Medicine on the Midway - Fall 2023

FALL 2023

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

Flipping the switch on cancer

Studying epigenetics, UChicago scientists search for disease-fighting answers

Dear Colleagues,

Dean’s Letter

A We pride ourselves not only on the work we do in the South Side neighborhood of Hyde Park and the greater Chicagoland area, but also through the contributions and passions of each of you.

s I reflect on the first year of my tenure as Dean and Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, I am struck by the sheer breadth of knowledge, expertise and experience here at the University of Chicago. This is a place of unmatched intellectual energy — an attribute found in every encounter I have with faculty, other academic appointees, postdocs, staff, students and alumni.

But, as with many large academic institutions, the sprawling nature of our communities can lead to missed opportunities. One of my top priorities since I arrived on campus last fall has been to strengthen the ties between the Biological Sciences Division, the Pritzker School of Medicine and the UChicago Medicine health system. The foundation of this effort is our new Mission, Vision and Values initiative, which we officially launched in September.

This framework is the first step toward building a more unified enterprise.

Together, our mission is to pursue globally impactful solutions to seemingly unsolvable challenges. We have a long-term vision to elevate the human experience with knowledge and care. Our mission and vision are supported by our core values: ■ ■

Mark E. Anderson, MD, PhD Paul and Allene Russell Professor Dean of the Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs The University of Chicago

Commit to Excellence Embrace Curiosity

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Embody Equity Grow Together

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Make a Difference Take Ownership

We developed our Mission, Vision and Values through a months-long process, receiving extensive input from more than 3,700 individuals, including alumni. We then engaged in a series of workshops to distill and define our ideas into a clear set of principles. The result is intended to guide our everyday decisions and actions, including our work on recruiting and curriculum design.

Alumni are a crucial part of our missions in education, research and clinical care. We pride ourselves not only on the work we do in the South Side neighborhood of Hyde Park and the greater Chicagoland area, but also through the contributions and passions of each of you. Your time at UChicago is an indelible part of your lives, and your roles as ambassadors help further our goal to create a more equitable world.

The stories in this issue speak to this wide-ranging impact. The cover story connects the bench to the bedside, delving into epigenetics and the exciting potential this field holds for cancer treatment and detection. Cancer continues to be a top priority for us, and this issue also details the recent groundbreaking of our cancer pavilion, which will open in 2027 as the state’s first standalone structure dedicated to cancer care and research.

We also share stories exploring the other facets of our extensive reach — from the alumni shaping sports medicine, to the new curriculum that welcomed the entering class of medical students, to a profound gift inspired by one of our early alumni.

The desire to contribute to a lasting legacy is a common thread in the conversations I’ve had with many of you. Our moments of connection together, including at Reunion Weekend earlier this year, represent the beginning of a long and fruitful dialogue. I look forward to what lies ahead.

IN THIS ISSUE C OV E R S T O R Y

What epigenetics can teach us in the fight against cancer 10

Fall 2023 Volume 76, No. 2 A publication of the University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences Division.

Medicine on the Midway is published for friends, alumni and faculty of the University of Chicago Medicine, Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine.

A new mural by artist Dorian Sylvain helps celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion.

For decades, University of Chicago researchers have reshaped our understanding of cancer. Today, they are doing this again through the rapidly expanding field of epigenetics — which focuses on dynamic and reversible modifications of DNA. By better understanding our genetic code, these scientists hope to find better ways to detect and treat the disease.

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Email us at momeditor@bsd.uchicago.edu

Asima Ahmad, AB’04, MD’10

Write us at Medicine on the Midway Suite 2500 130 E. Randolph St. Chicago, IL 60601 The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and Biological Sciences Division Executive Leadership Mark E. Anderson, MD, PhD, Paul and Allene Russell Professor, Dean of the Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine, and Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs for the University of Chicago

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T. Conrad Gilliam, PhD, Marjorie I. and Bernard A. Mitchell Distinguished Service Professor, Dean for Basic Science, Biological Sciences Division Thomas E. Jackiewicz, President of the University of Chicago Health System Vineet Arora, MD, AM’03, Herbert T. Abelson Professor, Dean for Medical Education, Pritzker School of Medicine Editorial Committee Chair Jeanne Farnan, AB’98, MD’02, MHPE Jennifer “Piper” Below, PhD’11 Dana Lindsay, MD’92 Rob Mitchum, PhD’07 Loren Schechter, MD’94 Coleman Seskind, AB’55, SB’56, MD’59, SM’59 (Lifetime Member) Carol Westbrook, AB’72, PhD’77, MD’78 Student Representatives Peishu Li, SM’22 (BSD) Tony Liu (Pritzker) University of Chicago Medicine Marketing and Communications Jack Wang, Editor Editorial Contributors Angela O’Connor Jamie Bartosch Sarah Richards Alexis Hayes Sarah Sargent Kevin Joy Matt Wood Ellen McGrew Photo Contributors Erika Bracey Coalition for the Life Sciences Fairbanks Ice Dogs Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Jean Lachat Design Wilkinson Design

NCAA Photos Jordan PorterWoodruff Eddie Quinones Jason Smith Joe Sterbenc Michael Turchin Nancy Wong Matt Wood

One of many alumni working in sports medicine, Brian Hainline, MD’82, has helped pro athletes such as Andy Murray (left).

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F E AT U R E S

D E PA R T M E N T S

Alumni profile 6

More than a game 16

Asima Ahmad, AB’04, MD’10, is trying to change the way we see fertility care.

Meet alumni who are helping athletes around the country return to the sports they love.

Honoring a legacy 8 Inspired by her aunt’s stories of medical school, Virginia Robey made an impactful gift to the University of Chicago.

Midway News UChicago Medicine breaks ground on its cancer pavilion, expected to open in spring 2027. 2 BSD News

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How Shabaana Khader, PhD, is growing UChicago’s microbiology research community. 24

Pritzker News

A repurposed drug shows promise for treating cardiac arrhythmias. 27 A South Side artist adds some color to the Department of Surgery. 28

A white coat ceremony for first-year Pritzker students, who undertake a new curriculum. 30 Letters 37 Your News 38 In Memoriam 39

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U N I V E R S I T Y O F C H I C AG O M E D I C I N E

Midway News

UChicago Medicine breaks ground on $815M project to build state’s first freestanding cancer pavilion

BY JAMIE BARTOSCH

T

he University of Chicago Medicine broke ground September 19 on its $815 million project to build the state’s first and only standalone structure dedicated to cancer care and research. The 575,000-square-foot, seven-story pavilion builds off the University of Chicago’s decades of work and leadership in cancer research and its prestigious designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The event included remarks from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and University of Chicago and health system leaders. By building the freestanding pavilion on its flagship Hyde Park campus, the academic health system seeks to dramatically improve the experience for patients with cancer, reduce health disparities in underserved communities and speed up scientific discoveries.

“This project represents our latest bold move to make an even bigger difference in cancer care and research,” said Tom Jackiewicz, President of the University of Chicago Health System, known in the marketplace as UChicago Medicine.

“This new pavilion will advance scientific

discovery so that we can find cures, shape the future of oncology care and treatment, and reduce the cancer burden in the communities that we serve.”

Expected to open to patients in spring 2027, the building will allow UChicago Medicine’s nationally recognized clinicians, physician-scientists and researchers to better collaborate with colleagues across the University of Chicago. The team of more than 200 currently works in more than five different buildings on the Hyde Park campus. The new facility will be the central point of cancer research efforts, new therapy development, clinical advancements and other discoveries.

“My colleagues and I are determined to make a bigger impact in the field of cancer through the work we do at this new facility,” said Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD, Director of the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“We will leverage our location on the University of Chicago campus and our status as a National Cancer InstituteDesignated Comprehensive Cancer Center for 50 years and the newest

Candace Henley, a cancer survivor and chair of UChicago Medicine’s Community Advisory Council, rings a ceremonial bell evoking the long-standing patient tradition that marks the end of successful oncology treatments.

member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network to answer cancer’s hardest questions, bring new therapies from discovery to patients, deliver the care our community needs and, ultimately, save lives.”

UChicago Medicine is one of 72 hospitals in the U.S. and one of only two in Illinois designated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as delivering cutting-edge cancer care to patients in its communities.

The “Comprehensive” distinction is the gold standard bestowed by the NCI for PHOTOS BY ERIKA BRACEY

Chicagoans at the groundbreaking, to name a few: from fourth to the left of the podium, left to right: Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul; Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson; University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos; University of Chicago Health System President Tom Jackiewicz.

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To the right of the podium, left to right: Candace Henley, Chair of UChicago Medicine’s Community Advisory Council; Barry Fields, Chair of the University of Chicago Medical Center Board of Trustees; Nita Lee, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

Southland RISE awards $150,000 to community summer programs

C A N C E R PAV I L I O N AT A G L A N C E SIZ E | 575,000 square feet; seven floors, a mechanical penthouse, a

lower-level support floor TOTAL P ROJECT COST | $815 million CONSTRUCTI ON CON TR AC T COST | $435 million LO CATI ON | East 57th Street, between South Maryland and South Drexel Avenues PATIEN T CAPACI TY | Up to 200,000 outpatient visits and 5,000 inpatient

admissions per year K E Y F E AT U R E S ■

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80 private beds dedicated to patients with cancer (64 medical-surgical and 16 ICU) 90 consultation and outpatient exam rooms A rapid assessment/urgent care clinic to protect immunocompromised oncology patients

Southland RISE (Resilience Initiative to Strengthen and Empower), a collaborative between the trauma recovery programs of the University of Chicago Medicine and Advocate Health Care, awarded 19 South Side community organizations with a total of $150,000 for their summer youth programs.

The programs provided more than 5,000 community members with opportunities to participate in activities such as dance, gardening and sports, while also building skills around leadership, resiliency and conflict resolution.

Over the past five years, Southland RISE has awarded $650,000 to support more than 50 community-based programs focused on violence prevention and trauma resiliency for youth and families on Chicago’s South Side.

The awardees are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations within the service areas of Advocate Health Care and UChicago Medicine.

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Infusion therapy rooms grouped by cancer type

“ Because of this gift and belief in our

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Cancer imaging equipment

program, we’re able to fully sponsor so

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A breast center that will include screening and diagnostic imaging and biopsy rooms

many deserving women and continue our work of engaging mothers who

Dedicated clinical trial spaces for streamlined access to the latest research

are moving into the next phase of their

A center focused on prevention, detection, treatment and survival, offering complementary therapies, stress reduction, community education and well-being support

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Shell space to provide flexibility for future growth and technology

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Family-friendly features such as showers, on-site laundry and dining areas

life post-incarceration.”

Catherine McNeil, founder of Disruptive INC

The 2023 grant recipients serve community members across 29 neighborhoods and 17 ZIP codes:

cancer programs and recognizes the innovative research, leading-edge treatments, and extensive community outreach and education initiatives conducted at or by the organization.

The CDC estimates cancer rates will grow in the U.S. by 49% between 2015 and 2050. Numbers are even more daunting on the South Side, where cancer rates are expected to climb 19% in the next decade, compared with 9% in the rest of the Chicago area. South Side residents are twice as likely to die from cancer as people in the rest of the country.

UChicago Medicine’s new pavilion will bring more resources to the South Side. The new building’s additional inpatient beds will allow UChicago Medicine to open other rooms for patients with complex uchicagomedicine.org/midway

or acute care needs in areas such as organ transplants, digestive diseases, cardiology, orthopaedics and trauma care.

The new facility and its communityfocused programs were conceived following an extensive master design process using feedback from hundreds of key stakeholders, patients and neighbors. The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board approved the building proposal in June 2023.

Key partners in the project include architect CannonDesign and Turner Construction, both of which are working with diverse firms to build the pavilion. Involving more than 500 construction jobs, at least 41% of the construction contract dollars will go to minority- and women-owned firms.

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Alpha Illinois Leadership Foundation

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Disruptive INC

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Englewood First Responders

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Fathers, Families & Healthy Communities (FFHC)

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Forward Momentum Chicago

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Ignite

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Institute for Nonviolence Chicago

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Kids Above All

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Kids Off the Block

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Mr. Dad’s Father’s Club

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New Eclipse Community Alliance

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PeacePlayers Chicago

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Restoring the Path (dba Crushers Club)

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Sacred Ground Ministries

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Something Good in Englewood

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Talented 10th College Prep and Career Mentoring

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True Star Foundation

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Urban Initiatives

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What About the Children Here (W.A.T.C.H.) Corp.

MEDICINE ON THE MIDWAY

FALL 2023

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LEADERSHIP

Midway News

Melina Hale, PhD’98, appointed to lead undergraduate education at UChicago

M PHOTO BY JEAN LACHAT

Melina Hale, PhD’98

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elina Hale, PhD’98, was appointed Dean of the College at the University of Chicago, effective July 1.

A UChicago faculty member since 2002, Hale has a deep knowledge of the University. She also serves as the William Rainey Harper Professor in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy and the College.

“In my first months as Dean, I have had so many rewarding conversations with the College community, and especially with its tremendous students,” said Hale. “I’ve been impressed by the great range of experiences and perspectives and the vitality of their ideas. Engaging in these discussions, and taking account of their voices in our planning, is crucial to the future of the College and our work to better support our students. I am excited to connect with more alumni, families and friends of the College in the coming year.”

Announcing the appointment to the University community, President Paul Alivisatos and Provost Katherine Baicker described Hale as “exceptionally qualified to advance the College into the future.”

“As a renowned scholar, educator and administrator, Melina has both cultivated a rich understanding of the University’s intellectual culture and made lasting contributions to it over her decades-long career here,” said Alivisatos. “Looking ahead, she will steward the College’s distinctive legacy and champion its promising future.”

“The College is a vital part of our University, encouraging critical reflection and rigorous inquiry that allow students to make meaningful contributions to the world,” said Baicker. “Melina is deeply

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

committed to the value of a liberal arts education.

She is an exceptional scholar and thoughtful leader with a deep understanding of and appreciation for our unique academic community.

I am thrilled that Melina will lead the College into its next chapter.”

Hale succeeded John W. Boyer — Martin A. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor in History and Senior Advisor to the President — who served as dean for more than 30 years, leading tremendous growth and innovation in the College during his tenure. As dean, Hale oversees the strategic vision for the College and plays a crucial role in advancing the University’s and the College’s fundamental values, while helping provide undergraduate students with a transformative educational experience.

Hale has led many key initiatives to advance the research and educational mission of the University, providing support to the Library, University of Chicago Press, Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society, Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation, Institute on the Formation of Knowledge, and Center for Radical Innovation for Social Change, among others.

A distinguished neuroscientist, Hale focuses her research on the neural control of movement, and she collaborates with engineers to explore biological models that inform the design of engineered underwater propulsion systems. Hale has been named a National Academies/Howard Hughes Medical Institute education fellow, a fellow of the Institute for Defense Analyses and a National Science Foundation CAREER award recipient.

She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and recently served as president of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. The University has honored Hale with its Faculty Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring, as well as the Wayne C. Booth Graduate Student Prize for Excellence in Teaching.

Hale is a member of the Committee on Neurobiology and the Committee on Computational Neuroscience at the University

and served as co-interim director of the UChicagoaffiliated Marine Biological Laboratory. She has served on the Council of the University Senate, the College Council and on the board of the UChicago Laboratory Schools. Hale was also a Dean for faculty affairs in the Biological Sciences Division.

Iris Romero named inaugural Executive Vice Dean

Bess Wildman named Vice Dean of Academic Administration and Finance

I

ris Romero, MD, MS, was named the inaugural Executive Vice Dean (EVD) of the Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine, effective August 1.

Romero has served as the Dean for Diversity and Inclusion since 2016, and she is also a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

The EVD is a new academic leadership role, partnering with Mark Anderson, MD, PhD, Dean of the Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine, to successfully implement strategic plans. In this role, Romero reports directly to Anderson and acts as a leader for the Office of the Dean, creating synergy and operational excellence across all academic entities, including the basic sciences, clinical research units, institutes and centers, the Pritzker School of Medicine, and the University of Chicago Medical Center. She also represents the Dean internally within the University of Chicago, as well as externally in dealings with government leaders, academic institutions, and private research entities as the need arises.

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uchicagomedicine.org/midway

lizabeth (Bess) Wildman has been named the new Vice Dean of Academic Administration and Finance for the Biological Sciences Division, effective November 27.

The Vice Dean is the chief administrative officer of the BSD, responsible for all financial functions supporting academic units and ensuring a sound administrative infrastructure to effectively support its academic research and educational mission.

Reporting directly to Mark Anderson, MD, PhD, Dean of the Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine, Wildman will serve as a senior advisor and partner in the direction of research and administrative matters for the BSD and the Pritzker School of Medicine.

As a member of the senior leadership team, Wildman will be responsible for strategic financial and administrative planning, budget development and implementation, and policy formulation and organizational development. She will also implement processes and administrative systems to foster

She earned a PhD in organismal biology and anatomy from UChicago and a bachelor’s degree in zoology from Duke University. Before joining the UChicago faculty, Hale was a postdoctoral fellow at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Romero brings extensive experience as a clinician, investigator and administrator with a proven track record of successfully aligning the education, healthcare and research missions of the division. In her role as Dean for Diversity Iris Romero, MD, MS and Inclusion since 2016, Romero has bridged the Dean’s office with the basic science and clinical departments, students, trainees and the Provost’s office to move the entire division in the direction of improved diversity, equity and belonging.

Originally from New Mexico, Romero came to the University of Chicago as a family planning fellow in 2005 and joined the faculty in 2007. Her clinical practice focuses on hereditary cancer genetics and transgender care.

growth, efficiency, recruitment and retention of faculty and building the financial strength of the BSD. She will have direct oversight of financial operations and budgets as well as facilities planning and manageBess Wildman ment, human resources, information services and faculty compensation.

Wildman comes to UChicago following a 25-year career in a variety of executive roles with proven success delivering administrative, operations and financial results at leading schools of medicine, practice plans and health systems. She joins UChicago from the University of California San Francisco, where she most recently served as vice president and chief financial officer for the physicians’ organizations and cancer service line since 2019.

MEDICINE ON THE MIDWAY

FALL 2023

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ALUMNI PROFILE

An ambitious vision for fertility care PHOTO BY JORDAN PORTER-WOODRUFF

BY SARAH RICHARDS

Like all of us, Asima Ahmad, AB’04, MD’10,

has a wish list. There are the small wishes, like hoping her fourth child — 11-month-old Yash — will finally start sleeping through the night. Then there are the bigger ones, like a future where all companies include comprehensive fertility coverage as part of their benefits plans for employees.

As the chief medical officer for Carrot Fertility, she’s working hard to make the latter wish a reality.

“Fertility care should be the same as what we thought of vision and dental: They were add-ons before, but now they’re the standard,” said Ahmad.

Along with co-founder Tammy Sun, Ahmad started building the fertility healthcare company for employers and health plans in 2015. At the time, she was also a reproductive endocrinology and infertility fellow at the University of California, San Francisco. Balancing both duties meant scrambling from teaching sessions at UCSF to meetings in Mountain View with staff from Y Combinator, a tech startup accelerator.

Today in Chicago, Ahmad splits her time between overseeing Carrot’s medical operations and working as a reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialist at Fertility Centers of Illinois.

Born in Faisalabad, Pakistan, but raised mostly in Chicago, she considers herself a “big rule follower” but admits to initially rebelling against expected career paths.

“Growing up, I knew so many people who’d gone into medicine and engineering,” Ahmad recalled. “So for the longest time, I actually didn’t want to do medicine.”

She changed her mind during her under-

graduate studies at the University of Chicago when she read lines from the Quran in her Islamic Civilizations class. In the fifth chapter, the Quran states that killing someone without justification is like killing all of humanity, while saving someone is like 6

Asima Ahmad, AB’04, MD’10, stands between incubators at Fertility Centers of Illinois, where she works as a reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialist.

saving all of humanity. This put everything into perspective for Ahmad — that one life could have such an impact on so many others, and that one doctor could positively impact not just a patient, but their family or even their community.

This desire to maximize her impact stuck with her as she continued her studies at the Pritzker School of Medicine. It was one reason she completed her master’s in public health at Harvard University in between her third and fourth year of medical school.

“I was always interested in women’s health,” explained Ahmad. “I wanted to know what things I could do on a bigger scale to have a bigger impact on women’s health.”

Fast-forward six years to the 2015 American Society for Reproductive Medicine meeting in Baltimore, where Ahmad and Sun sat next to one another in the audience at a session that focused mainly on effective, low-cost fertility treatments.

The two women shared their experiences — Sun, as a patient who’d struggled with the physical and financial

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

challenges that come with freezing one’s eggs, and Ahmad as a fertility doctor endeavoring to help stressed patients while dealing with endless insurance issues. That initial chat grew into meetings about ways they could improve patient outcomes and access to fertility care, as well as reduce bureaucracy, leading them to create a global fertility benefits platform that today works with more than 850 employers and health plans in more than 130 countries.

From its inception, Carrot Fertility has committed to helping everyone who wishes to build a family, regardless of their age, race, income, gender, sex, sexual orientation, marital status or geography. In doing so, Carrot offers education, support and resources for a range of needs, including perimenopause, menopause and low testosterone. This is the sort of ambitious vision that led Entrepreneur to include Ahmad and Sun on its list of 100 Women of Influence in 2022.

“We are now covering millions of lives globally and I expect that number to rise,” said Ahmad. “I’ve always wanted to do something that could have an impact on many lives. I’m able to do that with Carrot.”

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For advice or assistance with your particular situation, you should consult an attorney or other professional adviser.

PHILANTHROPY

Linked legacies: Estate gift inspired by a lifetime of service

BY SARAH SARGENT

Grace Lucile Robey, SM’26, MD’32, pictured on a University of Oklahoma yearbook page. Below: An early photograph of Billings Hospital, where Robey interned for three years.

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V

irginia Robey never visited the University of Chicago, but the longtime weekly newspaper editor from Wellington, Texas, left a generous bequest to the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science in her will.

Her gift was inspired by her aunt, Grace Lucile Robey, SM’26, MD’32, one of the first three women to earn a medical degree from the University of Chicago’s medical school. Virginia Robey specified that the bequest support a faculty position focused on patient care and research related

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

Virginia Robey in an undated photograph. Her bequest to the University of Chicago has helped grow the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science.

to macular degeneration — from which she suffered later in life — or other retinal diseases. The Virginia Robey Retina Research Endowed Fund supported the recent hiring of Alexis Warren, MD, a talented vitreoretinal surgeon.

“It’s visionaries and forward thinkers who really make these dreams possible, not only for me but for the thousands of patients in the future who I will be able to help,” said Warren, who joined UChicago in September as assistant professor.

The Robey family legacy traces back more than a century. As World War I raged in Europe, Grace Lucile Robey — a junior at the University of Oklahoma in 1915 — felt she would “die if she didn’t get into some branch of the service and quick,” as she later recalled in a 1955 interview with the Houston Chronicle. She joined the Red Cross, entered the Army School of Nursing, and was stationed at Camp Jackson in South Carolina during the war.

Inspired by the doctors and medical teams she met there, Grace Lucile Robey went on to earn a master’s degree in bacteriology at the University of Chicago in 1926, working with the Chicago Tuberculosis Institute to complete her thesis. She interned for three years at Billings Hospital, where, as she told an interviewer, she “slept and thought medicine.”

Following graduation from medical school in 1932, she returned to her native Texas and opened a practice in Houston. She also taught clinical medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and was an associate staff member at Hermann Hospital.

In the 1955 Houston Chronicle article, she said that her profession was one of service and that she believed “the benefits of scientific research should be available to all who need it.”

When Grace Lucile Robey died in 1983, she left a substantial bequest to the Pritzker School of Medicine “in honor of the men and women who taught me medicine from 1928 to 1932, to study ways and means of bringing the advances in medicine to the community as a whole.” She also left a portion of her estate to her niece, Virginia Robey.

Shortly after her graduation from West Texas State Teachers College (now West Texas A&M University), Virginia Robey joined the Wellington Leader as news editor in 1937. She stayed in that job for the rest of her life, winning numerous awards for service in journalism over a career spanning more than 60 years and becoming a pillar of the farming and ranching community in the Texas Panhandle.

In her later years, Virginia Robey suffered from macular degeneration, though she continued to work. At the time of her diagnosis, there were no treatments available. She used a reader with a magnifying screen and special eyeglasses to allow her to continue working, and walked to her job at the newspaper when she could no longer drive.

Colleagues and friends remember that Virginia Robey lived very simply, spending little money on herself. At her memorial service in 1999, a former town mayor said, “The world would be a better place if everyone cared about their community as much as Virginia did.” Her estate included property in West Texas with lucrative mineral interests; inspired by her aunt’s stories, her will included a generous bequest to the University. uchicagomedicine.org/midway

PHOTO BY NANCY WONG

From left: Seenu M. Hariprasad, MD, Chair and Shui-Chin Lee Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science; Alexis Warren, MD, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science; and Henry Wells, publisher of the Wellington Leader — where Virginia Robey worked for many years — and executor of her estate.

The Virginia Robey Retina Research Endowed Fund allowed Seenu M. Hariprasad, MD, Chair and Shui-Chin Lee Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, to recruit Warren, whose research interests include macular degeneration, retinal diseases of premature babies and retinal diseases related to diabetes. Warren also focuses on increasing the number of underrepresented minorities in ophthalmology.

Inspired by her aunt’s stories of studying medicine, Virginia Robey’s will included a generous bequest to the University of Chicago.

“I learned about ophthalmology from my father, who is a retina surgeon,” Warren said. “Throughout my training, my enthusiasm has deepened, especially now that we are developing medical therapies to prevent and treat what were once blinding retinal diseases.”

These two generations of Robey women will have an impact far into the future.

“Our gratitude for this generous endowment is boundless,” said Hariprasad. “Academic vitreoretinal surgeons are very difficult to recruit and endowments like this one appeal to applicants. The beneficiaries are our patients and our trainees.”

MEDICINE ON THE MIDWAY

FALL 2023

9

Writing the future of cancer care Understanding expression and suppression behavior hidden in genetic code may provide a way to treat cancer.

Here’s how UChicago scientists are studying the growing field of epigenetics.

BY MATT WOOD

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THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

R

esearchers at the University of Chicago have reshaped our fundamental understanding of cancer. In 1966, Charles B. Huggins, MD, won the Nobel Prize for his work showing that cancers feed on hormones to survive and grow, proving that tumors are deeply connected to the body’s natural systems.

Then, in 1972, Janet Rowley, LAB’42, PhB’45, SB’46, MD’48, first identified genetic swaps, or translocations, in the chromosomes of cells in leukemia patients — establishing cancer as a disease caused by changes in our cells’ genetic material.

of our DNA sequences, epigenetics focuses on dynamic and reversible modifications of DNA that regulate how genes are expressed, influencing their activity without altering the underlying genetic code.

Epitranscriptomics, another burgeoning area of research, encompasses a similar range of mechanisms for regulating RNA that carry out genetic instructions. These modifications to DNA and RNA act as molecular switches, determining whether a gene is turned on or off, thus influencing cellular processes, tissue development and overall organismal health.

PHOTO BY JEAN LACHAT

Susan Cohn, MD P R O F E S S O R P E D I AT R I C S

Scientists have since gone on to map the entire human genome, and rapid advances in genetic sequencing, data analysis and chemical biology have identified countless more genetic links to cancer. And yet, we still don’t know the whole story of why some cellular processes go awry and grow out of control into malignant tumors.

Other forces are at play beyond the fixed, four-letter sequences of DNA. Once again, UChicago researchers are reshaping what we know about the biology of cancer through the rapidly expanding field of epigenetics. Unlike the fixed nature uchicagomedicine.org/midway

Rowley and others established that cancer is a genetic disease at its core. These newer fields of study — with the Greek prefix “epi,” meaning “upon, over or on top of” — add another layer of complexity to how our cells write, rewrite, express or suppress our genetic code in the context of cancer. With this new understanding, the next breakthroughs could help us detect the disease earlier, predict how patients will respond to treatment and develop new drugs to treat even the most resistant forms.

Finding more effective therapies for children

Most children with high-risk neuroblastoma, a clinically aggressive solid, cancerous tumor that begins in the nervous system, are diagnosed before the age of five. As one of the nation’s foremost authorities on neuroblastoma, Susan Cohn, MD, knows the impact effective treatment can have.

“When I started my career in the 1980s, less than 20% of children with high-risk neuroblastoma achieved long-term survival. However, clinical research and new laboratory discoveries have led to significant advances in treatment, and today approximately 60% of patients will survive,” she said. While this progress is gratifying, more effective therapy is still needed as outcomes remain poor for children who relapse or do not respond to current treatment strategies.

Cohn studies several aspects of neuroblastoma, from leading clinical trials for newly diagnosed patients to evaluating treatments for kids whose disease has relapsed. Through their decades of work, one of the things that Cohn and her colleagues have come to understand is that pediatric cancers are fundamentally different from adult cancers. Cancer in adults is usually the result of many genetic mutations that occur over a lifetime, but most cancers that occur in children don’t have these genetic mutations. That the disease can still take hold, Cohn said, emphasizes that the etiology of cancer reaches beyond the static, inherited genetic code.

One of the best-understood areas of epigenetics is DNA methylation, in which molecules are appended to bases on DNA, creating a “mark” or “tag” called 5-methylcytosine (5mC). These tags act as “do not use” labels: They tell cellular components to skip over this stretch of DNA, effectively silencing genes. They play a role in cellular differentiation by narrowing a cell’s capabilities as it matures from an undifferentiated stem cell into a mature specific cell type. These 5mC tags can be further MEDICINE ON THE MIDWAY

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PHOTO BY JJASON SMITH

Chuan He, PhD PROFESSOR CHEMISTRY

oxidized into 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) — effectively negating the underlying methyl tag and reactivating previously silenced genes.

Years ago, Cohn attended a lecture on epigenetics and epitranscriptomics presented by Chuan He, PhD, the John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor of Chemistry at UChicago. He’s lab had long been using biochemical tools to study DNA and RNA methylation in gene expression regulation. In 2011 and 2012, they developed the first methods

“ One of the things I love about the University is that I have this opportunity to interact with brilliant scientists.”

Susan Cohn, MD Professor of Pediatrics

for mapping 5hmC tags across an entire genome. These new tools are for the study of DNA methylation what the microscope was for pathology. With them, scientists can accurately examine epigenetic tags and begin to understand how they affect cellular characteristics and activity. He had already been using his new assay to

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explore epigenetic marks in adult cancer, and Cohn immediately wondered if it could apply to pediatric tumors as well.

“One of the things I love about the University is that I have this opportunity to interact with brilliant scientists,” Cohn said. “Shortly after attending Chuan’s seminar, we met to discuss how we might be able to apply the new technology he developed to detect 5hmC epigenetic marks in neuroblastoma.”

Cohn began working with He under the hypothesis that since neuroblastoma tumors don’t have DNA mutations, epigenetic regulation of gene expression was playing a key role in driving the aggressiveness of the cancer. In 2019, they published a paper together in JCO Precision Oncology, along with Mark Applebaum, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, in which they studied 5hmC marks in neuroblastoma tumor samples.

Looking across the whole genome, they found that they could correlate patterns of 5hmC deposition on DNA with the clinical behavior of the tumor. Certain profiles were associated with clinically aggressive tumors in patients with poor outcomes, suggesting that tumor 5hmC profiles could serve as biomarkers for survival in patients with neuroblastoma.

Another technology invented by He lets researchers profile 5hmC tags on small amounts of DNA, which can be gathered from circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in blood samples from patients with cancer.

He previously demonstrated that 5hmC signatures in circulating cfDNA served as diagnostic biomarkers for human adult cancers. In another study published in

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

Clinical Cancer Research, Applebaum, Cohn, He, and other UChicago researchers conducted a pilot study to investigate if 5hmC cfDNA profiles could also be used to detect neuroblastoma. Using blood samples collected from patients, 5hmC profiles detected neuroblastoma, and they also showed the epigenetic signatures corresponded with disease burden and response to treatment.

The team is now evaluating 5hmC profiles in serial blood samples collected from patients enrolled on the ongoing Phase 3, Children’s Oncology Group high-risk neuroblastoma clinical trial (ANBL1531). Applebaum and the team have already analyzed 5hmC profiles in hundreds of blood samples, and early results indicate that 5hmC deposition levels change over time with treatment.

“If these studies demonstrate that 5hmC profiles correlate with disease response and are prognostic of survival, it may be possible to use this epigenomic biomarker to determine if patients are responding to therapy. If successful, 5hmC cfDNA profiles could also be used to identify patients with treatment-resistant disease who may benefit from alternative approaches,” Cohn said.

Improving colorectal cancer screening

While neuroblastoma is still blessedly rare in children, colorectal cancer is now the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the third leading cause of cancer death in both men and women in the U.S. Cases of advanced-stage colorectal cancer are increasing, and diagnoses of people under the age of 55 have doubled as well. To confront this growing risk, researchers at UChicago are using epigenetic screening tools to detect disease earlier and improve treatments.

In 2019, more than 67% of adults aged 50 to 75 had received colorectal cancer screening; but in 2021, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force updated their guidance to lower the recommended start of screening to age 45. There are now less invasive options available, but

the gold standard is still a conventional colonoscopy. This procedure requires arduous and unpleasant preparation and is usually performed under general anesthesia, leading many people to delay or forgo screening, putting millions at risk.

The need for an easier, inexpensive yet reliable screening method is clear, said gastroenterologist Marc Bissonnette, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine. “I take care of many patients on the South Side of Chicago, many of whom don’t get screened, and we miss colon cancer regularly,” he said. “So, I want to do something for my South Side community, and I want to do it in a fashion which is simple and inexpensive so they can afford to do it.”

In 2017, Bissonnette received a six-year grant from the National Cancer Institute to develop so-called “liquid biopsies” that use He’s assays to analyze 5mC and 5hmC profiles in blood samples from colorectal cancer patients. The test could be administered in the clinic along with other common blood work; if it indicated the patient might have cancer, doctors could then confirm this with a conventional colonoscopy.

“We hope we’ll be able to use the epigenetic marks in the blood not only for screening and diagnosis for colon cancer, but also to identify optimal treatments for patients, surveil them for recurrent disease and prognosticate their long-term survival based on their epigenetic signature,” Bissonnette said.

Bissonnette has also worked with He to utilize his epitranscriptomic work to improve immunotherapy treatment for colon cancer patients. In 2011, He’s lab identified N6-methyladenosine (m6A), the most prevalent mRNA modification in multicellular organisms that regulates the stability and translation of modified mRNAs. It’s regulated by ‘‘writer’’ proteins that install m6A methylation, ‘‘erasers’’ that remove the marks and ‘‘readers’’ that recognize m6A-modified RNA to regulate RNA processing, metabolism and

uchicagomedicine.org/midway

translation. The collective set of modified, or tagged, RNA is referred to as the epitranscriptome.

He’s lab has continued to study how epitranscriptomes impact cancer development. In 2019, He and Bissonnette worked with Ralph Weichselbaum, MD, the Daniel K. Ludwig Distinguished Service Professor and Chair of Radiation and Cellular Oncology, on a study published in Nature. Their research showed that YTHDF1 — one of the reader proteins — limited the ability of dendritic cells in the immune system to present

The hope is that YTHDF1 can be a therapeutic target for patients who are resistant to immunotherapy alone.

‘A twofold bang for our buck’

As a longtime collaborator with He, Weichselbaum has continued studying epigenetic/transcriptomic impacts on cancer immunotherapy and radiation treatments.

Radiotherapy sometimes produces what’s known as an abscopal effect, where local radiation of a tumor also causes a tumor in another part of the body to shrink. The phenomenon is rare, but PHOTO BY JORDAN PORTER-WOODRUFF

Marc Bissonnette, MD A S S O C I AT E P R O F E S S O R

potential tumor antigens to T cells. When they knocked out YTHDF1 in mice along with a checkpoint inhibitor that unleashes the immune system to fight cancer cells, tumors disappeared in nearly 100 percent of the mice treated with this combination.

Bissonnette also studied biopsies from colon cancer patients and saw that those with high levels of YTHDF1 had limited T cell infiltration into tumors. However, patients with low levels had more T cell activity, suggesting the same phenomenon they observed in mice occurs in humans.

MEDICINE

it’s thought to involve activation of the immune system. Epigenetics could reveal more about the cause — and, eventually, pave the way for more targeted treatments.

Radiation stimulates positive immune effects, such as producing more antigenpresenting cells and T cells, as well as negative effects that dampen the anti-tumor immune response. Blood cells called myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) migrate to the tumor site and inhibit the anti-tumor immune response by blocking T cell anti-tumor effects. This

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influx of MDSCs also interferes with immunotherapy.

In a May 2023 study published in Cancer Cell, Weichselbaum and He analyzed the results of two clinical trials for cancer patients conducted by Steven Chmura, MD, PhD, Professor of Radiation and Cellular Oncology, and Medicine. The researchers observed that following radiation, when the patients’ levels of MDSCs went up, they had adverse outcomes. The MDSCs also overexpressed YTHDF2, another “reader” protein, following radiotherapy.

As “readers,” YTHDF1 and YTHDF2 are used to recognize modifications on RNA and regulate biological processes.

YTHDF1 facilitates translation of mRNA into proteins; YTHDF2 degrades the mRNA, but its role in immune cells related to radiotherapy and immune therapy hasn’t been explored in depth. Genetic and epigenetic analysis in the Cancer Cell study demonstrated that YTHDF2 induction activated the MDSCs’ migratory and immune suppressive functions in the tumor, as well as throughout the body.

In many cases, these abundant, YTHDF2-expressing cells also seemed to

make distant metastasis progress after local radiation, which Weichselbaum calls the “bad-scopal” effect. “This effect is underreported, but it seems to be much more common than the abscopal effect,” he said.

Liangliang Wang, PhD, a staff scientist in Weichselbaum’s lab, worked with mouse models which had the gene that produces YTHDF2 knocked out in MDSCs. When these mice were given radiation for local tumors, the treatment was more effective and prevented the “bad-scopal” effect that made distant tumors metastasize. In these models where the protein YTHDF2 was suppressed, MDSCs were also limited in their ability to migrate into tumors and suppress immune response.

The team also identified a small molecule called DC-Y13 that blocks the protein YTHDF2, replicating the effect of the gene knockouts. When given to mice, this drug improved responses to radiotherapy and immune therapy similarly to genetic deletion of the Ythdf2 gene. “What you see is that radiation worked much better on local tumors, and it also seemed to suppress the development of distant metastasis,” Weichselbaum said. “So, there was a twofold bang for our buck, so to speak.”

Ralph Weichselbaum, MD PROFESSOR

R A D I AT I O N A N D C E L L U L A R O N C O LO G Y

PHOTO BY EDDIE QUINONES

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THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

Weichselbaum thinks YTHDF2 could play an important role both as a treatment target and as a biomarker.

Patients could be screened following an initial radiation treatment, for example, and if they have high levels of YTHDF2-producing MDSCs, they could be given a drug to limit its effects. Such a strategy could be combined with other treatments, like immunotherapy or the technology pioneered by Weichselbaum and Wenbin Lin, PhD, the James Franck Professor of Chemistry, that uses nanoparticles to deliver anti-tumor compounds directly to tumors.

New strategies for intervention

For decades, DNA and RNA methylation has been the “dark matter” of cancer.

Scientists could feel its effects, but not yet see how it worked.

He’s new testing methods and partnerships with translational clinicians open a new world of possibilities for epigenetic and epitranscriptomic research. His lab continues to collaborate extensively with other UChicago clinicians as well, including Ernst Lengyel, MD, PhD, the Arthur L. and Lee G. Herbst Distinguished Service Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Chair of the department. In 2018, the researchers reported that 70% of endometrial cancers have reduced levels of m6A methylation, which allows cancer cells to grow faster and form tumors more easily.

With these findings, along with data generated by Cohn, Bissonnette, Weichselbaum, and others, these UChicago researchers can better identify connections between epigenetic markers, disease progression and treatment response; develop inexpensive, less invasive screening tests; and augment response to frontline treatments like radiation and immunotherapy.

“We not only have new biomarkers for cancer, but we also have strategies for intervention based on collaborations with our partners in the Department of Chemistry and the Physical Sciences Division at UChicago,” Weichselbaum said.

“I’m very excited about it.”

Six questions with Karyl Kopaskie, AB’07, PhD’14 PHOTO BY JORDAN PORTER-WOODRUFF

Karyl Kopaskie, AB’07, PhD’14, is the new Alumni Council President for the University of Chicago Medical & Biological Sciences Alumni Association (MBSAA). After her graduate studies in microbiology, Kopaskie fell in love with healthcare and is now a principal of intelligence at Sg2, a healthcare consulting company that leverages expertise and analytics to help health systems anticipate the future with unique strategic solutions.

How did you first become involved with the University of Chicago MBSAA?

I have long been passionate about helping students and alumni prepare to make career transitions. In my last year of grad school, fellow council member Katie M.L. Given, AB’08, PhD’13, MBA’16, MD’16, and I, along with two of our colleagues, created the Student Alumni Independent Leadership program to help students and young alumni build stronger networks. While we were working to get this project off the ground, we were delighted to learn that the BSD had applied for and won a grant to create the myCHOICE program, providing a strong foundation for students and alumni to launch successful careers. It was very reaffirming that the University recognized this need as well!

You are one of two Alumni Council representatives serving on the University of Chicago Alumni Board. Can you tell us about what you’ve gained from your experience as a member of the UChicago Alumni Board?

You are now just the second BSD graduate to hold the position of UChicago MBSAA President, following Lorna Straus, LAB’49, SM’60, PhD’62. BSD alumni currently represent one quarter of the Alumni Council, compared to 4 percent 10 years ago. Can you speak to this change?

Can you tell us about your leadership priorities?

As the new Alumni Council President, Karyl Kopaskie, AB’07, PhD’14, wants to better understand the needs of a diverse student and alumni community.

Q&A

This is a testament to the last several years of MBSAA leadership engaging young BSD alumni.

There’s a real opportunity for cross-networking and cross-collaboration by more deliberately integrating our clinical counterparts from Pritzker, the Medical Scientist Training Program and current BSD students.

You’ve been very involved with the myCHOICE program. Why do you feel this program is so important for our BSD trainees?

It’s essential that trainees appreciate they have a breadth of options coming from UChicago. In the grind of doing your dissertation, it’s easy to focus on just getting the research done. myCHOICE helps students realize their PhD and time at UChicago is a piece of a larger career journey — whether they end up in academics, industry or a different field altogether.

uchicagomedicine.org/midway

For me, it’s a way to learn from the fabulous folks we have across the whole campus. It’s fascinating to see the collaboration across all the different parts of the University community and highlight the great work of our alumni. We all have this passion for knowledge, this love of conversation and interrogating an idea to get to its core.

BY SARAH RICHARDS

One of my priorities is better understanding how we can meet the needs of this diverse community we’ve worked hard to build. We’ve seen a ton of progress, especially on the BSD side, in supporting students.

Is there something more we can learn from those efforts to support our broader alumni community?

Can we better support collaboration among these communities?

You’ve been a donor to the BSD since you graduated. What motivated you to give back so soon after graduating, and why have you continued your loyal support of the University of Chicago?

My favorite entities to donate to are myCHOICE and the Odyssey Scholarship, which supports lower-income and first-generation students in the College. I think these two efforts speak to UChicago’s commitment to inquiry and diversity of ideas and perspective both for students and alumni.

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Johnson Boston and New York City

MD’01

A. Holly

STORIES BY JAMIE BARTOSCH

■ Team physician for the NHL’s New

W

hether they’re treating top

professionals or recreational

enthusiasts, University of Chicago

alumni have helped countless athletes get back to the sport they love. Learn more about what brought them to the Pritzker School of Medicine, how their education

York Rangers and the WNBA’s New York Liberty ■ Team physician for the silver

medal-winning U.S. women’s hockey team at the 2014 Sochi Olympics ■ One of only a few female

orthopaedic surgeons working in professional sports ■ Associate professor of clinical

orthopaedics and attending foot and ankle surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York

shaped their approach and what stand out as the most rewarding moments of their careers.

Good sports

First, she was a Harvard hockey star

An ice hockey player since age 7, Johnson went on to be captain of the Harvard University women’s hockey team. She earned All-Ivy and Eastern College Athletic Conference accolades while completing a bachelor’s degree in English (which included her pre-med requirements).

A family lineage in orthopaedics

Johnson’s great-grandmother, Emma Loodtz, MD, was one of the country’s first female orthopaedic surgeons and worked at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in the early 1900s. While the family can’t confirm she was the first female, “she was definitely an early pioneer,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s a pioneer, too

In men’s and women’s professional sports today, very few female orthopaedic surgeons are on the sidelines taking care of 16

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

A role model father

Johnson was raised in a small community outside Boston where her father, orthopaedic surgeon Stanley Leitzes, MD, “took care of everyone in town.” She grew up watching him work and sometimes joined him on his rounds. It wasn’t unusual for someone to come to their house with a laceration and get “sewn up” by her dad on the family’s kitchen table. “He loved his profession and taking care of people,” she said. “His happiness as a doctor was a major influence in my own decision to go into orthopaedic surgery.”

Winning silver at the 2014 Sochi Olympics

Johnson was the team physician for the U.S. women’s national ice hockey team for two years, including 2014, when they won a silver medal at the Sochi Olympics, losing to Canada 5-4 in overtime. “Sochi was exhilarating. It was really an honor and an amazing opportunity to be surrounded by so many incredible athletes,” she said. “It also was a lot of work. For the six months

uchicagomedicine.org/midway

school impacted her performance. Instead, she started running marathons, something she continues to do today.

Foot and ankle research

A. Holly Johnson, MD’01 (right), with Kate Buesser, a former Team USA women’s hockey player who later began her own career in medicine.

before the Olympics, I was juggling my full-time practice, my husband and three young kids, and traveling all over North America. I had to be at every practice and game, so sometimes I’d have to leave for Calgary for a week, or somewhere else. For the Olympics, I was in Russia for a month.”

Foot and ankle injuries are Johnson’s subspecialty within orthopaedics and she’s done extensive research in this area, publishing papers on flatfoot deformity, sports injuries, trauma and multiple areas of foot and ankle orthopaedics. She’s also studying minimally invasive surgeries for deformity corrections and bone correction using orthoscopy. Additionally, Johnson works with companies to design techniques, devices and implants for minimally invasive foot and ankle surgery.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF A. HOLLY JOHNSON

players — but Johnson is among them. She’s one of just a few female team physicians in the NHL, and one of a small number working for WNBA teams, she said.

“There’s something really special about taking care of female, high-level athletes,” she said. “They don’t get paid the same way the men do, they don’t get the same TV coverage, and, other than a few exceptions, don’t get the fame and accolades they deserve. They’re motivated by competition, their drive to be the best and their love of the game.”

Johnson also proudly helps advance women in orthopaedics as a member of the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS). She co-founded the group’s Women’s Leadership Task Force in 2018 with the goal of giving women more opportunities on the podium, on committees and in AOFAS leadership positions. She also serves as a mentor for women in all levels of medicine, from pre-med students to young attendings.

Her love for Chicago and Pritzker

Johnson’s parents met and married in Chicago; her mother earned a master’s degree in art history from the University of Chicago, and her father went to medical school in Chicago and completed his orthopaedic residency at Michael Reese Hospital. Johnson was born here, which may be why she felt a bond with the city during her Pritzker interview.

“I absolutely loved it. We had a tight-knit, diverse class and the school environment was challenging yet supportive. Chicago was an ideal city for medical school,” she said. “I knew I wanted to be a surgeon when I started and I had a feeling I might end up in orthopaedics.”

Johnson still gushes about her supportive faculty mentor, Harvey Golomb, MD, as well as Michael A. Simon, MD, whom she said created an exciting learning environment for students as chief of orthopaedics. Johnson also remains close friends with her Pritzker roommate of four years, Rebecca (Hinck) Cerrato; the two still talk almost every day.

During her years at Pritzker, Johnson played on a local women’s hockey team for two years, but the demands of medical

Johnson’s career decision was inspired in part by her father, who was the orthopaedic surgeon in her hometown.

Why she loves caring for athletes of all levels

Johnson prides herself on treating all patients the same.

“Whether the patient is a pro athlete or a 65-year-old pickleball player, the satisfaction of helping them return to their sport is the same,” she said. “I strive to take the best care of each patient and help them reach their recovery goals regardless of their age, background, sport or anything else.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FAIRBANKS ICE DOGS

From the South Side to Alaska

Cary S.

Keller Fairbanks, Alaska

MD’78, FACSM

Cary S. Keller, MD’78, is a physician for several Alaska teams. He is pictured here, masked, with the Fairbanks Ice Dogs of the North American Hockey League.

■ Chief of Sports Medicine Outreach,

Foundation Health Partners, Fairbanks, Alaska ■ Created University of Chicago’s

first sports medicine clinic for student athletes ■ Founded Alaska’s first sports

medicine center ■ Helped pass a concussion law in

Alaska to improve student safety ■ Team physician for the University

of Alaska Fairbanks, North Star Ballet, Fairbanks Ice Dogs hockey and high school teams

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THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

In 1984, after finishing his residency at the University of Chicago Medicine and a sports medicine fellowship in Cincinnati, Keller was interviewing for academic positions when a job posting in Alaska caught his eye. Keller had backpacked and camped in mountainous national parks during his breaks at Pritzker — and those trips led to profound moments of self-discovery.

“There was a poetry inside me that was touched by being outdoors,” he said. “As the years went by, and I spent most of my time surrounded by concrete and asphalt in cities, I started to think maybe it made more sense to live somewhere where, in my free time, I could do the things that were personally important to me.”

Keller made his first trip to Alaska to interview for the chief of orthopaedic surgery position at a Fairbanks clinic. He was smitten with the state’s natural beauty.

“The physicians I met could step out of their back door to go kayaking or backpacking or mountain biking and they didn’t have to travel two days by jet to get to a place where they could do that. It was a really appealing work-life balance,” he said.

“Although it was a real 180 for my career, I decided to take the job in Alaska.”

Keller had long dreamed of establishing a sports medicine center. Private groups in Alaska seemed more receptive to his idea than academic centers in the lower 48 states, because the concept was still new to many universities. That clinched the deal.

He moved to Alaska in 1984 and has lived there ever since.

A family of Pritzker physicians

Keller is part of a Pritzker School of Medicine alumni family, including his father, a psychiatrist, and his sister, a neuroradiologist. His daughter, now a cardiology fellow, broke rank and went to Oregon Health & Science University for medical school.

Keller might not have gone to Pritzker if not for a pep talk from then-Dean Joseph Ceithaml, PhD, who instilled in him the

PHOTO COURTESY OF CARY KELLER

Cary Keller poses near the mountains in Alaska, a state where he’s pioneered many sports medicine programs.

confidence that he could make important contributions to the University of Chicago — and to the world. To express his gratitude, Keller has generously donated to the Joseph J. Ceithaml Endowed Scholarship Fund for Pritzker students since he graduated in 1978.

Creating UChicago’s first sports medicine clinic

As an orthopaedic surgery resident at UChicago Medicine in the early 1980s, Keller spent a lot of time covering the ER. He noticed UChicago athletes would come in, even for minor issues, because there was no medical staff available to them elsewhere.

“That seemed suboptimal to me,” he said.

“These kids were playing their hearts out for their school, devoting significant parts of their lives to training and competition, doing their best to be Monsters of the Midway, and we didn’t really have an organization to support them when they had injuries or other medical problems.”

It inspired Keller to open a small sports medicine clinic for athletes in UChicago’s field house — an unusual program for a college at that time. With backing from some orthopaedic faculty members, the clinic became very successful and helped reduce athlete injuries. The orthopaedics department eventually turned the clinic into a formal program.

“The clinic created a huge change,” he said. “It meant the athletes had immediate access to care.” uchicagomedicine.org/midway

Keller would volunteer his services at UChicago sporting events and even rearranged his call schedule to travel with the football team.

“On the bus, there were detailed discussions of genetics, or debates about philosophy or conversational Latin. I can tell you, having traveled with many football teams, that was unique,” he said of the Maroons.

Creating Alaska’s first sports medicine center

Like he did at UChicago, Keller helped pioneer sports medicine in Alaska.

Since many residents work in physically demanding industries, such as oil drilling, logging and fishing, demand is high for orthopaedic and sports medicine. Using a $1 million investment from Fairbanks Clinic, Keller helped build Alaska’s first sports medicine center, Sportsmedicine and Orthopedics Fairbanks, and recruited trainers and physical therapists nationwide to work there. As years passed, Alaskan hospitals opened their own sports medicine clinics and schools across the state hired athletic trainers.

“There’s so much fun and personal reward in starting something and nurturing it and seeing it become important,” Keller said.

Research he couldn’t do anywhere else

Alaska offered Keller unique research opportunities. His study of 32,000 smokejumpers — firefighters who parachute into wildfires to attack them —

led to the redesign of their jumpsuits and replacement of round chutes with square ones to reduce injuries. He also studied competitive Iditarod mushers, who race dog sleds across 1,000 miles of Alaska wilderness for eight to 15 days. Besides back injuries, he found many mushers experienced hallucinations due to sleep deprivation and hyponatremia (low sodium).

Keller also studied 1,600 high school athletes in 15 sports, finding that injury incidents declined from 55% to 20% once sports medicine services — which he helped launch in school districts — became routine in high schools. Additionally, his research determined that athletic trainers could properly diagnose and treat about two-thirds of high school sports injuries.

This enables students to receive quicker care and reduces the workload for local physicians, saving everyone time and money.

Safety improvements across Alaska

While a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations’ Sports Medicine Advisory Committee, Keller led the Alaska School Activities Association’s successful lobby for passage of Alaska’s 2011 concussion law. The state law requires a student athlete of any age who injures their head to be removed from the game until they can be evaluated by a trained medical professional. To support the law’s application, Keller traveled across the state lecturing healthcare providers on how to make concussion care decisions on the field and in their offices.

“In a number of ways, I’ve tried to be an activist and make things better in Alaska,” he said. “If just a handful of people take on that attitude, you can really change things.

Physicians are often in a position where we can give back with our time and service and money, and really make our communities much better places, truly improving the quality of life and public health. And I always think of those actions as a tribute to Dean Ceithaml. It’s the circle of giving.”

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Hainline Indianapolis and New York

MD’82

Brian

■ First (and current) chief medical

officer of the NCAA ■ Chief medical officer of the

U.S. Open Tennis Championships ■ Chair of the board and president

of the United States Tennis Association ■ Architect of a joint 25-year

concussion study by the NCAA and the U.S. Department of Defense

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NCAA PHOTOS

Powerful Pritzker influences

Pritzker faculty and staff had a major impact on Hainline’s life and career.

Mentors included founding Chair of Neurology Barry Arnason, MD, who introduced Hainline to the fast-growing field of neuroimmunology, and cancer expert John Ultmann, MD, whom the students nicknamed “The Ultimate Man” because of his strict demands for order.

“Ultmann ran everything like a Marine sergeant,” Hainline said. “I learned more from him about medicine than anyone in my life.”

A philosophy major and top tennis player at the University of Notre Dame, Hainline also bonded with internist Mark Siegler, MD, who established the field of clinical medical ethics. The two often engaged in long discussions about moral medical decisions.

While at Pritzker, Hainline met his future wife, Pascale, a Sorbonne graduate working on a post-master’s fellowship in economics at the University of Chicago. The two lived in the same dorm, International House.

They’ve been married for more than 43 years. Their daughter, Juliette, is a 2018 UChicago alumna with a bachelor’s degree in computer science.

Hainline continues to support the school through donations and volunteering his service to students.

“University of Chicago was foundational for who I am as a physician and who I am as a human being,” he said.

A tragedy becomes a mission

One of Hainline’s closest friends at UChicago was Randy Chauvin, a PhD student who developed glioblastoma and died before graduating. Devastated, Hainline finished his neurology residency at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and focused his attention on research to find a cure for this still-fatal disease.

Brian Hainline, MD’82, speaks to the University of Chicago women’s tennis team, which finished in May 2023 as NCAA Division III runner-up.

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THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

Paving new paths

Six years into his brain tumor research, a friend and former resident colleague called Hainline from the Hospital for Joint

Diseases. He needed help dealing with an influx of sports and nerve injury patients, and asked Hainline to transition from his research to join him and become the inaugural director of clinical and sports neurology, a newly created position.

“I said to him, ‘What’s sports neurology?

That’s not even a defined field!’” Hainline recalled, laughing. But his friend was persistent, appealing to his background playing No. 1 singles and doubles tennis at Notre Dame. “He said, ‘I know. You’re going to define it, and since you’re an athlete, you’ll figure out how to do it.’ It actually sounded intriguing, so I took the job and started this division called sports neurology.”

sports injuries, where a team could respond to any medical situation within three minutes. He continued to emerge as a leader in this new field of sports medicine and sports neurology, serving on the U.S. Olympic Committee’s sports medicine commission from 1997 to 2000.

A quick, big decision

A memorable U.S. Open moment involved tennis legend Pete Sampras, on the cusp of winning a record-setting 13th Grand Slam in 1999. While warming up for the tournament, Sampras hit a backhand that caused severe midline back pain. Hainline examined him and determined he had a large herniated disc. To win a Grand Slam, a player must win seven matches, each between two and five hours long. Hainline had little time to decide whether to advise Sampras to drop out of the tournament and rehabilitate, or to “make him pain-free” so he could play. He recommended Sampras withdraw, which he did, making headlines worldwide. Sampras recovered from his injury and went on to win two more Grand Slams.

Concussion study

As the NCAA’s chief medical officer since 2013, Hainline has helped advance concussion research and expand mental health services.

Within a year of working at the Hospital for Joint Diseases, the U.S. Open Tennis Championships invited Hainline to become chief medical officer. He’d previously served as a consulting physician for the tennis organization and set up their antidoping program. This time, they wanted him to develop a plan to address issues ranging from heat stroke to potentially career-ending musculoskeletal injuries.

“I said, ‘I can’t be CMO, I’m a neurologist!

The orthopaedic surgeons are going to go crazy about this!’ — which they did, by the way,” he said.

Given his love of tennis, it was a dream job. So Hainline happily accepted and spent the next 16 years with the U.S. Open, creating a comprehensive approach to uchicagomedicine.org/midway

After he became the NCAA’s CMO in 2013, Hainline wanted to study concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) — a serious and understudied problem facing college athletes at the time.

While assembling a team of top concussion experts, he met with Col. Dallas Hack, MD, MPH, director of the U.S. Army Combat Casualty Care Research Program. Hack was studying traumatic brain injuries among service members for the U.S. Department of Defense.

“Biomechanically, the majority of head injuries in the military are very similar to sports concussions,” Hainline said. “So we thought, what if we do a jointly funded study that looked at all types of concussions, for NCAA athletes and the military’s four service academies?”

The result was a 25-year, more than $100 million study, launched in 2014, which White House officials described

as “the most comprehensive concussion database ever.” The multipart study has tracked 55,000 service academy cadets and student-athletes from all 24 NCAA sports.

It obtained their baseline measurements for things like blood biomarkers and followed up on concussion cases with advanced brain MRIs, genetics, genomics and head accelerometer data.

“It was a pretty ambitious goal, really,” Hainline said. “We’re about 10 years in now, and it’s already given us insight and helped shape policy.”

This initiative has helped spur a culture shift around concussions (away from the “man up and shake it off” approach) and adjusted training techniques to avoid repeated, hard hits to the head. It also has led to research on related topics, including concussions in men versus women and genetic reasons why some people tolerate head trauma better than others.

A point of pride

Throughout his career, Hainline has emphasized collaboration with other organizations and experts, the most fulfilling part of his job. It’s been key in helping him manage athlete-related issues ranging from COVID-19 to cardiac health.

He’s especially proud of his work to create an environment of wellness in the NCAA and a mental health best practices guide endorsed by 25 medical and scientific organizations, which became the springboard for an International Olympic Committee summit. The guide has helped reduce the stigma around depression and anxiety, and make mental health services more available.

“I don’t think the public always understands, the physicians and clinicians involved in sports love sports and want to do it right. They’re not doing it to advance their agenda. It’s everyone coming together for a greater common, public good,” Hainline said.

“It’s been such an incredible opportunity and humbling experience to be surrounded by so many brilliant people. What could be better than that?”

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Cole Chicago

MBA’89, MD’90

Brian J.

■ Team physician for the Chicago

Bulls, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Red Stars, the Joffrey Ballet, and several other sports teams and schools ■ Professor, orthopaedic surgeon,

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BRIAN COLE

and shoulder/elbow/knee surgery and sports medicine specialist at Rush University Medical Center. Associate chair and managing partner of Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush, and section head of Rush’s Cartilage Restoration Center

After his third year at Pritzker, Cole took a full year off and earned an MBA through an accelerated program at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business — a decision he made during “a very transitional time” in healthcare.

“It was becoming clear I’d need some business knowledge to have influence and control in decision-making,” Cole said. “I saw the importance of business in medicine. Without competency in anything other than science and math, I felt professionally vulnerable and became concerned there would be a substantial risk for missed opportunities. The MBA gave me credibility, a working vocabulary and the ability to ask the right questions with proper intellectual constructs, so I could participate in all things related to the business of medicine.”

That education laid the foundation for many of Cole’s research projects, product development initiatives and business ventures, such as establishing ambulatory surgical centers, medical office buildings and physician-led physical therapy centers, and helping manage initiatives with his practice, Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush (MOR) in Chicago. Eventually, he became managing partner of what is now the second-largest orthopaedic group in Chicago. MOR has 900-plus employees.

He knew it after Pitt

Brian Cole, MBA’89, MD’90, with Benny the Bull.

Cole has been the head team physician of the Chicago Bulls since 2005.

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Interrupting his MD for an MBA

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

Cole loves orthopaedics because it involved many scientific disciplines, including biochemistry, anatomy, biomechanics and physiology. He can also regularly perform translational research, investigating clinically relevant questions with answers that deliver better solutions and outcomes for his patients.

An active person and sports fan, he enjoyed treating high school athletes and exposure to team physician responsibilities with the New York Mets during his residency at the Hospital for Special Surgery at Cornell Medical Center. A sports medicine fellowship with the University of Pittsburgh’s football team

Scientific research and product development

Cole finds helping world-class athletes return to form to be especially rewarding.

spurred his desire to work with high-level and professional athletes.

“After that fellowship and a few years of practice, opportunities became available,” he said.

Surgeon to the sports stars

He refused to name-drop or share details, but Cole’s patients include some of the biggest names in sports. Treating professional athletes is much different from treating recreational athletes, he said — not only because of the physical demands of their sports, but because decision-making is far more complex, given the number of stakeholders and the financial impact of missed time from play.

Top athletes have access to the best care, but treatment decisions may factor in issues like contract length, the athlete’s desire or willingness to play in pain, other doctors’ opinions, or the wishes of the team’s coaches or front office.

“There’s a lot more pressure on team healthcare providers, because the cost to an organization in aggregate due to health-related challenges can be hundreds of millions of dollars,” Cole said. “An ACL tear or even a simple sprained ankle can have a huge economic impact on an entire franchise. It can mean wins and losses to an organization.” uchicagomedicine.org/midway

What he loves about his job

Helping people never gets old for Cole, and he does not take that feeling for granted.

“Sports-related injuries are rarely a matter of life and death. But if you’re an individual who has shoulder pain or knee pain? And can’t sleep or can’t walk a block?

And we can provide treatment where they can feel ‘normal’ again? That’s an amazing thing to be able to do. It is a gift that keeps on giving and provides immense fulfillment and satisfaction,” he said.

For many athletes, the fear of never playing again — or never playing at their pre-injury level — is very real, Cole said.

Any loss in performance can mean the end of their career, their college scholarship or their lifelong passion.

Helping world-class athletes return to form can be especially rewarding. Cole recalled watching one of his patients play his first game after a complex knee ligament reconstruction and nearly a year of rehabilitation and recovery.

“After his first game back, he came up to me and there were literally tears,” Cole said. “Some of the athletes I’ve reconstructed have returned after rehab and surpassed their pre-injury statistics, which is particularly gratifying. Being just a small part of that, and being part of their bigger multidisciplinary team, is something special and a true privilege.”

Research is a major component of Cole’s work. He started a cartilage transplant program that provides alternatives to joint replacement, holds several medical device patents, and has developed and popularized multiple sports medicine innovations and minimally invasive surgical procedures in use today.

He’s worked to make implants more reliable and researched ways to use orthobiologics (growth factor therapy) to promote swifter healing. He travels and teaches worldwide in addition to training residents and fellows at Rush, and has authored more than 1,000 peer-reviewed papers and 17 textbooks on orthopaedics and sports medicine.

In recent years, Cole has been interested in a more holistic approach to musculoskeletal medicine. He recently launched AGYL, a new joint health supplement, after three years of development.

Family matters

Cole and his wife, Emily, a prosecutor and supervisor for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, have three children, Ethan, Adam and Ava. All are avid skiers, sailors and fitness enthusiasts.

Cole with Derrick Rose (left), a Chicago native who was drafted No. 1 overall by the Bulls and later became NBA MVP.

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BSD News

Building a research community to face emerging microbial threats New microbiology chair Shabaana Khader, PhD, brings leadership experience, lifelong love of science

BY MATT WOOD

M

any scientists can point to a core memory or central figure who sparked their interest in science at an early age: a field trip to a museum, wildlife shows on Saturday morning TV or a charismatic high school teacher.

Shabaana Khader, PhD, didn’t have to look far for inspiration: Her mother was the first woman OB/GYN specialist doctor in her village in India, whose clinic also served as a primary care center and happened to have a microbiology lab embedded in the clinic. “I would spend my

PHOTO BY MATT WOOD

Before joining the University of Chicago in September 2022, Shabaana Khader, PhD, served as interim chair of the Department of Microbiology at Washington University in St. Louis. Above, she is pictured in her lab with UChicago postdoctoral scholar Vibha Taneja (right).

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summers looking through the microscope at any microbe they could smear and see on a slide,” she said. “I think the fascination started there and it stuck for the rest of my life.”

Khader has taken that early fascination with the microscope and turned it into a robust academic research career, moving from the tropical bacteria and diseases she saw in her mother’s small rural lab, to PhD work on leprosy, to what has formed the bulk of her career: studying Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the bacterium that causes tuberculosis.

Now, as the Bernard and Betty Roizman Professor and new Chair of the Department of Microbiology

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

at the University of Chicago, she plans to tap into a burgeoning campus community of scientists examining life under the microscope and build a hub of microbiology research geared toward facing the emerging threats of a changing world.

‘The empowerment of having a leadership platform’

While the COVID-19 pandemic was turning many of us into armchair experts on infectious diseases, vaccine development and the immune system, research institutions around the world re-evaluated the investments they needed to make to prepare for the next outbreak. The pandemic underscored the urgent need to understand the emergence of new infectious diseases, especially as climate change threatens to spread more pathogens to more parts of the world through warming temperatures and disruption of wildlife ecosystems. Like many universities, UChicago pledged to invest more resources toward studying infectious diseases, from hiring research faculty and staff to building out laboratory infrastructure. To Khader, this was an ideal opportunity for the next step in her career.

“Studying emerging and re-emerging infections is now a national priority, and if you want to remain competitive as a microbiology department, you have to invest resources in that space,” she said. “The University of Chicago recognized that and showed they were willing to put the resources on the table with a vision for building an inclusive, diverse department that is nationally recognized for infectious diseases and microbiology research. All those things came together, and it was the right time.”

Before coming to UChicago in September 2022, Khader had a taste of leadership experience when she served as interim chair of the Department of Microbiology at Washington University in St. Louis from 2018 to 2019. That role gave her an idea of what kind of academic community she would like to build.

“That opportunity helped me experience the empowerment of having a leadership platform, but from the point of view as a woman of color and seeing what representation really means,” she said.

“I saw that I really wanted to do something bigger

than my own research program, and that is to build a community.”

Outside the department, UChicago has many pockets of excellence in microbiology. Much of this work is focused on the microbiome, or the larger study of microbes and their ecosystems, but this expertise is situated in various departments, centers and institutes. One of her first priorities as chair, Khader said, is to bring these pockets together to build a cohesive community of microbiologists, whether they are studying how a virus interacts with the immune system or the ecological context of commensal bacteria.

“I want to create an inclusive environment where all the microbiologists on campus and our affiliates can interact. No matter which department or center they are in, they should feel like they are in a community,” she said.

Expanding the concept of a microbiology department

Khader’s own research focuses on tuberculosis and how it interacts with the immune system. Recently,

her lab published a study showing how different immune cells work together to help billions of people tolerate TB infections without becoming sick. Understanding this basic biology could inform better vaccine design for a disease that still causes 1.5 million deaths annually.

As the department focuses on recruiting more faculty to tackle the threats of new infectious diseases, drug-resistant bacteria and the attendant effects of climate change, Khader hopes to leverage insights like this with existing expertise on campus to expand the concept of what a microbiology department can be.

“It’s about thinking of microbiology more as an interdisciplinary field, not just what we are able to do in a dish, but thinking about how that will translate to human health,” she said. “Whether it’s in the context of global emergencies or in the context of changing lifestyles, how are those new pathogens going to interact when you place them in new microbiomes or populations?”

“There are so many opportunities to build partnerships to address these questions at UChicago, and I’m excited to build that kind of community.”

Phoebe Rice, PhD, recognized for excellence in undergraduate teaching

P

hoebe Rice, PhD, Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the College, was one of five University of Chicago faculty members to receive a Quantrell Award this year. The Llewellyn John and Harriet Manchester Quantrell Award is believed to be the nation’s oldest prize for undergraduate teaching.

Rice has been teaching “Topics in Biological Chemistry” to students for more than 20 years, and while the subject matter of the course has changed with new tools and technologies over the years, the one thing she always tries to instill is a fundamental sense of wonder.

“I enjoy pointing out things in nature that I think are just amazing and fascinating, and then showing how they work at a very molecular, under-the-hood level,” she said.

uchicagomedicine.org/midway

“ I want to create an inclusive environment where all the microbiologists on campus and our affiliates can interact.”

Shabaana Khader, PhD Bernard and Betty Roizman Professor and Chair Department of Microbiology

In her classroom, Phoebe Rice, PhD, tries to instill in students a fundamental sense of wonder.

Rice tries not to be too prescriptive in the course. There is no set textbook; students are expected to rely on supplementary reference materials and books from earlier biochemistry courses. One of her favorite assignments is to give students the coordinates for a protein-DNA complex and have them explore 3D models and figure out how it works for themselves.

“Learning the material is important,” she said, “but really understanding what you can do with it, what its implications are and how it applies to other material is also very useful.”

“Yes, it’s hard work and you do have to just learn facts and figures,” she continued.

“But there are fascinating things out there.

We need to remember why we got into it sometimes: because it’s just really cool.”

PHOTO BY JEAN LACHAT

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FAC U LT Y H O N O R S

BSD News

Matthew Stephens, PhD, elected fellow of the Royal Society

M

atthew Stephens, PhD, Ralph W. Gerard Professor of Statistics and Human Genetics, was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, an organization of many of the world’s most eminent scientists and the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence.

He joined a class of 59 fellows, 19 foreign members and two honorary fellows who were elected to the Royal Society for their outstanding contributions to science.

“These individuals have pushed forward the boundaries of their respective fields and had a beneficial influence on the world beyond,” said Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society, in a statement. “They are pioneering scientists and innovators from around the world who have confounded expectations and transformed our thinking.”

PHOTO BY MICHAEL TURCHIN

Matthew Stephens, PhD

Stephens, who is Chair of the Department of Statistics at UChicago, is a leader in statistical and population genetics whose work laid the analytical and methodological foundations of a revolution in human genomic research.

His research focuses on developing tractable approximations to complex inferential problems in the analysis of genomic variation, combining innovative probabilistic models and computational Markov-chain Monte Carlo methodology.

Kossiakoff, Perozo join National Academy of Sciences

A

nthony A. Kossiakoff, PhD, and Eduardo A. Perozo, PhD, were elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished scientific research achievements. They were among the 120 new members elected this year, in addition to 23 new international members.

Kossiakoff is the Otho S.A. Sprague Distinguished Service Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He is a structural biologist and protein engineer whose research group is developing a molecular understanding of how molecular recognition governs virtually all aspects of biological function. He did pioneering work towards elucidating the mechanisms involved in hormoneinduced receptor activation and regulation.

To study these issues, his lab uses a combination of protein engineering, X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy, directed evolution and biophysical analysis. His group has also pioneered a new technology called “chaperone-assisted” structure determination, which has facilitated the structural analyses of protein systems that had been intractable by other approaches.

Perozo is a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He is a molecular neurobiologist whose research aims to understand the physiological and structural mechanism underlying ion channels and other membrane proteins associated with electrical and mechanical signaling.

Perozo’s lab seeks to define the molecular principles that drive the transduction of different forms energy, such as electric fields and mechanical forces, into protein motion. He is particularly interested in protein dynamics, which link structure to function. The Perozo lab uses a combination of functional measurements at the single molecule and ensemble levels, biochemistry and molecular biology, and EPR spectroscopy, performing structural analyses through a combination of X-ray crystallography and cryoelectron microscopy of single particles. These structural techniques help them understand biological functions like mechanosensitivity in hearing and proprioception, and how proteins sense changes in electrical voltage in neurons and other excitable tissues.

Anthony A. Kossiakoff, PhD

Eduardo A. Perozo, PhD 26

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

T R A N S L AT I O N A L M E D I C I N E

Repurposed drug shows promise for treating cardiac arrhythmias Ruxolitinib, approved for treating certain cancers and skin conditions, is effective at inhibiting CaMKII, a protein kinase linked to cardiac arrhythmias

BY MATT WOOD

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uxolitinib, a drug that is already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating certain cancers and skin conditions, is effective at inhibiting CaMKII, a protein kinase linked to cardiac arrhythmias.

In a new study published June 21 in Science Translational Medicine, researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Chicago invented a new reporting technique to monitor activity of CaMKII while screening the effects of nearly 5,000 FDA-approved drugs on human cells that expressed the enzyme.

The screen identified five previously unknown CaMKII inhibitors; ruxolitinib, which is used to treat cancers of the blood and bone marrow, along with skin conditions like atopic dermatitis and vitiligo, was the most effective.

CaMKII, or Ca2+/calmodulindependent protein kinase II, is critical to cardiomyocytes, the muscle cells of the heart, where it maintains the balance of calcium. Activation of CaMKII helps facilitate rapid changes in heart activity, such as initiating a fight-or-flight response in the body. Overactivation can lead to impaired heart function and cell death, which can in turn lead to poor heart health outcomes like arrhythmia.

CaMKII is perhaps best known, however, for its role in the brain, where it is believed to play key roles in learning and memory. This has slowed the development

uchicagomedicine.org/midway

of CaMKII inhibitors to treat arrythmia, for fear they could impact cognitive function.

“Finding an FDA-approved drug means that millions of people have been taking CaMKII inhibitors, and in the case of ruxolitinib, there are no reported major problems with the brain,” said Mark Anderson, MD, PhD, a senior author of the paper and the Paul and Allene Russell Professor, Dean of the Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine, and Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs for the University of Chicago. “That should give pharma and biotech companies confidence that they could carry out development of a CaMKII inhibitor program, because the biggest obstacle seems to be surmountable.”

The research began in Anderson’s lab at Johns Hopkins University, where he previously served as the William Osler Professor and director of the Department of Medicine. Oscar Reyes Gaido, the study’s first author and an MD-PhD student in the lab, developed a new tool to measure activity of CaMKII in living cells. He started with a protein called green fluorescent protein (GFP), originally derived from jellyfish, that emits green light. He then engineered the GFP tag to detect CaMKII activation, making a new reporter called CaMKAR (CaMKII Activity Reporter). When this reporter was inserted into human heart cells, it helpfully glowed bright green whenever CaMKII became

active, allowing researchers to monitor enzyme activity.

“This biosensor will be very useful for studying how CaMKII activity changes in both healthy and pathological contexts,” Reyes Gaido said. “Existing methods can measure CaMKII activity, but they lack the versatility and resolution to track in real time and with high sensitivity. This has been a real obstacle for studying enzyme biology in general, so this gives the field an important new tool.”

Using this tool, the researchers conducted a drug repurposing screen to test the effects of 4,475 approved compounds on cultured human cardiomyocytes. This identified five previously unknown CaMKII inhibitors: ruxolitinib, baricitinib, silmitasertib, crenolanib and abemaciclib. Of the five, ruxolitinib was the most effective at inhibiting CaMKII activity in cell and mouse models of CaMKII-driven arrhythmias.

A 10-minute application of the drug was enough to prevent catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT), a congenital source of pediatric cardiac arrest, and rescue atrial fibrillation, the most common clinical arrhythmia.

Crucially, the mice treated with ruxolitinib did not show any adverse cognitive effects when they were tested with memory and learning tasks. continued on next page

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continued from previous page

BSD News

Anderson said that new drugs based on ruxolitinib could be used in several ways to treat heart conditions. One would be what he called the “pill in a pocket” scenario. In the early stages of atrial fibrillation, people could take the medication occasionally as symptoms arose. Patients with CPVT are often resistant to standard treatments, and a ruxolitinib-based treatment could provide another option. Finally, there is evidence that inhibiting CaMKII during a heart attack can prevent heart muscle from dying, so emergency responders could potentially administer such a drug as part of standard practice.

“There’s been a long search for fundamental pathways that could be targets for therapeutics in arrhythmias,” Anderson said. “This could be a finding that will translate relatively rapidly into people now since it’s already been proven to be safe in humans.”

The study, “An improved reporter identifies ruxolitinib as a potent and cardioprotective CaMKII inhibitor,” was supported by the American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship, the National Institutes of Health, the Sarnoff Fellowship, the Translational Research Program at Boston Children’s Hospital,

the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/ American Heart Association Harold Amos Faculty Development Program Grant and the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute.

Additional authors include Nikoleta Pavlaki, David Walker, Joshua Mayourian and Vassilios J. Bezzerides from Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Jonathan M. Granger, Olurotimi O. Mesubi, Bian Liu, Brian L. Lin, Alan Long, Kate L. Schole, Chantelle E. Terrilion, Lubika J. Nkashama, Kimberly M. Ferrero, Richard L. Huganir, Jun O. Liu and Elizabeth D. Luczak from Johns Hopkins University; Mohit M. Hulsurkar, Lauren E. Dorn and Xander H. T. Wehrens from Baylor College of Medicine; and Frank U. Müller from the University of Munster, Germany.

A space inclusive for all PHOTO BY JORDAN PORTER-WOODRUFF

Dorian Sylvain (right), a painter and muralist based on Chicago’s South Side, led the creation of a new mural in the Department of Surgery boardroom.

She worked on the project with a team of artists, including Shiree Davis (left).

UChicago Medicine’s Department of Surgery installed a new mural in

its boardroom this summer, part of a concerted effort to create a space that feels inclusive to all.

Created by local artist Dorian Sylvain and her team, the artwork furthers the department’s ongoing work to restructure and build its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Sylvain created multiple design proposals with the department and eventually completed a bright, vibrant piece illustrating core principles:

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excellence, innovation, impact, activism and compassion.

The artwork has already made an impact on visitors to the boardroom, which is often utilized during recruitment efforts in addition to workshops and meetings. A few days after the mural installation, Chelsea Dorsey, MD, Vice Chair of the Department of Surgery, encountered someone sitting and waiting for an interview. The candidate shifted the conversation to the space, telling Dorsey that the mural energized him and improved his day.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

“Our hope is that everyone walks into that room and feels not only welcome, but that they also get a sense of who we are as a department, where we’ve been and where we’d like to see ourselves in the coming years,” Dorsey said.

The new mural is the third wall display project undertaken by the Department of Surgery in recent years. The first focuses on the history of surgical care on the South Side of Chicago, and the second describes the evolution of trauma care at the University of Chicago.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE COALITION FOR THE LIFE SCIENCES (CLS) AND THE FEDERATION OF AMERICAN SOCIETIES FOR EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY (FASEB)

BSD postdocs showcase research at DC event

In July, members of the Biological Sciences Division research community traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in the Congressional Life Science Fair — which featured presentations and exhibits showing how federal funding for research benefits society. As part of the event, UChicago postdocs Shahid Ali (far right) and Asif Ali (second from right) showed an attendee how to use a virtual reality headset to visualize a 3D model of the COVID-19 spike protein structure.

Pritzker students honored for contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion

Santiago Avila

Rimel Mwamba

Tecora Turner

Pritzker School of Medicine students Santiago Avila, Rimel Mwamba and Tecora Turner are among the 2023 winners of the UChicagoGRAD Diversity Advisory Board (DAB) Diversity Awards.

Given annually since 2021, the awards recognize efforts by graduate students in diversity, equity and inclusion at the University of Chicago and more broadly.

Avila, a fourth-year student, won the Georgiana Simpson Research Award, which “celebrates the scholarly work of University of Chicago graduate students that critically engages conversations about diversity in their disciplines.” He has focused much of his research on Spanish language use in medicine, including how language concordance can benefit patients, and the ways language barriers present obstacles to achieving health equity.

As a participant in the National Cancer Institutefunded Scholars in Oncology-Associated Research Program, Avila has conducted research on increasing health literacy among linguistic minority patients receiving radiotherapy.

Turner, a third-year student, received the Mary S. Debose Outstanding Advocate Award, which recognizes dedicated advocacy in a particular social justice area.

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Pritzker News

A DVO C AC Y

Turner serves as the political advocacy liaison for the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) Region II Executive Board. She is a peer health advocate with UChicago Wellness, promoting honest, inclusive sex-positive discussion of sexual health and relationships across campus. Turner is also a volunteer mentor for Sisters Working It Out, which aims to eliminate breast cancer disparities in the Chicagoland area.

Mwamba, a third-year student, won the Furthering Diversity Award. At Pritzker, Mwamba has held a number of leadership positions contributing to diversity. She was co-president of Pritzker’s SNMA chapter and helped organize the 2022 Black and Latina Women in Medicine Forum.

She also served as regional research liaison for the SNMA Region II Executive Board and helped facilitate Pritzker students’ attendance at the 2022 Annual Medical Education Conference.

Within the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Mwamba co-founded EquiTrial, a company that aims to increase access to and educational resources for cancer clinical trials among marginalized populations.

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Pritzker News

W H I T E C OAT C E R E M O N Y

“ Lean on your circle of support in your challenging moments and celebrate your victories together.

Support one another, go further together, use your power wisely and continue to make us all proud.”

Tanya Zakrison, MD, MPH

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In a milestone moment for the Pritzker School of Medicine, 90 new first-year students received their first white coats in August at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel on the University of Chicago campus.

The students, comprising the entering Class of 2023, became the first Pritzker students to undertake their medical training under the new Phoenix Curriculum, which launched with a week of immersion activities, including intensive simulated interactions with standardized patients.

Tanya Zakrison, MD, MPH, delivered the ceremony’s keynote address, emphasizing the power and responsibility that come with the white coat.

“The white coat is a symbol of power, and power is always fraught with risk,” Zakrison said.

“Your journey will be to interrogate this power, to peel back the layers of human experience, and understand what this symbol and others mean to each other, to your families, your patients and communities within the context of our local and global intertwined histories.”

A Professor of Surgery and the Director of Critical Trauma Research, Zakrison made three asks of the new crop of Pritzker students: to seek truth behind the illnesses they will treat, to

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

PHOTOS BY JOE STERBENC

White coats for new Pritzker students

Tanya Zakrison, MD, MPH

recognize their power and wield it as leaders for justice, and to speak truth to power.

Zakrison highlighted the work of several current and former Pritzker students whose work in advocacy and activism have contributed to greater equity and justice for patients and communities.

“You are all leaders; find and articulate your passions,” Zakrison said. “Do it together. At Pritzker, we do not encourage you to think outside of the box. There simply is no box.”

The new students also represent a historic cohort thanks to recent philanthropic efforts and a multiyear commitment from the University of Chicago Biological Sciences Division. The class is the first to which Pritzker will provide full-tuition scholarships to up to half of the incoming class, part of a push to inspire a more diverse generation of physicians and to reduce student debt.

Most of the class will become the first to graduate under the new Phoenix Curriculum. Those completing medical school on a traditional four-year timeline will graduate in 2027, the same year Pritzker celebrates its centennial.

Pritzker’s entering class of 2023

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MD students

First-year medical student Chuka Onuh (right) with Vineet Arora, MD, AM’03, Dean for Medical Education.

Jay Lin, Lauren Kang, Senthooran Kalidoss, Rowan Hussein, Daniel Hu and Felix Fernández-Penny (right to left, front row) recite the Hippocratic Oath at Rockefeller Chapel alongside fellow members of Pritzker’s entering class.

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MD/PhD students

80% from out of state

2%

international students

40%

from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine

Pritzker School of Medicine redesigns curriculum, boosts tuition support

I

n an increased effort to attract top applicants from a range of backgrounds and reduce student debt, the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine has modernized its curriculum and begun providing full-tuition scholarships to up to half of each incoming class of medical students.

Backed by philanthropy and a multiyear commitment from UChicago’s Biological Sciences Division, the new scholarship funds are granted based on need and a candidate’s potential to succeed in the redesigned Pritzker Phoenix Curriculum.

Launched in August, the new curriculum focuses on empowering students to serve as patient advocates and enhance small-group learning and community engagement, while continuing UChicago’s tradition of rigorous inquiry.

The new initiative pays full tuition for up to 50% of entering medical school students. Previously, roughly 40% of Pritzker students have been supported

uchicagomedicine.org/midway

through full-tuition scholarships or grants, and more than 90% received partial-tuition support.

to serve their communities and help close racial and socioeconomic health equity gaps.

By increasing financial support for incoming students and developing a new curriculum, Pritzker is furthering its goal of inspiring a more diverse generation of leaders and innovators in medicine and science, including those who choose to teach future generations or work in underserved communities.

The new investment in tuition support builds on Pritzker’s track record of lowering student debt among graduates. Recent efforts have led to a five-year reduction in average graduating student debt, while doubling the number of students who have matriculated in the highest-need categories.

A career in medicine is often inaccessible to all but the wealthiest Americans. More than half of medical students nationwide come from the top 20% of the country’s wealthiest households, and nearly a quarter hail from the upper 5%, according to an analysis by the Association of American Medical Colleges. Educational debt is concentrated among students from groups that are underrepresented in medicine or economically disadvantaged; these students are also more likely

The redesigned curriculum’s name was selected to symbolize rebirth following the COVID-19 pandemic and pays homage to UChicago’s coat of arms, a shield displaying a phoenix.

The pandemic underscored the value that medical students can add as members of healthcare teams, even as early as their first year. The new curriculum provides students with ample time for self-directed learning, research scholarship and community engagement, while accelerating entry into the clinical phase.

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R E U N I O N W E E K E N D 2 02 3

Reunion

Sweet Home UChicago PHOTO BY JOE STERBENC

Classmates gather for conversation at the Welcome Breakfast.

PHOTO BY JOE STERBENC

PHOTO BY JASON SMITH

See more reunion photos at tinyurl.com/MBSAA-2023-Reunion-Photos

PHOTO BY JASON SMITH

Members of the Class of 1973 raise a glass during their induction into the Alumni Emeriti Society.

Biological Sciences Division alumni gather for a dinner with David Kovar, PhD, Dean for Graduate Affairs (center) in the BSD.

A current Pritzker student leads a tour of the medical campus.

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THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

PHOTOS BY JOE STERBENC

Alumni pose for a picture with Vineet Arora, MD, AM’03, Dean for Medical Education and Herbert T. Abelson Professor of Medicine (far right).

Alumni from several classes kick off Reunion at River Roast on May 17.

Abdullah Hasan Pratt, MD’16, Assistant Professor and Emergency Medicine Physician receives a UChicago MBSAA award at the Alumni Awards Luncheon.

Several alumni gather for a picture with Mark Anderson, MD, PhD, Paul and Allene Russell Professor, Dean of the Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine, and Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs (center right).

CLASS OF 2013 10 YEARS

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R E U N I O N W E E K E N D 2 02 3

Reunion

Milestone classes rejoice at Reunion PHOTO BY JASON SMITH

CLASS OF 1973

PHOTO BY JOE STERBENC

50 YEARS

CLASS OF 1978 45 YEARS

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THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

PHOTOS BY JOE STERBENC

CLASS OF 1998 25 YEARS

CLASS OF 1983 40 YEARS

CLASS OF 1988 35 YEARS

CLASS OF 2003 20 YEARS

CLASS OF 1993 30 YEARS

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MEDICINE ON THE MIDWAY

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REUNION WEEKEND 2023

Reunion

2023 UChicago MBSAA Awards DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARDS The 2023 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients with alumni leaders, from left: Courtney Burrows, PhD’15, MBA’17; Doriane Miller, MD’83; Roy Curtiss, PhD’62; David Silverstein, MD’67; Raghavendra Mirmira, AB’86, PhD’91, MD’93; and Katie M.L. Given, AB’08, PhD’13, MBA’16, MD’16.

Not pictured: Gretchen Birbeck, MD’94, MPH; and Abdullah Pratt, MD’16.

Gretchen Lano (Dike) Birbeck, MD’94, MPH

Raghavendra “Raghu” Mirmira, AB’86, PhD’91, MD’93

Rykenboer Professor of Neurology, University of Rochester

Professor of Medicine, The University of Chicago

Since 1994, Birbeck has served as a physician, medical educator, and researcher in sub–Saharan Africa. Her overarching professional goal has been to elucidate the mechanisms of common neurology disorders in the region; identify opportunities for feasible, affordable, evidence– based interventions aimed at preventing or ameliorating neurologic illness/injury and move these interventions forward into clinical trials.

Mirmira is a tenured professor of medicine and director of the Diabetes Research and Training Center at the University of Chicago Medicine.

His research has led to innovative concepts in our understanding of the pathophysiology of type 1 diabetes and how novel therapies might be employed to allow the insulin producing cells to evade the immune system.

David Silverstein, MD’67 Cardiologist, The Nairobi Hospital

Silverstein has dedicated his life’s work to cardiology in Kenya — serving local community members and senior government officials, including Nelson Mandela. Silverstein established the country’s first catheterization lab, brought improved technology and procedures to ICUs, and trained future physicians, among many other accomplishments.

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD FOR EARLY ACHIEVEMENT PHOTO BY JOE STERBENC

Roy Curtiss, PhD’62 Professor of Infectious Diseases & Immunology, University of Florida

The Distinguished Alumni Award honors the contributions alumni make in medicine and science. Learn more about the UChicago MBSAA Awards program at mbsaa.uchicago.edu/ alumni-awards.

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Among his many significant contributions, Curtiss has focused his research on developing live vaccines to reduce morbidity and mortality caused by infectious disease agents of fish, poultry, swine, cattle, and humans. Recently, members of Curtiss’ lab have contributed major technical innovations to deliver protective antigens and DNA vaccines more effectively. The net result will be the synthesis and delivery of protective antigens to maximize induction of protective immunity.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

Abdullah Hasan Pratt, MD’16 Assistant Professor and Emergency Medicine Physician, The University of Chicago

Pratt has always desired to have a career advocating for underserved communities and addressing systemic healthcare disparities. He continues to vigorously work to improve health literacy and emergency preparedness through teaching South Side residents how to properly respond to cardiac arrests, penetrating traumas (i.e., gunshot wounds), and strokes prior to the arrival of medical assistance.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

Climate change and human health

University of Chicago scientists are studying the links and seeking bold solutions

We want to hear from you!

LETTERS

Is there a story in this issue that inspires you to comment?

Do you have a memory or reflection to share? Medicine on the Midway is open for feedback. Letters must be signed and may be edited for AP style, space, clarity and civility. To provide a range of views and voices, we encourage letter writers to limit themselves to 300 words or fewer.

Please send letters via email: momeditor@bsd.uchicago.edu.

Remembering Eleanor Humphreys, Rush MD’31 I read the letter from Lawrence Gottlieb, MD’56, about his student experience with Dr. Humphreys. I had a similar experience with this remarkable teacher. I had misplaced a surgical specimen in the wrong cabinet and Dr. Humphreys insisted that I find it and bring it to her.

I spent the rest of the day looking at slides and learning at a special one-to-one experience with this kind and remarkable lady. The pathology course at the University was the best set of classes I ever had. Dr. Whistler was the chief and Dr. Fitch was the senior housestaff (or perhaps he was an instructor by then).

I spent most of my career teaching students, residents and fellows — I wish that I could have done as well as Dr. Humphreys and her department colleagues.

Mark Hoffer, MD’60

Champions for change Related to the Climate Change article in Medicine on the Midway is the unnecessary cost of operating room supplies, equipment and medications with resultant drug shortages.

Disposal in landfills or incineration releases chemicals into water supplies or creates atmospheric toxins resulting in systemic, mental and ocular problems. The World Health Organization announced that climate change is the biggest health threat facing humanity in October 2021; the American Medical Association (AMA) deemed climate change a public health emergency in June 2022; and the Department of Homeland Security cited drug shortage as a national health risk in March 2023.

Mark your calendar for Pritzker Alumni Weekend!

Nationally, the Task Force initiated modification of the surgical facility Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Surveyor Infection Control Worksheet to further eliminate medication waste.

Our efforts to thwart climate change also focus on industry collaboration such as substituting QR codes for instrument package inserts, reusing/ recycling instruments, reducing the sizes and number of supplies, and replacing plastics and polypropylene items with less toxic materials.

Each of us can advocate for change.

Championing collaboration with colleagues, other specialties and your medical societies backed by sound research is important for us to have a sustainable future.

Will you be the next champion?

David J. Palmer, MD’80

May 17-18, 2024

All medical alumni are invited to Pritzker Alumni Weekend including campus festivities, engaging talks and Social Rounds. On Friday, May 17, Pritzker classes ending in 4 and 9 will celebrate their Reunion Class Dinners. uchicagomedicine.org/midway

Adding to climate change laboratory research is physician advocacy working with state and specialty medical societies promoting environmental sustainability and health equity by introducing resolutions proposing remedies to identified problems. In my ophthalmology subspecialty, such a modified resolution became an Illinois law in July 2021 allowing patients home with their topically applied operating room medications for continued care, avoiding unnecessary disposal. The AMA adopted a similar resolution additionally supporting the use of multidose eyedrops on multiple patients. Ultimately, a multi-eye society position paper, supported by national regulatory and accreditation organizations, was published by our Operating Room Waste Task Force in the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery adopting these recommendations. Subsequently, American and European eye societies created the www.eyesustain.org website, containing evidence-based articles and information pertaining to ophthalmology sustainability.

Your News

SPRING 2023

LETTERS

Learn more about Pritzker Alumni Weekend at mbsaa.uchicago.edu/reunion or follow @UChicagoMBSAA on Facebook, LinkedIn and X (formerly known as Twitter).

MEDICINE ON THE MIDWAY

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Your News

YO U R N E W S 1950s

1970s

John R. David, AB’50, SB’55, MD’55, recently published a book, Beat the Devils: A Memoir, detailing his life and work. His book is now available for purchase.

Nathan Szajnberg, AB’74, MD’74, wrote a book, The Secret Symmetry of Maimonides and Freud, which presents the parallels between The Guide of the Perplexed and The Interpretation of Dreams. The book is a vital read for psychoanalysts in training and practice — as well as those interested in Judaica, the history of ideas and early medieval studies.

1960s Joseph Seckbach, SM’63, PhD’65, has edited more than 50 scientific books for various publishers. He is currently editing more volumes on algae.

One of his recent volumes, Diatoms (algal group), has been translated into Chinese.

Rodney Rothstein, PhD’75, received the Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Illinois Chicago. He studies the molecular mechanisms by which naturally occurring breaks

in DNA strands are mended using techniques that are fundamental to understanding how gene mutations cause disease. In 2009, he was awarded the Genetics Society of America’s Novitski Prize. Rothstein is currently a professor of genetics and development at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he has mentored the next generation of geneticists since 1984.

Robert Gaynes, MD’79, recently published the second edition of his book Germ Theory: Medical Pioneers in Infectious Diseases (2023: ASM Press), which features three new chapters based on interviews with Nobel laureates Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Barry Marshall, as well as former NIAID director and medical adviser to seven U.S. presidents Anthony Fauci.

These chapters detail fascinating accounts from their groundbreaking work in the areas of HIV, peptic ulcers and COVID-19, respectively. Winner of a Choice Outstanding Academic Title award for its first edition, Germ Theory describes the compelling history of how medicine understood that microorganisms cause human disease.

Charles Smith, SM’73, PhD’79, received his Fulbright Scholar Award to conduct research on statistical and stochastic modeling of postural sway during quiet standing in health and disease at Osaka University’s School of Engineering Science in Suita, Japan.

Smith’s areas of expertise include neurobiology, stochastic processes and physiological models.

Classmates from 1973 Bob Kanter, David Gilbert, Steve Gloyd, and Steve Bittner met for a sunny lunch in Seattle in September.

2010s Geoffrey V. Stetson, MD’12, was selected as a 2023 Macy Foundation Faculty Scholar. The program is designed to identify and nurture the careers of promising educators in medicine and nursing. Stetson is an associate professor of clinical medicine and medical education at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago. His project will investigate how master researchers in health professions education utilize theoretical frameworks and make them accessible to mentees.

NEWS

Michael Silverman, MD’73 and Stephen Spielberg, PhD’71, MD’73.

Share news about your life and accomplishments: mbsaa.uchicago.edu/ update-contact-info

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THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

2023–2024 ALUMNI COUNCIL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Karyl Kopaskie, AB’07, PhD’14 President Doriane Miller, MD’83 Immediate Past President Sapana Vora, PhD’14 Vice President and Chicago Partners Program Chair Mark Aschliman, MD’80 Alumni Awards Committee Chair Jeanne Farnan, AB’98, MD’02, MHPE Editorial Committee Chair Michael Prystowsky, MD’81, PhD Regional Programs Chair ALUMNI COUNCIL

Lampis Anagnostopoulos, SB’57, MD’61 ✱ Margaret “Peggy” Barron, MD’78 Jennifer “Piper” Below, PhD’11 Anita Blanchard, MD’90 Jillian Bowman, AB’20 ✤ Kenneth Bridbord, MD’69, MPH Ava Ferguson Bryan, AM’10, MD’18 ✤ Courtney Burrows, PhD’15, MBA’17 Arnold Calica, SM’61, MD’75 ✱ Ithaar Derweesh, MD’95 Gabrielle Edgerton, PhD’10 Arash Emami, MD’94 Gail Farfel, PhD’93 Jonathan Fox, AB’79, PhD’85, MD’87 Katherine Given, AB’08, PhD’13, MBA’16, MD’16 Jeffrey Goodenbour, PhD’09 Stanton Greenstone ✤ Andrew Hack, AB’95, PhD’00, MD’02 Rajiv Jauhar, MD’91 Clifford Ko, AB’87, SM’89, MD’91 Lucy Lester, MD’72 Peter McCauley, MD’86 Jennifer McPartland, PhD’08 Vincent Nelson, MD’98, MBA, MPH Carol Olson, PhD’82, MD’86 Loren Schechter, MD’94 Coleman Seskind, AB’55, SB’56, MD’59, SM’59 ✱ Adhir Shroff, MD’96 Puneet Singh, MD’11 Abby Stayart, AB’97, PHD’12 Margaret Steiner ✤ Anne Taylor, MD’76 Cynthia Thaik, MD’90 Vishruth “Vish” Venkataraman ✤ Sydney Yoon, MD’86 Russ Zajtchuk, SB’60, MD’63 ✱ ✱ LIFE MEMBER ✤ STUDENT OR RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE

IN MEMORIAM

George Gotthold Meyer, MD’55, passed away on July 13, 2023. Meyer was a child prodigy who graduated from Johns Hopkins University at age 19 before attending the University of Chicago. He worked on multiple Native American reservations and co-led the development of the only program that combined training in traditional Navajo healing and Western medicine. He treated his patients with cultural humility, respect, kindness and compassion, and was given many gifts of thanks, including a Chippewa peace pipe. Meyer is survived by a sister, Eve Meyer Edlin (Jim); and three sons and their spouses: Bruce and Christie Little Meyer, Brian and Sharla (Kerr) Meyer, and Barry and Karyn (Schroeder) Meyer.

Henry “Hank” Kandler, MD’57, passed away on March 17, 2023. Kandler was born in Stuttgart, Germany, but was sent with his brother on the last Kindertransport to England prior to World War II. He loved his work as a psychiatrist with a thriving private practice on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, and as a teacher and mentor at Albert Einstein College for more than 60 years.

In his free time, he revived his German skills and rekindled old (and forged

new) relationships in his home city of Stuttgart. Kandler is survived by his wife, Judy; his children, Jennifer, Michael and Sara; and his seven grandchildren.

1960s Robert H. Caplan, MD’61, died on March 28, 2023. Caplan served as a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in South Korea after completing his residency at the University of Colorado.

After discharge from the Army, he returned to the University of Chicago, where he was an instructor in the Department of Internal Medicine. Later, he was asked to serve as the chief of the Department of Endocrinology at Gunderson for 30 years and retired in 2014 after a total of 45 years of service.

He is survived by his wife, Yvonne; his son, David (Sherry); and his brother, Louis J. Caplan.

Gerald “Jerry” L. Becker, MD’66, died on March 25, 2023. Becker studied science as a part of America’s push to dominate the space race at both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago. However, he never practiced medicine, deciding instead that laboratory science was his true calling. After spending his life applying for research dollars, he ended

of co-director of the Department of Nuclear Medicine and assistant chairman, Department of Cardiology, and medical director, Out-Patient Procedure Unit. Lumia was a member of the Medical Society of New Jersey, where he held many positions, including speaker, House of Delegates from 2008 to 2010. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Carolyn King Lumia; his daughter, Dr. Margaret Ellen Lumia; and his son and daughterin-law, Joseph John Lumia and Francine Schiffman.

his career at the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C., distributing grant money to a new generation of young investigators. He is survived by his wife, Betsy; his sons, Jonathan and William; and his grandchildren, Grace, Gabriel, Gloria, Grant Becker and Samantha Parr.

John Edmund Kurnick, MD’66, died on August 14, 2022. After serving in the U.S. military, Kurnick moved back to Colorado to serve as a research physician. He later moved with his family to Southern California, where he started a private practice and served on the teaching faculty at the University of California Irvine until his retirement in 2004. An avid mountaineer, he scaled all 68 of the 14,000-foot peaks in the connected 48 states. His proudest achievement was topping Muztagata (at 24,757 feet) in China. Kurnick is survived by his wife, Luann; their children, David (Ricardo) and Kate; his granddaughter, Nia; his brother, James (Ellen); and his stepmother, Sally.

In Memoriam

1950s

1980s Howard Sutkin, MD’89, passed away on January 27, 2023. Sutkin was an integral member of the trauma team at Regional Medical Center of San Jose.

In 2010, he was awarded a Presidential Appreciation Plaque for his extraordinary service to the Santa Clara County Medical Association. Sutkin provided his skills to the most extreme trauma cases, saving or enhancing the lives of his patients. He will be remembered most for the care and compassion he delivered. He is survived by his wife of 24 years, Erika, and their two children, Craig and Natasha. He is also survived by his brother, Bill, and sister, Harriet Feldman.

Francis “Frank” J. Lumia, AB’63, MD’67, FACC, died on September 20, 2022. Lumia was a respected cardiologist at Deborah Heart and Lung Center from 1977 to 2006.

While at Deborah, he held the titles

Former faculty

Alvin Tarlov, MD

A

lvin R. Tarlov, MD, who played a key role in the evolution of academic medicine by establishing one of the first sections of general internal medicine, died May 27. He was 93.

A longtime chair of the University of Chicago’s Department of Medicine, Tarlov helped spearhead a shift in thinking that would reverberate across the United States. In the late 1960s, he advanced the idea that patients needed to be viewed as whole individuals, not merely the parts of the body that weren’t working correctly.

During that time, most U.S. physicians had been focused on subspecialization — fields such as cardiology or pulmonology.

While subspecialization meant doctors developed expert knowledge in specific areas, Tarlov realized many patients arrived at their doctor’s office with multiple illnesses and that patients receiving sophisticated specialty care developed health problems unrelated to their original illness.

Tarlov believed establishment of a section of general internal medicine would strengthen subspecialties, giving trainees the breadth and depth needed to provide care involving multiple symptoms and conditions. Under his leadership, in 1973,

uchicagomedicine.org/midway

UChicago established one of the first such academic sections in the country.

UChicago Medicine’s Section of General Internal Medicine is now home to nationally recognized physicians in ethics, medical education, clinical care and healthcare disparities and outcomes research, as well as several multidisciplinary academic programs.

Tarlov attended New York Medical College and the University of Chicago School of Medicine for medical school and completed his internal medicine residency at Philadelphia General Hospital. As a young doctor, he studied rehabilitation and recidivism after being assigned in the 1960 doctor’s draft to help with a malaria drug trial at an Illinois prison. In 1962, Tarlov was hired as an assistant professor of medicine at UChicago. He was appointed chair of the Department of Medicine in 1969, serving until 1981.

Tarlov is survived by his wife Janet Belkin, children Richard Tarlov (Janet), Elizabeth Tarlov (George Ofman) and Jane Bowers (Jonathan), stepchildren Lisa Belkin, Gary Belkin and Kira Belkin, and numerous grandchildren, step-grandchildren and one step-great-grandchild. He is predeceased by his daughter Suzanne Tarlov and son David Tarlov.

“ Alvin Tarlov was a visionary leader who realized the importance of general medicine in an academic setting. … His innovative thinking influenced institutions across the country and continues shaping the future generation of physicians.”

Everett Vokes, MD John E. Ultmann Distinguished Service Professor Chair of the Department of Medicine

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In Memoriam

Faculty

40

Sliman Bensmaia, PhD

S

liman Bensmaia, PhD, a pioneering neuroscientist and leading expert on the sense of touch, died August 11. He was 49.

Bensmaia, the James and Karen Frank Family Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago, explored how sensory information about touch, texture and the shape of objects is represented in the nervous system and brain, which in turn generates human perception of the world. He then used these discoveries to help develop prosthetic limbs that can restore a realistic sense of touch to amputees and paralyzed patients.

His lab generated algorithms for brain computer interfaces (BCI) that convert the output of sensors on bionic hands into patterns of stimulation that can be transmitted through electrodes implanted in the brain. Using what he called a “biomimetic” approach, he and his team sought to mimic the biological processes underlying how the nervous system communicates signals from the arms and hands to create natural-feeling sensations of touch and give bionic limbs greater dexterity.

Bensmaia’s lab published a series of groundbreaking studies in 2013 and 2015 that provided blueprints for incorporating realistic sensory feedback into prosthetic limbs. Through experiments with non-human primates, they identified patterns of neural activity that occur naturally as the animals manipulate objects — and successfully re-created those patterns by directly stimulating the nervous system with electrical signals.

In 2016, Bensmaia worked with partners at the University of Pittsburgh to develop the first ever robotic prosthetic device that gave realistic touch feedback to a human patient who could control its arm and hand with his thoughts. The device enabled a 28-year-old man who was paralyzed from the chest down to distinguish between touches on individual fingers and the palm of a robotic hand. Later that fall, the patient used the arm to greet President Barack Obama at a White House event.

Bensmaia continued working with partners at UChicago and other universities to further develop BCI devices and robotic hands that connect to peripheral nerves in amputated limbs. In 2021, working with UChicago neurosurgeon Peter Warnke, MD, the team successfully implemented a BCI-based robotic limb in a patient who suffered spinal cord damage in a car accident; the story was featured earlier this year on 60 Minutes.

He received a Research Program Award (R35) from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in 2022 to further support this neuroprosthetics work.

More recently, he began expanding the application of these concepts, rooted in the belief that the sense of touch is a fundamental part of what makes us human. He was working with gynecologist Stacy Lindau, MD, MA, and biomaterials engineer Sihong Wang, PhD, to develop a “bionic breast,” an implantable device that would help restore sensation and sexual function for breast cancer patients after mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.

Bensmaia received his bachelor’s degree in 1995 from the University of Virginia, where he studied computer engineering and cognitive science. He was an accomplished pianist, but his parents, both academics, convinced him to apply to graduate school. He was accepted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), where he worked in a psychology laboratory studying the sense of touch.

He earned a PhD in cognitive psychology with a minor in neurobiology from UNC in 2003, then worked as a postdoctoral fellow and associate research scientist at the Krieger Mind/Brain Institute at Johns Hopkins University from 2003 to 2009. He joined the University of Chicago faculty as an assistant professor in 2009.

Bensmaia had an infectious enthusiasm for communicating his research to the public. During interviews about his work, he was quick to pick up items like pencils and coffee mugs to demonstrate how our dexterity and ability to manipulate objects depends on our sense of touch. He frequently used music as a metaphor to describe how our various senses come together like a jazz quintet to shape our experience of the world. Despite the science fiction implications of his work, he dismissed simple pop culture comparisons, instead emphasizing the importance of a rigorous scientific approach to truly understand the neurobiology of sensation.

Friends and colleagues remembered this passion for both his music and his work. David Freedman, PhD, Professor of Neurobiology, met Bensmaia shortly after they both joined the faculty, bonding over the struggles of starting up a new lab and their shared love of music. Freedman, a guitar player, started jamming with Bensmaia on a regular basis, eventually forming the funk and soul-jazz band FuzZz with two other musicians. They released an album in 2013 and performed regularly around the city for the past 12 years and were in the process of recording their second album. While the two never conducted research together, they had started plans to explore how the brain areas involved in touch are influenced by cognitive processes.

Bensmaia is survived by his wife, Kerry Ledoux, an Associate Instructional Professor of Psychology and the College at UChicago, and their two children.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

“ Sliman was a driving force and real inspiration to others. . . . While his work was intrinsically fascinating, he was just as thoughtful, sincere and conscientious about supporting everyone around him.”

Michael Coates, PhD Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy Chair, Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy

“ He was a force of nature. . . .

He wanted to do the best science we could do and wouldn’t sacrifice that for anything.”

Nicholas Hatsopoulos, PhD Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy

“ He loved the science of touch, but, even more, he loved his students, colleagues and the patients who worked with him to discover the essence and meaning of touch.”

Stacy Lindau, MD, MA Catherine Lindsay Dobson Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Medicine

Thank You Yo u r g e n e r o s i t y s u p p o r t e d t h e n e x t g e n e r a t i o n o f

scientists and physicians, as well as future leaders in the fields of science, education and healthcare.

Last year, our annual giving program received gifts from 1,587 graduates and friends, with over $870,000 raised for the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and Division of the Biological Sciences. The impact of collective giving is powerful.

As a loyal supporter, your giving fueled support for scholarships, stipends for our PhD candidates, and career exploration programs like myCHOICE and student-run free clinics that provide healthcare to underserved communities throughout Chicago.

We are grateful for your investment in the next generation of world-class physicians, researchers, educators and healthcare leaders who will shape the future of science and medicine.

YOUR GIFT MADE A DIFFERENCE.

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The University of Chicago does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, status as an individual with a disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information, please see uchicago.edu/about/non_discrimination_statement.

L AST LO O K

This is a representation of an octopus brain, taken with an

Foxley submitted this image to the University of Chicago’s

MRI and edited by Sean Foxley, Research Associate Professor

annual Science as Art contest. It is currently among more

of Radiology. It shows the complex connectivity among the

than two dozen contest entries displayed on the second floor

different parts of the brain — including “optic lobes” to the left

of Mitchell Hospital, an exhibit installed as part of UChicago

and right that help the octopus process visual information.

Medicine’s Healing Arts Program.

THE OCTOPUS BRAIN CONNECTOME BY SEAN FOXLEY

Brain matter