‘Teachers Are Students…Students are Teachers’
Past Attendees Laud Retreat Experience
NCI’s Dr. Steven Pavletic has first-hand experience with the Southeastern Fellows Research Skills and Training Workshop. Senior clinician and head of the graft-versus-host and autoimmunity section in the Experimental Transplantation and Immunology Branch, he attended as faculty in 2016.
“My assigned roles were to lead two small working groups in sessions on clinical protocols and grant writing,” he said. “In addition, I was asked to give a short TED-like talk on leadership in the session on academic career development. This latter was particularly enjoyable since it forced me to succinctly reflect on what I currently do, how I got here and what I could teach the next generation of physicians on academic life. I also taught them about unique opportunities in the NIH intramural program for those pursuing research careers, since it is not so widely known.
“The main impression I took from this course is the reinforcement in the conviction about the old saying that ‘Teachers are students and students are teachers.’ The main differences between me and my students are only time and experience. Teaching and learning are truly two-way roads. Trying to convey a little piece of what we have learned to help navigate better through the increasing challenges of the academic clinical research is what this course is all about. The summary impressions of this outstanding and unique course are simple: I wish that somebody had delivered something like this to me when I was at that stage and I am immensely grateful for this opportunity to have attended...Dr. Keith Sullivan and Duke University should be commended for launching this course 17 years ago.”
NCI’s Dr. Hoyoung Maeng and Dr. Kathryn Lurain were trainees together at the retreat earlier this year.
“It is a valuable experience that the fellows get connected with other institution fellows—juniors and seniors—and have the chance to ask about the things that we did not have opportunities to ask with daily busy training,” recalled Maeng, staff clinician in the Vaccine Branch of the Center for Cancer Research. “It was protected learning time also with some relaxed time to enjoy the family on the beach.”
In relation to her NCI fellowship, she also mentioned mutual benefits gained by trainees and faculty. “I felt very proud that we were more experienced than anyone over there—including some faculty—in terms of clinical protocols, since we see solely clinical trial patients,” Maeng said. “There are pros and cons for seeing the trial patients, but for me it served the purpose of coming here and it was great to share my experience at the fellows level with other trainees from other institutions. I am very grateful for the opportunity…and hope it continues.”
Chief fellow in the combined NCI/NHLBI Hematology/Oncology Fellowship, Lurain agreed, “I would echo Hoyoung’s sentiments. I found being able to spend time in a dedicated setting with successful faculty, young and old, to be incredibly helpful and inspiring to my own career. The grant- writing workshop was also especially helpful as this is not something we get a tremendous amount of practice with at the NIH, but is fundamental to a successful academic career outside the intramural program. And it wasn’t half bad getting to hang out with my family and Hoyoung in a beautiful setting.”
Finally, Pavletic also had a message “for the future organizers of this and similar courses. This course teaches the new researchers also about resilience and tenacity, which are indispensable character ingredients in these days of greatest need for a larger clinical researcher work force. Such courses and the medical schools must adjust their curricula to build new leaders [that] the future of medicine needs. Besides the indispensable outstanding training in medical care, they need also to acquire skills and awareness on how to manage and lead large teams and complexes in academia, industry, government, health care and finance.
“Doctors are, by definition, very busy but we need to find ways to reclaim our profession and develop the new generation of clinicians-scientists who will be able to exert their roles as the leaders of the future. Such courses as this at Duke provide an indispensable and empowering tool.”
AI Applied in Clinical Settings
In addition to a disruptive keynote talk by tech thought leader Craig Mundie, the recent all-day artificial intelligence (AI) workshop heard a number of practical considerations and applications of machine learning in clinical settings that provided NIH with plenty of food for thought.
Dr. Dina Katabi of MIT’s Center for Wireless Networks and Mobile Computing introduced the “health-aware home,” her lab’s AI clinical application prototype.
Using the electromagnetic field surrounding everything, the group’s wi-fi-like technology can track and measure people’s breathing, sleep, heart rate, falls and gait speed—all without attaching sensors to the subject. The device transmits low-level wireless signals and uses AI to analyze the signals. It’s already been tested in assisted-living facilities with people who are elderly or who have sleep and breathing disorders, Parkinson’s disease or other chronic health problems.
“The future in health care is terrific,” Katabi said, “and computer science with additional technology, AI and machine learning will come together to provide much stronger types of data and also provide information for the health care system to improve the quality of care.
“Imagine what would happen if we had a device like this in the home of every chronic disease patient—how much more we would learn about diseases, how much more we would be able to intervene before exacerbation. I think we can do that if we start thinking together, bringing the computer scientists, people who work on AI, with people who are in the health care system—the doctors, the biologists, the bioengineers, the chemists—and creating that future.”
NIH’s own Dr. Ronald Summers of the Clinical Center offered proof that machine learning can significantly improve precision and accuracy in biomarker imaging diagnostics.
Dr. Judith Dexheimer of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital talked about her group’s research on making the wealth of data contained in electronic health records, or EHRs, more universally useful and accessible.
The event’s line-up also included intriguing talks by Eileen Koski of Microsoft, Dr. David Heckerman of Amazon and Dr. Anshul Kundaje of Stanford.
It’s clear that “we need to rather quickly escalate our involvement and our investment,” said NIH director Dr. Francis Collins, offering closing thoughts at day’s end.
Other action items he noted include the need to prioritize, harmonize and clean up data sets and better enforce provisions giving researchers access to such data; plan for quantum computing; and build a broader community for people in AI-related professions exploring health research applications.
Collins also said he intends to bulk up NIH’s brain trust, “deepening our own bench.” He’ll follow up the AI conference by convening a working group within his advisory committee to the director.
“We have a critical opportunity here now and we don’t want this moment to come up and go down without having some legs,” he concluded. “What exactly those legs should look like will have to involve some folks who can think big and give us big advice…
“We want our approach to AI to be more than just ‘A,’” Collins concluded. “The ‘artificial’ part comes really easily, but we need lots of ‘I,’ the intelligence part—and better yet, we need both of those together. And we’re only going to get there if you help us.”
NIEHS Celebrates Earth Day With Science, Music
Photo: Steve McCaw
A unique mix of science and music drew an enthusiastic crowd Apr. 22 for an NIEHS-sponsored Earth Day celebration at the downtown Durham Convention Center. The Music and Your Health community forum featured talks by scientists and leaders of local organizations devoted to the healing power of music, with performances by professional and amateur musicians alike.
In opening remarks, NIEHS and National Toxicology Program director Dr. Linda Birnbaum spoke of the presence of music in our environment. “We’re particularly interested in its health benefits, making sure that music is a part of our everyday lives,” she said.
Photo: Steve McCaw
Co-organizer Dr. Brandy Beverly, an NTP health scientist, was inspired by the June 2017 joint production by NIH and the Kennedy Center. “I knew we needed to do something like that here,” said Beverly, who is also a violinist with the Durham Medical Orchestra. “It’s a great way to integrate music in our lives while exploring the science behind its benefits.”
Beverly went to Dr. Laura Thomas, a neuroscientist in the NIEHS Division of Extramural Research and Training. Thomas was part of the team led by NIH director Dr. Francis Collins that planned both the Kennedy Center event and an earlier conference in January 2017. “What better way to talk about music in the environment than to tie it in with Earth Day?” Thomas asked.
The program opened with Lumbee tribal member John Oxendine explaining the importance of music in ritual and daily life and performing a haunting sample of traditional flute music. “When our elders sing the old songs they knew as a child, it’s medicine to them,” Oxendine said.
Photo: Steve McCaw
He was followed by three scientists from Duke University. Dr. Kevin LaBar explained the therapies that can result from understanding how the brain processes music. “Music engages lots of different regions of the brain, and musical training can enhance those connections,” he said. Dr. Heidi White described a pilot study using a patient’s musical preferences in the treatment of dementia. “There was a statistically significant decrease in the severity of symptoms…language improvements, a greater volume of speech and more emphasis on reminiscence,” she said. Dr. Neema Sharda directs the Confusion Avoidance Led by Music (CALM) project. “We hope to shrink the risk of delirium and use personalized music to modulate the need for pain medications,” said Sharda. In one study, 65 percent of her patients reported a positive effect on mood and decreased delirium risk.
Musical performers included the Durham Medical Orchestra; the Croasdaile Chorale, composed of residents of the Croasdaile Retirement Village; and Kidznotes. Six-time Grammy-nominated jazz singer Nnenna Freelon closed the day with an interweaving of storytelling and song.
The event was a first for NIEHS. “Since I became director of NIEHS we’ve made a tradition of sponsoring community forums,” said Birnbaum. “We’re going to start making music a part of our journey towards health.” According to Thomas, NIH plans to offer more opportunities to investigate music as a therapeutic intervention. “This event continues that conversation,” Thomas said.—John Yewell
Cycle Day Recycled, Via Video
Photo: Marleen Van Den Neste
Since 2010, much of the action on Bike to Work Day has been captured on camera by Jules Asher (shown above) of NIMH. 2018 was no different. If you opted to stay dry this year but feel you missed out—never fear. Watch all of Asher’s BikeToWorkDay@NIH2018 videos:
NIH director Dr. Francis Collins and Henn Award (speeches)
Pit Stop (music video of Bldg. 1 action)
And finally, Asher’s own ride
Lab Demo, Research Briefing
Streisand Sees Science Up Close, in Person
Photo: Women's Heart Alliance
Not long after delivering the Rall lecture, Barbra Streisand got to sample a bit of NIH research in progress. NIAID principal investigator Dr. Irini Sereti and her team in the HIV pathogenesis unit hosted the superstar in their Clinical Center laboratory.
Sereti’s group is conducting an intramural trial called ECSTATIN, which has enrolled about 50 people with HIV who are at risk for developing heart disease. ECSTATIN is evaluating whether baby aspirin (used to decrease clotting) or atorvastatin (used to lower cholesterol and limit inflammation) can influence the chronic inflammation related to HIV and cardiovascular disease.
The study also demonstrates NIH’s commitment to advance sex and gender equity in science: About 20 percent of HIV-positive people in the U.S. are women, Sereti explained. “We have 30 percent enrolled women in ECSTATIN.”
For Streisand’s visit, Sereti led her through the study’s stored samples, showing the freezer and how they use liquid nitrogen to preserve participants’ cells, which are alive, but frozen.
“[Visit planners indicated that Streisand] had never been in a laboratory before,” said Sereti, “and that she wanted to get the impressions and experience of being in a lab. We showed her the biosafety hood and the flow cytometer, and we explained how we thaw the cells and look for the production of inflammatory cytokines.”
Streisand spent about 10 to 15 minutes with the research team, posing for photos with them afterward.
“She was engaging and funny, very smart, personable—just fabulous,” Sereti recalled. “She was asking a lot of good questions. We were so inspired by her lecture and truly honored to host her.”
After the lab tour, Streisand met with two ECSTATIN participants.
This is not Sereti’s first brush with celebrity in her scientific career. She was a medical resident at Northwestern in 1996 when Princess Diana visited in an effort to raise funds for breast cancer research and toured the hospital where she met with patients in the HIV ward.
“I didn’t actually get to meet her, but I was there when she was,” said Sereti, who enthusiastically added that her group would welcome other superstars who want to support research. “We are open to more, definitely. Anyone interested in HIV—Elton John, Prince Harry!”
By encountering Streisand up close and personal, Sereti also became somewhat of a superstar in her own household, particularly with her 12-year-old daughter.
“What’s Up, Doc? was one of our first family movie nights and she really enjoyed it,” said Sereti. “Then when we watched Yentl she liked that one too. She became a fan after that, so there was lots of excitement when I came home and told her I had met Barbra Streisand…My favorite movie is still The Way We Were though.”