Doctor ² Newsletter

Each year has its fair share of both, but it often feels like they are distributed unevenly. During these past months, challenges have taken center stage. Conflicts rage across the globe; public discourse polarizes; diversity becomes suspect; trust in institutions, democracy, science wanes.

But I remind myself that there is also opportunity in such challenging times. Many of us are lucky that our lives are uncynically dedicated to learning, discovery, and service. Our daily acts in the clinic, lab or classroom, incremental though they may be, make a difference for those we serve – and allow us to live a purposeful life that moors us in chaotic and uncertain times. We are also privileged to do work that reaches across circumstances and experiences that otherwise divide us. Upon hearing stories of injury and suffering, we can work to mend and heal. When faced with disagreements and conflict, we can listen, question, understand. We can proudly share what science and technology have accomplished – and commit to making those advances reach all who need them.

Big words, I know. But they are inspired by looking at the images in this newsletter. Our first overnight retreat since 2019 was full of conversations, catching up with classmates, making new connections – caring for and listening to each other on this long journey of being a physician-scientist. In-person recruiting at SACNAS and ABRCMS let us reach out to students unsure of who and what Yale “means”, and to take pride in the accomplishments of our BioMed Amgen alumni, many of whom are now students or graduates of MD-PhD and PhD programs across the country. And our holiday party was an occasion to share the different traditions, beliefs, and religions that we hold, and to see how much we have in common.

2024 won’t be a piece of cake. But what we accomplish this year will matter. The program with its MSTP competitive renewal looming, each of us on our personal journeys of life and career, our overheating world – what we do may seem small and perhaps insufficient at any given moment, but the purposeful and unrelenting accumulation of those small actions will get us to our goals. Set your intention, take your first step – and remember that we’re all on this journey here together.

Best wishes,

Barbara Kaźmierczak

Someone said that you never want a crisis to go to waste. At the start of the COVID pandemic while everything was closed, I left my stable, government analytics job at the Federal Bureau of Economic Analysis and opened a small gourmet food shop--an aspiration of mine born from NYC foodie stores--down the street from Brown University (where my wife was pursuing postdoctoral studies). From converting the former barbershop to eventually growing enough where I had to hire staff, it was a monumental undertaking. At the same time, after six years of IVF, my wife and I were finally going to be parents! I made the tough call to sell the business one year from the opening day to a customer and went back to work in research administration at Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine as a grants' specialist in the Emergency department. Several months later, my daughter was born. We wanted to move back to New York, but we happily settled on a home in North Haven, halfway between Providence and New York City.

I'm quickly learning that physician-scientist careers seem to require great resilience, on par with starting a business. But risk and reward, operating on the margin, that is also where great impact and success live. Time and experience make it less daunting and exhausting, and success begets success. I am truly looking forward to working with all the trainees as the Grants & Portfolio Analyst through thick and thin, having been there myself, or close enough.

To the long haul (and a happy new year), cheers!

Kevin.Hawes@yale.edu

We were so fortunate and pleased to welcome Dr. Aida Habtezion who gave the Selma and Karl Folkers Lecture in Biomedical Research at the annual MD-PhD Program Retreat. Dr. Habtezion was introduced by our own Dr. Fred Gorelick who has known her for over 10 years as a research collaborator and when sharing leadership positions for the American Pancreatic Association. We all were captivated by Dr. Habtezion's personal journey--from fleeing war-torn Eritrea to Europe then Canada as a teenager to studying Chemistry at the University of Alberta to her decision to pursue medicine at McMaster University and residency at the University of Western Ontario. Her career is the epitome of physician-scientist training, starting with a Gastroenterology & Hepatology clinical fellowship at the University of Toronto followed by postdoctoral research training in Immunology at Stanford University. Throughout her talk, vignettes that reflected her courage, resilience and grit inspired us all. The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to move to Pfizer in the middle of the COVID pandemic was a way for Dr. Habtezion to realize her growing interest to "make an impact on the health of millions of lives around the world, at a time when it’s never been needed more.”

As Chief Medical Officer of Pfizer, Aida Habtezion leads Pfizer's Worldwide Medical & Safety organization responsible for ensuring that patients, physicians, and regulatory agencies are provided with information on the safe and appropriate use of Pfizer medications. Her organization is responsible for monitoring the benefit risk profile and safety of Pfizer’s portfolio of products from the first person that receives an investigational medicine or vaccine to the millions of patients that rely on these marketed therapies every day. She also leads Pfizer’s Institute of Translational Equitable Medicine (ITEM), an initiative spanning research, development, and medical activities to close gaps in health disparities. The Institute leverages science, data, and translational expertise to integrate equity across Pfizer’s end-to-end development pipeline.

Prior to joining Pfizer, she was a practicing physician, scientist, a tenured and endowed Professor of Medicine, at Stanford University. She led a large translational research lab funded by multiple NIH, DOD, and foundation grants focused on understanding disease mechanisms in pancreatic and intestinal inflammatory diseases and authored over a hundred high impact publications in top peer-reviewed journals. She also served as an Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the School of Medicine, a faculty member in Stanford's Immunology Ph.D. program, Neuroscience Institute, Cancer Institute, Bio-X interdisciplinary biosciences institute, Maternal & Child Health Research Institute, and faculty fellow at Stanford's ChEM-H (Chemistry, Engineering & Medicine for Human Health). She served in multiple national, NIH, and international scientific study sections and editorial boards.

She is a Fellow of the American Gastroenterological Association, an Allen Distinguished Investigator, the American Pancreas Association past President, an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and the Association of American Physicians (AAP).

The first overnight MD-PhD Program Retreat since 2019 was held at the Mystic Marriott and attended by a record 95% of all the current students! Even the senior students caught by last-minute residency interviews came to Mystic and did their zoom interviews in their rooms. The agenda was built around the theme of "pivots"--professional decisions, important personal choices, unexpected changes and staying resilient throughout. The highlight of the agenda was, as always, the Selma and Karl Folkers Lecture in Biomedical Research given by Dr. Aida Habtazion, the Chief Medical Officer and Head of Worldwide Medical & Safety at Pfizer (see article above).

Dr. K opened the retreat by asking everyone to write down their biggest worry on a post-it, collected them all and then set them aside--physically--so that everyone could participate in the activities without their burden. How uplifting! Then PASS ("Peer Advising by Senior Students") and the newly re-organized SPIDY ("Student Perspectives on Inclusion and Diversity at Yale") mentors led discussions on topics that such as Transitions: Into the PhD, Transitions: Out of the PhD, Hobbies, Faith, Community engagement, Financing and Housing, and more!

Mentoring was followed by the usual Communications event; students in years 4 and up presented 3-minute "chalk talks." Students were grouped into 6 Houses, so students had the opportunity to practice presenting their thesis research to a non-expert scientific audience. Students actively asked questions, and the feedback was, as usual, that students wished they could hear about research from students beyond just their Houses. Dinner after the Folkers Lecture was also by House, to encourage bonding and vertical integration across the many years and disciplines represented in the program. Cocktails and games followed, and fun was had by all well into the night "catching up with people while having enough time to meet new people and exchange advice about career, research, etc."

The second day of the retreat featured the faculty panel on "Pivots: Flexibility in Approaching Career Challenges and Opportunities" with Drs. Shelli Farhadian, MD PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Liza Konnikova, MD PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and OB/Gyn/Reproductive Sciences, Alfred Lee, MD PhD, Professor of Medicine (Hematology) and Director of the Heme/Onc Fellowship Program and Dean Yimlamai, MD PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (GI/Hepatology) and Pathology. The questions that students asked of the panel indicated the critical need and importance of opportunities like the retreat to hear various perspectives and get advice on very personal post-MD-PhD training-decisions to be made.

Lisa Ho, LCSW, who is the Manager for the YSM Student Mental Health and Wellness Program, led small group discussions on "Relational learning and metacognition," providing guidance on how to deepen connections with peers and colleagues to facilitate personal and professional growth and learning. We were so pleased to have alumni Mary Whitman, MD'09 PhD'09 who is currently an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, and Sam Sondalle, MD'20 PhD'17 who is currently a Soinit Integrated Fellow in Child, Adolescent, and Adult Psychiatry at the Yale Child Study Center join the students to discuss prompts provided by Lisa. It was a very meaningful way to wrap up the retreat and tee up the IDP (Individualized Development Plans) meetings with the MD-PhD Program Associate Directors scheduled to start later in the month through January. The retreat ended with another raucous lunch followed by group activities in and around Mystic.

Heartfelt congratulations to alumni Susan Baserga MD'88 PhD '88, who was elected to the National Academy of Medicine, and to Sandy Wolin, MD'85 PhD'85 and Mariano Garcia-Blanco, MD'84 PhD'88 who were both elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences!! The accomplishments of our alumni are truly astounding, and we LOVE getting news of what's happening--both personally and professionally! There are lots of ways to keep us posted as well as getting connected with each other and to current students--the easiest is to drop us an email (reiko.fitzsimonds@yale.edu) or join our LinkedIn network which is quite active.