional American based co-author we set up our own Russian History Online Journal website (Faces of Russia – Past and Present) in October 2005, which offers authors a venue to publish their material online.
In the near future it is anticipated that I with my Russian-based friend and co-author will publish a historic account of the St. Petersburg educational facilities for women, with an emphasis on the Smol’nii Institute for Girls of the Nobility. My grandmother was both a pedagogue and pupil at that institute and our work is intended to be a dedication to my co-author’s relative and my own grandmother.
By becoming a member of SEARCH I believe that I am following my grandfather’s footsteps, by assisting SEARCH in finding the truth. My dedushka was involved at high level with juridical matters for the Russian Empire. For his honorable duty to the Emperor, he was imprisoned by the Provisional Government but managed to survive his seven year ordeal only to remain stateless with my babushka for the remainder of their lives in soviet Russia.
It is because of my deep respect for my Russian heritage and as a dedication to my grandparents combined with my gratitude to my parents that I have joined SEARCH - to assist where I am able, to find the truth about one of Bolshevik Russia’s greatest secrets.