August 25, 2022 | Office of the President & Chief Research Officer

Dear Teammates,

The start of a new academic year is an exciting time at our research institute, so I invite you to join me in reflecting on what training and professional development mean for the future. It’s a time when we welcome new students, trainees, and early-career researchers who energize our teams and challenge us in new ways with their unique backgrounds, investigative skills, and creative drive. It is also a time to renew our commitment to those who continue their commitment to growing professionally with us. In our role as a leading pediatric research institute, we train and educate scientists to make improvements to pediatric health and wellbeing through scientific discovery, translation, and implementation. By highlighting three burgeoning young scientists, I want to illustrate the impact these efforts have on their careers. While each represents a different research career stage, they all share a passion for science and dedication to children’s health.

In her work as a Postdoctoral Associate in the Kociolek Laboratory, Kathryn Cherny, PhD, explores aspects of Clostridium difficile and Clostridium innocuum gut infections, including clinical and molecular epidemiology, diagnosis, antibiotic resistance, and host–immune response. Kathryn’s decision to join the Manne Research Institute team was influenced by the opportunity to conduct translational research informed by current challenges as well as unique observations by clinicians. Inspired by her colleagues, who she says are leaders at improving and enhancing our understanding of patient care, Kathryn is making her own mark in the areas of healthcare epidemiology and infection prevention and control as the first author of several published articles. As a result of her contributions, the Kociolek Laboratory is one of the most highly cited and well-published groups on Clostridium innocuum.

Megan Garcia-Curran, MD, PhD, first year Child Neurology Fellow, is a physician-scientist who’s blending her clinical experience and scientific research background to offer unique perspectives on early life brain imaging. In her research career, she has focused on using neuroimaging to diagnose and prognose disease at an early stage in brain development. As part of Megan’s pediatrics residency program and the Northwestern Pediatrics Physician Scientist Training Program (PSTP), she was able to carve out four months of protected research time during her second year. That practice is uncommon in pediatric neurology training programs, and it allowed her to start multiple long-term research projects that she’ll continue throughout her fellowship. As the number of physician-scientists continues to decline, support mechanisms that prioritize research are key to recruiting and retaining talented individuals like Megan.

As a PhD candidate in the Laronda Laboratory, Hana Kubo is investigating critical events in ovarian development while learning valuable career lessons and soft skills needed by successful researchers. Hana’s passion is biology, and she’s thrilled that our organization enables basic biological science like hers to one day advance therapies and inform clinicians on how to best provide care to patients. While she’s fairly new to the research field, she hasn’t let that stop her from pursuing the goal of becoming a Principal Investigator and eventually leading her own laboratory. Hana is confident that her experience at Manne Research Institute will prepare her for a future of conducting significant and rigorous science.

I hope you’ll join me in celebrating all of our outstanding trainees like Kathryn, Megan, and Hana, their mentors, and the teams that support their professional growth. We are confident that our commitment to fostering the development of the next generation of scientists will generate seminal advances in children’s healthcare.

My very best to all of you,

Pat