His team used the ITM Data Commons to link clinical records from pediatric asthma patients on Chicago’s South Side with neighborhood-level data on housing conditions, air quality, proximity to pollution sites, tree canopy coverage, urban flooding, violent crime, and pharmacy access.
The data showed that children living in neighborhoods with greater green cover experienced fewer asthma exacerbations. Limited pharmacy access, substandard housing, and concentrated poverty were each associated with worse outcomes. The analysis also identified a cluster of census tracts bearing a disproportionate share of the burden, offering public health officials a concrete starting point for targeted intervention. Notably, the City of Chicago launched a tree canopy expansion initiative with the Our Roots Chicago initiative in 2022, focused on alleviating tree canopy sparsity and increasing the overall tree density in the city.
Clinical data alone could not have revealed these insights. By combining patient records with neighborhood-level environmental and social factors, the ITM Data Commons enabled researchers to go beyond tracking who was falling ill to uncovering why and identifying where intervention efforts could have the highest impact.
Questions? If you are interested in using the ITM Data Commons for your research, want to learn more about current research using the ITM Data Commons, or have any other questions about the ITM Data Commons, contact ITM Program Director Kat Bouzein at Kathryn.Bouzein@bsd.uchicago.edu.
The award recognizes outstanding personal achievement, a commitment to excellence, meritorious leadership, and significant contributions that have influenced the field of orthopaedics. For more than four decades, Jacobs has helped shape the specialty through pioneering research, innovation, and leadership. Among his many career achievements are advancing the performance of hip and knee replacement implants and helping develop diagnostic testing methods to monitor implant performance.
“This award recognizes a team effort by my collaborators at Rush, the ITM, and beyond,” said Jacobs. “The Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Rush in particular has been a very supportive and fertile environment for translational research. I am grateful to have been part of a team of basic scientists, engineers and clinician-scientists that has been so dedicated to discovery and improved patient care.”
ITM-Loyola Site Leader Elaine Morrato Named ITM Director
Elaine H. Morrato, DrPH, MPH, FISPE, longtime leader of the Institute for Translational Medicine’s (ITM) Loyola site, has been named an ITM Director as she joins the University of Chicago faculty as Professor of Medicine, effective September 1.
Morrato will serve alongside David Meltzer, MD, PhD, and Joshua Jacobs, MD, as the ITM’s third Multiple Principal Investigator (MPI). Her appointment will strengthen translational science expertise and the collaborative leadership that drives ITM’s mission to accelerate discoveries into better health.
A nationally recognized leader in implementation science and founding dean of the Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health at Loyola University Chicago, Morrato has championed interdisciplinary collaboration and innovative approaches that help move evidence into practice to improve health for all. Her work has also helped expand entrepreneurship and innovation in translational research through the National Institutes of Health (NIH)National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)I-Corps program and strengthened Electronic Health Record-based research across the ITM consortium through the ENACT Network.
In her new role, Morrato will continue to help shape the ITM’s vision while advancing innovative, team-based approaches to translational and foundational sciences.
“I am excited to join the University of Chicago and serve as an ITM Director at a time of tremendous opportunity in translational science,” said Morrato. “Having worked in the pharmaceutical industry, at the FDA, and in academic medicine and public health, I have seen firsthand the challenges of translating discovery into real-world impact. I look forward to working with colleagues across the ITM to advance translational science and improve health for the communities we serve.”
“ITM investigators have had the privilege of collaborating with Dr. Morrato for over 4 years in her role as site leader at Loyola,” said Jacobs and Meltzer. “It was evident from the start of her engagement in the ITM that her knowledge of the national Clinical and Translational Sciences Awards (CTSA) landscape and her expertise in implementation science were a great asset to our team. Her new role as MPI is well deserved; implementation of her vision for the future of ITM programs will keep us at the forefront of translational science advancements and benefit translational science investigators throughout all of our institutions as well as the national CTSA consortium.”
Morrato’s appointment reflects the ITM’s continued commitment to collaborative leadership and to building a research ecosystem that translates scientific discoveries into meaningful improvements in health for all people throughout the Chicagoland region and beyond.
About the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM)
The Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) helps you live your best life by making research breakthroughs happen and getting those discoveries into the real world to improve your health as soon as possible.
The ITM is part of a network of more than 50 CTSA Program-supported hubs across the country working to slash the time it takes to develop and share new treatments and health approaches. We work with you and for you to make participating in health research easy, so that together we improve health care for all.
Join the movement and learn more about how we help researchers, physicians, community members, industry, government organizations, and others. Visit us at chicagoitm.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn @ChicagoITM.
This project is supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that supports the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) through Grant Number UL1TR002389.
An Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) research collaborator has been named the inaugural chair of the newly established Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Chicago.
Nishant Agrawal, MD, Professor of Surgery, will assume the role on August 1, 2026. Dr. Agrawal is an internationally recognized surgeon-scientist whose research focuses on improving head and neck cancer detection, monitoring, and surveillance through genomics and molecular diagnostics.
Dr. Agrawal collaborated on a project funded by the ITM Pilot Awards. Hear from the research team in the video below.
The Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) is excited to announce a new Designing for Implementation & Sustainability Certificate Program, spearheaded by ITM-Loyola in partnership with the Colorado Clinical & Translational Sciences Institute. The program will kick off in Fall 2026 and is free to enroll in once accepted.
This immersive, bootcamp-style program is designed for health science researchers and healthcare and public health professionals who want to move beyond discovery and ensure their work creates meaningful, real-world impact. Through a combination of academic rigor and hands-on application, participants will gain practical strategies to successfully implement and sustain innovations across diverse settings.
Twenty-five participants from Illinois, New York, Texas, Arizona and beyond are now enrolled in a pilot version of the certificate program.
“The class gets an A for orienting me toward implementation thinking and stakeholder engagement,” said one participant.
The curriculum follows a translational science approach, equipping participants with tools to bridge the gap between research and practice.
Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) researchers and Chicago community members gathered downtown on April 17 for Eureka Talks 2026, an annual event that brings groundbreaking scientific research to life through engaging storytelling and live audience engagement.
Four researchers from the University of Chicago and Loyola University Chicago presented their ongoing projects funded by the National Institute of Health’s Career Development (K12) Awards and the ITM administering more than $51 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program across six Chicagoland institutions and health systems. The event is the culmination of months of science communication training the researchers received to connect complex science with the general public, including time for live feedback, Q&As, and networking.
“ You get the opportunity today to hear from researchers who are doing amazing work that has not necessarily been published yet,” said event MC Sara Serritella, ITM’s Director of Communications who teaches science communication courses at the University of Chicago and who coached the scholars. “You get a little sneak peek at what’s going on and the opportunity to collaborate and champion the causes that you care about.”
Presentation topics spanned a wide range of health issues, from the link between food insecurity and high blood pressure to stroke recovery, housing challenges, and the impact of college on heart health. After each talk, audience members shared real-time feedback on everything from storytelling and body language to what resonated most and what could be strengthened. After the talks, the audience voted to select their favorite presentation.
“I liked how all of the researchers engaged the audience really well,” said community member Collin Uchida.
“All the presenters bring their emotion to it,” said Joseph Yoder, Associate Director at Eli Lilly and Company. “And something I would like to bring to my meetings as well.”
Doris Osei Afriyie, PhD: How Food Scarcity Is Hurting Your Heart
Doris Osei Afriyie, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, at the University of Chicago, kicked off the presentations with a talk on how food insecurity hurts heart health.
She started by sharing her own diagnosis.
“Nearly half of adults in the U.S. have high blood pressure,” Afriyie said. “And I am one of them.”
She then introduced food insecurity, or not having reliable access to enough nutritious food, which affects nearly 48 million Americans.
Afriyie’s research looks at how food insecurity and high blood pressure are connected over time. She found that individuals who experienced food insecurity were about 1.5 times more likely to develop high blood pressure than those who didn’t. She also noted that food insecurity is rising in Chicago and encouraged audience members to support local food banks.
The talk brought together a wide range of community voices and created a uniquely collaborative and engaging environment for conversation. Some audience members shared they themselves experienced food insecurity and rely on food pantries, while other shared that they volunteer at food pantries.
“Thank you for highlighting this because my mother was one of those statistics” said one audience member whose mother passed in part due to food insecurity.
If you’re interested in teaming up or learning more, contact Doris at doriso@uchicago.edu.
Paula de la Peña, PhD, RN: Your Body is Sending a Group Text
Paula de la Peña, PhD, RN, is a TL1 Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Loyola University of Chicago Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing. Her talk was voted the crowd favorite and strongest use of science communication skills to connect with non-experts.
De la Peña is a neuro ICU nurse and researcher focused on improving life after stroke, which affects someone in the U.S. every 40 seconds. While more people are surviving strokes, many leave the hospital without the support they need to fully recover.
“People go home after their stroke and they don’t do well,” she said. “And we’re surprised as scientists… We have the newest technology. How come they’re back in the hospital? I have made this my life’s work to figure out what survivors are really saying.”
Using artificial intelligence, de la Peña analyzed more than 1,1000 clinical notes to capture symptoms describes in the patients’ own words. These details are often buried in medical records and overlooked.
Her work highlights a critical gap in stroke care, where patients share how they feel but the healthcare system isn’t always listening. By looking at patient-reported experiences, she hopes to get the data needed to improve long-term recovery for stroke survivors.
If you’re interested in teaming up or learning more, contact Paula at pdelapena@luc.edu.
Jong-Wook Ban, MD: Housing Instability’s Impact on Aging Chicagoans
Jong-Wook Ban, MD, Hospitalist an Instructor at the Section of Hospital Medicine at the University of Chicago, began with a story from his medical training of a patient whose unstable and unaffordable housing left her with no asthma medications and frequent visits to the emergency room.
Housing challenges affect millions of older adults in the U.S., far beyond those experiencing homelessness. Issues like high rent, unsafe living conditions, or having to move in with others are linked to serious health risks, including a much higher chance of dying. Yet despite the scale of the problem, it remains under-researched.
“ In the research on housing, 93% of the studies focus on homelessness, which affects 150,000 [people],” said Ban. “Only 7% of the studies address housing challenges other than homelessness, which affects 24 million.”
Ban’s work shifts how research questions are chosen. Instead of researchers deciding what to study, he’s using a community-driven approach that asks what questions matter most to the community. His goal is to ensure that studies reflect real needs. To help achieve that, he asked the audience members to participate in health research through a two-minute online survey that asked what questions related to homelessness they cared about the most.
At the end of the project, we will publish the top ten most important questions,” said Ban. “Then, we’ll directly work with researchers and funders and turn these questions into real studies so that people like you shape the research meant to help all of us.”
If you’re interested in teaming up or learning more, contact Jong-Wook at jban@uchicago.edu.
Sparkle Springfield, PhD: How College Might Make or Break Your Heart Health
Sparkle Springfield, PhD, Assistant Professor of Public Health Sciences at Loyola University Chicago, explored how the college experience can shape long-term heart health.
While research shows that people with college degrees tend to live longer and have lower rates of heart disease, she emphasized that these benefits depend on actually completing college. About 30% of students don’t return after their first year, and one in five leave without finishing at all.
Springfield’s research looks at how stress, resilience, and access to resources during college influence both whether students stay in school and their long-term health. These experiences can act as a kind of training ground for how people manage challenges later in life.
“ It’s not just about making it to that end point and getting that degree,” Springfield said. “It’s also about how you get there and what the process is like, right? Because the process can cost us.”
College is a critical window for prevention she said. Better support systems in college could improve both graduation rates and lifelong health benefits. Universities can play a direct role in reducing future health risks by understanding and strengthening how students navigate stress and access resources, she said.
If you’re interested in teaming up or learning more, contact Sparkle at sspringfield@luc.edu.
About the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM)
The Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) helps you live your best life by making research breakthroughs happen and getting those discoveries into the real world to improve your health as soon as possible.
The ITM is part of a network of more than 50 CTSA Program-supported hubs across the country working to slash the time it takes to develop and share new treatments and health approaches. We work with you and for you to make participating in health research easy, so that together we improve health care for all.
Join the movement and learn more about how we help researchers, physicians, community members, industry, government organizations, and others. Visit us at chicagoitm.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn @ChicagoITM.
This project is supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that supports the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) through Grant Number UL1TR002389.
Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) researchers came together with about 100 Chicagoland community members to spark connections and share stories behind innovative research supported by the ITM’s Pilot Awards program to propel creative science explorations – like new potential ways to diagnose and treat head and neck cancer, keep a hospital soap effective and not turbo charge bad bacteria, and treat blood clots and fight childhood cancer with a bubble technology.
Three researchers from the University of Chicago and RUSH presented their ITM-funded projects in an approachable, public-friendly way at a special ITM Grand Rounds event on March 20 at MATTER in the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago. Each researcher previously received $60,000 in seed funding to launch these early-stage ideas with the potential to transform health and medicine.
Who here has known someone who’s been sick?” asked event MC Sara Serritella, ITM’s Director of Communications who teaches science communication at UChicago and coached the presenters. “Who here has known someone who’s died? And what would you have given to have a little bit more time with those people? Everything, right? Everything. Thanks to science and research, that’s where breakthroughs happen, where you can ideally have more time with the loved ones you care about most. That’s why we’re here doing what we do.”
Audience members connected with researchers and enjoyed a red-carpet reception with light bites and an open bar following the presentations.
“It was cool to see the discoveries that were being made in the science and how they were actually affecting the healthcare setting,” said attendee Christina Warner.
From Stickers to Saliva: Exploring New Ways to Diagnose and Treat Cancer
ITM-UChicago translational cancer researcher Evgeny Izumchenko, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, kicked the presentations off with a talk about the major hurdles in treating head and neck cancer.
For the nearly 900,000 people worldwide who are diagnosed with head and neck cancer each year, the treatment can feel as grueling as the disease itself. Traditional chemotherapy and invasive surgeries can strip away a person’s ability to speak, swallow, or breathe. Izumchenko is leading research to catch this condition early and develop non-surgical treatments.
“Many of the patients die because we don’t know yet how to treat those cancers well,” Izumchenko said. “And even the patients that are treated and cured, the effects of the therapy can be long-standing. We want to find ways to treat the patients in ways that will, first, cure them, and, second, will strip them from the side effects that the therapy that we are using now can actually cause.”
One promising innovation he and his team created is a patch that can be placed directly on a tumor in the mouth to deliver medicine that kills the cancer. This approach could ensure the chemo stays where it’s needed instead of spreading throughout the body, causing harmful side effects.
Izumchenko’s team is also working on a simple saliva test that could help dentists and doctors identify cancer earlier, when it’s far more treatable, and reduce unnecessary biopsies.
Keeping a Hospital Soap Effective at Protecting Patients
The audience next heard from ITM-RUSH researcher Rachel Medernach, MD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine.
Medernach shared a story of a patient who developed a serious bloodstream infection while hospitalized for chemotherapy. Healthcare-associated infections affect 1 in 31 patients each day in the United States. They are especially dangerous for people with weakened immune systems or medical devices like IV lines, which can allow bacteria to enter the body.
A special antiseptic soap called chlorhexidine is a simple but powerful prevention tool. Studies show it can significantly reduce infections, including those caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, particularly for high-risk patients.
In her research, Medernach investigated whether widespread use of the soap could lead to the bad bacteria becoming resistance over time and found that it didn’t, which is good news for patients and hospitals.
“If I can prevent patients from getting these infections in the first place with something as easy as using a special soap for their baths, I’m all for it,” said Medernach.
Could a Tiny Tornado Technology Treat Blood Clots and More?
ITM-UChicago’s Kenneth Bader, PhD, Associate Professor of Radiology, showed how physics and engineering can open new doors for treating disease. His work focuses on using powerful ultrasound waves to create tiny, fast-moving “bubbles” inside the body that can physically break apart harmful tissue, like blood clots, without surgery. The technical term for this type of treatment is “histotripsy.”
“It’s like we’re performing surgery, but not doing surgery,” Bader said, as bubbles floated throughout the room. “We don’t have to cut the patient open.”
This technology could offer a faster and safer treatment for blood clots, which kill 100,000 Americans each year. Bader’s early research already showed that combining his bubble technology with medication already used improved treatment of blood clots. His team is also exploring how this approach might help treat hard-to-tackle kid cancers by directly damaging tumor cells and even activating the body’s immune response.
About the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM)
The Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) helps you live your best life by making research breakthroughs happen and getting those discoveries into the real world to improve your health as soon as possible.
The ITM is part of a network of more than 50 CTSA Program-supported hubs across the country working to slash the time it takes to develop and share new treatments and health approaches. We work with you and for you to make participating in health research easy, so that together we improve health care for all.
Join the movement and learn more about how we help researchers, physicians, community members, industry, government organizations, and others. Visit us at chicagoitm.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn @ChicagoITM.
This project is supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that supports the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) through Grant Number UL1TR002389.
The Institute for Translational Medicine’s (ITM) founding director Julian Solway, MD, Emeritus Professor of Medicine, has served as co-director of the Berggren Center for Quantum Biology and Medicine at UChicago for a year now. The initiative was launched last year to marry quantum technology with biology in order to transform the future of medicine.
“My work at the ITM was all about taking new knowledge and helping to turn it into improved health. So, it’s an extension of work that I was already doing,” Solway said. “I’m excited about quantum technology, and I was thinking about how I would have more time after I became an emeritus professor, no longer seeing patients and closing my own laboratory. It was a natural next step.”
ITM-Loyola I-Corps Grads Secure ITM Implementation Seed Awards to Scale Up Health Innovations
The Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) has selected the 2025 recipients of its Implementation Seed Awards, spearheaded by the Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health at ITM-Loyola.
The awards provide $25,000 in funding and mentorship for early-stage projects to catalyze researchers’ next phase of their implementation journey.
“The Implementation Seed Awards are designed to help promising ideas move more quickly from concept to real-world impact,” said Elaine Morrato, DrPH, MPH, ITM-Loyola site leader and national expert in implementation science. “By pairing implementation seed funding with mentorship, we’re supporting investigators as they tackle practical challenges in healthcare delivery and get their evidence-based solutions out to the people who need them most.”
The winning teams come from Loyola University Chicago and Rush University Medical Center. Their projects aim to solve practical problems in patient care, including improving how urologic concerns are evaluated and directed through a more efficient triage system, identifying safe and personalized levels of physical activity to help prevent joint injuries and slow the progression of osteoarthritis, and using music and wearable sensors to help patients relearn healthier walking patterns during orthopedic rehabilitation.
“We appreciate the support from the ITM to develop a new and innovative tool to assist individuals with osteoarthritis and community runners,” said Felipe Gonzalez, MD, from ITM-RUSH. “Understanding how people move and how much load they place on their bodies has the potential to reduce symptoms and even prevent orthopedic injuries. This is an important first step in a very promising line of research that may ultimately benefit millions of people.”
Meet the Winners:
UroConnect: Intelligent Triage Platform for Urology Clinical Outpatient Practice Ahmer Farooq, DO, Ahmad El-Arabi, MD, Kristin Baldea, MD, Mary Clare Hogan, NP, Matthew Driscoll Loyola University Chicago
Investigating Optimal Walking Load for Osteoarthritis Prevention and Management. Jonathan Gustafson, PhD, Felipe Gonzalez, MD, Jorge Chahla, MD Rush University Medical Center
Exploring Musical Feedback for Gait Retraining: A Novel Approach for Orthopedic Rehabilitation Markus Wimmer, PhD, Chris Knowlton, PhD, Camilla Antognini, MS, Luisa Cedin, PT, MS, David Wetzel, DMA, Konstantin Läufer, PhD Rush University Medical Center
Two of the awardees, Gustafson and Wimmer, are also ITM Pilot Awards alums.
The Implementation Science Seed Awards are part of the ITM’s broader effort to accelerate the spread of new treatments and programs across Chicagoland and beyond.
Researchers interested in applying for the Implementation awards can prepare now for the next I-Corps@NCATS program, a prerequisite for applicants. The course provides entrepreneurial immersion, weekly coaching, and hands-on customer discovery interviews to strengthen the real-world impact of translational projects.
Questions? Connect with Nallely Mora at namora@luc.edu to learn more!
About the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM)
The Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) helps you live your best life by making research breakthroughs happen and getting those discoveries into the real world to improve your health as soon as possible.
The ITM is part of a network of more than 50 CTSA Program-supported hubs across the country working to slash the time it takes to develop and share new treatments and health approaches. We work with you and for you to make participating in health research easy, so that together we improve health care for all.
Join the movement and learn more about how we help researchers, physicians, community members, industry, government organizations, and others. Visit us at chicagoitm.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn @ChicagoITM.
This project is supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that supports the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) through Grant Number UL1TR002389.
Beloved colleague, mentor, and friend, Patrick Corrigan, PsyD, ITM-Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech) site leader and Distinguished Professor of Psychology, has passed away.
Pat joined Illinois Tech in 2005 as a Professor in the Department of Psychology and went on to build an extraordinary career spanning four decades. He was a nationally and internationally renowned scholar in mental health, psychiatric disability, and recovery. His research shaped how stigma is conceptualized, measured, and reduced across mental health, healthcare, criminal justice, and community settings.
“Pat brought his passion for helping others and his scientific expertise to everything he did as the ITM site leader at Illinois Tech,” said David Meltzer, MD, PhD, Director of the ITM and University of Chicago Associate Dean for Clinical Science Research, Translational, for the Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine.
Pat championed for interdisciplinary collaboration and research excellence, working with institutions across the ITM and country.
“Pat was a dynamic storyteller and great leader who helped scale ITM research resources to Illinois Tech, and his work will live on in the researchers he inspired and the communities he served,” said Joshua Jacobs, MD, Director of the ITM and the Grainger Director of the RUSH Arthritis and Orthopaedics Institute.
Pat supported the growth of impactful research initiatives, especially those that deepened relationships between researchers and the communities they serve.
One of his research projects was a finalist for an ITM Pilot Award. The proposal focused on family-centered diabetes care in the Korean-American community.
Pat also helped develop and led the Community-Based Research Funding awards for ITM researchers who were looking to partner with community members as shared decision-makers in their studies.
Beyond the ITM, Pat authored more than 15 books and more than 500 peer-reviewed publications and more than 100,000 citations, placing him among the most highly cited scholars worldwide. His externally funded portfolio included the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Department of Education, international ministries, and major foundations.
Pat’s honors and awards include, but are not limited to:
American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Contribution to Psychology in the Public Interest (Senior Career)
President’s Medal, Royal College of Psychiatrists
Alexander Gralnick Research Investigator Prize (American Psychological Foundation)
BF Skinner Lecture Award
Sigma Xi Senior Faculty Award
Stanford/Elsevier Top 2% Most-Cited Scientists (2023)
Friends and family are invited to attend a memorial service at 12 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 8, at the Northshore Unitarian Church, 2100 Half Day Road, Deerfield, IL, 60015-1244.
All expressions of sympathy, including cards and flowers, are welcome and can be sent to the memorial service address.
About the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM)
The Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) helps you live your best life by making research breakthroughs happen and getting those discoveries into the real world to improve your health as soon as possible.
The ITM is part of a network of more than 50 CTSA Program-supported hubs across the country working to slash the time it takes to develop and share new treatments and health approaches. We work with you and for you to make participating in health research easy, so that together we improve health care for all.
Join the movement and learn more about how we help researchers, physicians, community members, industry, government organizations, and others. Visit us at chicagoitm.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn @ChicagoITM.
This project is supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that supports the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) through Grant Number UL1TR002389.
ITM Researcher Co-Hosts New American Medical Association Podcast
An Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) researcher is bringing her passion for medicine and science communication to the airwaves as co-host of the American Medical Association’s (AMA) newest podcast, Clinically Significant, which dives deep into complex and emerging issues in modern medicine.
“I love teaching and making information very digestible,” Martinez said. “The podcast format is the perfect way to do that. Science communication is such an important way to build the public’s trust and I’m passionate about sharing evidence-based medical information with a physician audience.”
Martinez co-hosts the show alongside Jodi Abbott, MD, MSc, Clinical Professor at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and Medical Director of Curriculum & Outreach at AMA, and Avir Mitra, MD, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at New York University Grossman School of Medicine.
They take on medical topics that are “a little bit on the fringe and haven’t been taken apart fully,” said Martinez, like using artificial intelligence in diagnosing sepsis or hospital-acquired disability.
The goal is to spark important conversations across clinical and research communities.
Each episode dives into complex issues in medicine through open discussion, evidence-based insights, and real-world perspectives from practicing physicians and researchers.
Martinez also explores the intersection of clinical guidelines and emerging research, examining how new evidence is shaping practice and what challenges health systems face when implementing those updates.
“This is exactly the kind of podcast I’ve dreamt of doing,” she said.
About the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM)
The Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) helps you live your best life by making research breakthroughs happen and getting those discoveries into the real world to improve your health as soon as possible.
The ITM is part of a network of more than 50 CTSA Program-supported hubs across the country working to slash the time it takes to develop and share new treatments and health approaches. We work with you and for you to make participating in health research easy, so that together we improve health care for all.
Join the movement and learn more about how we help researchers, physicians, community members, industry, government organizations, and others. Visit us at chicagoitm.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn @ChicagoITM.
This project is supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that supports the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) through Grant Number UL1TR002389.
Research that has the potential to reshape colon cancer screening was fueled by a Pilot Award from the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM).
The ITM awarded $60,000 in 2017 to physician-researcher Marc Bissonnette, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, and collaborator Chuan He, PhD, John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UChicago, to create a blood test that might one day replace the need for many colonoscopies.
“The ITM launched us, and I will always be eternally grateful,” Bissonnette said.
The team is now moving the test toward commercialization with support from the Polsky Center at UChicago.
First Sci Comm Certificate Class Graduates
The University of Chicago Biological Sciences Programs celebrated its inaugural class of science communication certificate students during graduation for master’s and PhD students at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel on June 5.
Samuel Volchenboum, MD, PhD, Dean of Master’s Education and Associate Director of the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM), spoke during the ceremony and congratulated the science communication certificate class, noting that those skills are especially important to know and use in the world today.
The science communication certificate program launched this year in partnership with the ITM thanks to the vision of ITM researcher Vineet Arora, MD, Founding Director of the MS in Biomedical Sciences program and Dean for Medical Education at the Pritzker School of Medicine along with Volchenboum.
Participants in the first certificate program include everyone from physicians to residents to master’s students to PhD candidates.
Sara Serritella, Director of ITM Communications and faculty leader of the science communication concentration for the MS in Biomedical Sciences program, co-built and teaches the certificate, which is open to anyone across the country in a hybrid format starting in fall 2025.
About the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM)
The Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) helps you live your best life by making research breakthroughs happen and getting those discoveries into the real world to improve your health as soon as possible.
The ITM is part of a network of more than 50 CTSA Program-supported hubs across the country working to slash the time it takes to develop and share new treatments and health approaches. We work with you and for you to make participating in health research easy, so that together we improve health care for all.
Join the movement and learn more about how we help researchers, physicians, community members, industry, government organizations, and others. Visit us at chicagoitm.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn @ChicagoITM.
This project is supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that supports the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) through Grant Number UL1TR002389.
Julian Solway, MD, Founding Director of the ITM, will co-lead a new UChicago center in quantum engineering and health launching thanks to a $21 million gift from philanthropist Thea Berggren. The Berggren Center for Quantum Biology and Medicine will unite quantum engineering and medicine to revolutionize diagnostics and treatments and transform the future of medicine.
“The Berggren Center represents the next frontier in translational science,” Solway said in the announcement. “By bringing together quantum physicists, engineers and clinicians, we’re creating a new scientific language with the potential to transform how we understand and treat disease.”
Chicagoland Researchers Present & Receive Live Feedback at a Special Eureka Talks Event
Chicagoland researchers came together with about one hundred members of the community in downtown Chicago on April 25 to share stories about their groundbreaking research and receive live feedback from the audience during the Eureka Talks 2025 event.
“Giving these talented physician researchers access to communication education and custom coaching, as well as an opportunity to connect with a live audience of the public whom they’re working to serve – this is rare among professional training programs,” said Eric Beyer, MD, PhD, ITM leader of the Career Development Core and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Chicago. “It’s great to see scientists connect with the community and put their skills to use now and throughout the rest of their careers.”
Presentation topics ranged from the benefits and risks of cannabis use to preventing deadly side effects of cancer treatments to super germs living inside humans. The researchers competed for the best talk that the audience voted on at the end of their presentations.
“These researchers and physicians can’t make any breakthroughs without all of you coming together to team up,” said event MC Sara Serritella, ITM’s Director of Communications who teaches science communication courses at the University of Chicago. “If there’s nobody participating in science, it can’t inform people and change the world.”
Hanna Molla, PhD
Hanna Molla, PhD, Instructor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Chicago, kicked off the presentations with a talk on benefits and risks of marijuana use, and how much is too much.
“There’s been an increase in the use of cannabis over the past decade among adults in the United States,” said Molla. “As of 2022, about 1 in 4 individuals report using cannabis at least once over the past decade. If you look to the left or to the right or in front of you, chances are one of you have used cannabis pretty recently.”
She went on to share an example of people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the potential benefits they experience when using cannabis. Cannabis may help calm people’s nervous systems, which many of the 20 million individuals with PTSD find helpful.
But more research on cannabis and its risks and benefits is necessary, especially because historically it’s been hard for scientists to conduct cannabis studies due to legal and logistical reasons.
Molla’s lab at UChicago is helping change that sparse research landscape. If you’re interested in teaming up with a cannabis or other substance study or learning more, contact Hanna at hmolla@bsd.uchicago.edu.
Kevin McNerney, MD
The audience next heard from Kevin McNerney, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Lurie Children’s Hospital, Northwestern University. McNerney started with a story of a young patient diagnosed with leukemia. Two rounds of chemotherapy and radiation couldn’t beat it. The patient and his family decided to participate in a clinical trial that used a special treatment where the patient’s cells are extracted, modified in a lab, and then given back into the patient, where they attack and kill the cancer cells. This patient went from having a 20% survival rate after his last chemotherapy treatment, to still being cancer free years later thanks to the CAR-T cell therapy used in the clinical trial.
“I didn’t expect to get emotional,” McNerney said. “But this is something that made me get really passionate about CAR-T cell therapy and made me pursue a career in research and what I do clinically.”
But the treatment is not risk-free. Side effects range from milder flu-like symptoms to more intense complications like seizures, kidney failure, and more, that can lead to hospitalizations and even death. The worse the cancer is, the worse the treatment’s side effects.
McNerney is currently studying to prevent the side effects. If you’re interested in children’s cancer research or preventing side effects, contact McNerney at kmcnerney@luriechildrens.org.
Sarah Sansom, DO
Sarah Sansom, DO, Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, and Director of Infectious Diseases at RUSH, closed the presentation portion of the afternoon.
Anti-microbial resistance happens when the germs that cause infections outsmart how medicines like antibiotics work, making those medications completely ineffective.
The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 5 million people will die this year because of anti-microbial resistance. That’s more than the number of people dying from colon, lung, and breast cancers combined. And the number is expected to keep growing.
“Anti-microbial resistance can literally happen to anyone,” said Sansom.
That’s why she is working to understand how resistant germs happen, how they get into a person, and then how they go on to cause infections. Interested in teaming up or learning more? Email Sansom at Sarah_E_Sansom@rush.edu.
After the talks, audience members had an opportunity to connect with the researchers and enjoy a red-carpet reception with food and ITM cupcakes.
“My favorite part about the event was being able to listen to speakers engage with the audience in a way that’s not typically done in science,” said event attendee Kara Ferracuti from Northwestern University. “It was nice to hear people really connect with the audience and communicate in ways that everyone can relate to.”
In addition to community members, many researchers came out to enjoy the event including Felipe Gonzalez, MD. Gonzalez is part of a RUSH team that was selected as ITM Pilot Award finalists for a project focused on preventing running injuries.
“It was amazing,” said Gonzalez about Eureka Talks. “We were able to see top researchers presenting their research for a broader audience in a very cool way, very engaging. Very good learning experience. As a researcher, it was pretty nice to see those teaching and presentation techniques in practice.”
Gonzalez was joined by his wife, Brenda Moore, who is an engineer.
“For me the passion of people talking about their research was amazing and really got my attention,” said Moore. “It was really good to not be in the field but still be able to understand everything that they’re talking about.”
About the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM)
The Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) helps you live your best life by making research breakthroughs happen and getting those discoveries into the real world to improve your health as soon as possible.
The ITM is part of a network of more than 50 CTSA Program-supported hubs across the country working to slash the time it takes to develop and share new treatments and health approaches. We work with you and for you to make participating in health research easy, so that together we improve health care for all.
Join the movement and learn more about how we help researchers, physicians, community members, industry, government organizations, and others. Visit us at chicagoitm.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn @ChicagoITM.
This project is supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that supports the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) through Grant Number UL1TR002389.
