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.

Three researchers presented their ongoing projects at an annual event showcasing the science communications training they receive as part of their award package, which is fueled by the National Institute of Health’s Career Development (K12) Awards administered by the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) and Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (NUCATS). 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,” said McNerney as he teared up. “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 a partnership between the University of Chicago and Rush in collaboration with Advocate Aurora Health Care, Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), Loyola University Chicago, and Endeavor Health that’s fueled by about $51 million in grants from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health through its Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program.

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.

ITM Contact: Sara Serritella, Director of ITM Communications, serritella@uchicago.edu

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.

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A.I. in the ICU, Lung Disease, and Antibiotic-Resistant Infections are Latest Projects to Receive ITM Pilot Awards

The Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) has selected three winners for its latest round of Pilot Awards that provide $60,000 in funding and ITM resources valued at thousands of dollars to kick-start innovative research projects.

Since 2017, the ITM has supported more than 50 creative research projects and provided more than $2 million to research teams through its Pilot Awards program. Previous pilot award winners and finalists have gone on to launch companies, secure millions of dollars in federal funding, build national programs, and more.

The latest round of awardees come from RUSH, Endeavor Health, and the University of Chicago. Their projects focus on training artificial intelligence to help Intensive Care Unit doctors better treat patients, understanding how environmental factors impact patients with an uncurable lung disease, and studying the relationship between the microbiome and antibiotic-resistant infections.

“Fueling creative explorations like these makes the ITM a home for researchers with big ideas at the edge of scientific discovery,” said David Meltzer, MD, PhD, Director of the ITM and Associate Dean for Clinical Science Research, Translational at the University of Chicago. “We’re excited to see the impacts these teams make.”

Each round, applicants submit a one-page letter of intent, and finalists are selected to move forward through a range of ITM resources – including one-on-one science communications coaching, a professional video of the project, study design, biostatistics, community feedback forums, and more – to create their proposals. All finalists leave with thousands of dollars in science communications training and content to advance their work and opportunities to connect with communities even if they are not selected in the top three for funding.

Boards of patients, community members, industry experts, and scientists review the proposals and watch the public-friendly pitch videos as part of the funding selection process.

“This program gives researchers access to a variety of people and resources at no cost to them or their teams,” said Joshua Jacobs, MD, Director of the ITM and the Grainger Director of the RUSH Arthritis and Orthopaedics Institute.

Learn more here about the ITM Pilot Awards here and sign up for the ITM newsletter to stay up to date on more unique ITM resources and to meet the next round of awardees and finalists.

Meet the Latest ITM Pilot Award Winners

Juan C. Rojas, MD Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine

RUSH

Tony Solomonides, PhD Program Director, Outcomes Research and Biomedical Informatics Research Institute

Endeavor Health

Lilly Immergluck, MD Professor of Pediatrics

UChicago Medicine

Meet the Latest ITM Pilot Award Finalists

Ashish Premkumar, MD, PhD Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology

University of Chicago

Merdijana Kovacevic, PhD Assistant Professor, Clinical Psychologist

RUSH

Rex Haydon, MD, PhD Simon and Kalt Families Professor of Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine

University of Chicago

Never miss an ITM opportunity like this!

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 a partnership between the University of Chicago and Rush in collaboration with Advocate Aurora Health Care, Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), Loyola University Chicago, and Endeavor Health that’s fueled by about $51 million in grants from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health through its Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program.

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.

ITM Contact: Sara Serritella, Director of ITM Communications, serritella@uchicago.edu

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.

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Want to be an ITM Insider? Tell us what you want to know and we'll send it direct to your Inbox.

The Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) and the Colorado Clinical & Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) are partnering to offer a no-cost hands-on Designing for Implementation & Sustainability Certificate program for health science researchers and healthcare/public health professionals.

Spearheaded by ITM-Loyola site leader Elaine Morrato, DrPH, professor and founding dean of the Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health at Loyola University Chicago, this one-year virtual offering will give participants access to expert mentorship, practical expertise in dissemination and implementation science, and more.

Get your questions answered at an upcoming virtual information session on May 30^th at 12pm or June 20^th at 3pm.

Click Here to Learn More

Public & Researchers Connect at Special ITM Event Showcasing Cool Science Breakthroughs

Chicagoland community members and Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) researchers came together to build connections and share stories about groundbreaking research supported by the ITM’s Pilot Awards program on ways to tackle common causes of blindness, avoid getting dementia, use AI to help diagnose a pediatric kidney condition, and identify women who might benefit from an HIV preventative medication.

Four researchers presented their ITM-funded projects from their time at the University of Chicago and RUSH in an approachable, public-friendly way at a special ITM Grand Rounds event Jan. 24 at MATTER at the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago. The researchers all received $60,000 in funding to kick-start their work, as part of the Pilot Awards program, which supports early-stage creative ideas that have the potential to change the world.

“These connections and sparks don’t just stop here tonight,” said event MC Sara Serritella, ITM’s Director of Communications who teaches science communication courses at the University of Chicago. “Breakthroughs can’t be made without people like all of us teaming up with health researchers like the ones you’ll meet tonight to join studies with the goal of living a healthy, happy, long life with our loved ones.”

Audience members had an opportunity to network with the researchers and enjoy a red-carpet reception with food and ITM cupcakes following the presentations.

Rupa Sanku came all the way from Naperville, IL, to attend the event. She said enjoyed learning about the brain health research.

Attendee Estephanie Pérez-Mercado, a student in the University of Chicago Master’s in Biomedical Sciences Program, said her favorite part was the human connection and “getting to meet the researchers and learning about what they were passionate about and why they wanted to do what they do.”

Highlights from the presentation

Kind words from happy attendees

Battling Blindness with a Diabetes Pill

ITM-UChicago researcher Dimitra Skondra, MD, PhD, Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, kicked things off with a talk on battling blindness with a diabetes pill.

“Vision is something we take for granted, all of us,” said Skondra, who is exploring a potential way to help people avoid blindness.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in anyone over the age of 50 in the United States. There is no prevention and no treatment for 90% of patients, Skondra said, except for a monthly shot directly into the eye. This cringey option costs the U.S. economy billions of dollars.

But a different option may be just a clinical trial away.

While treating patients in clinic, Skondra noticed a trend with elderly patients who happen to have diabetes and take a diabetes medication called metformin. These 90-year-olds “have retinas of 20-year-olds,” Skondra said.

She received pilot funding to learn more about the relationship and her findings support her idea that the medication can help. Metformin promoted healthy aging through a healthy and happy microbiome, or the collection of bacteria and microorganisms inside us. Her study in mice found that just two weeks of metformin stopped AMD. The next step is a clinical trial in humans.

Want to learn more? Connect with Dimitra at Dimitra.Skondra@uchicagomedicine.org

Could Activity in Your Day Keep Dementia Away?

Up next, the audience heard from Shannon Halloway, PhD, RN, on keeping dementia away with activity. Halloway is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing Science at the University of Illinois Chicago. She received the ITM Pilot Award as an Assistant Professor at RUSH. Her research is a part of the national U.S. Pointer Study to support brain health as we age.

“What if I told you that there are simple things that we can do in our everyday life to hopefully prevent the onset of or delay the onset of brain changes and dementia and Alzheimer’s disease as we age,” Halloway asked the audience.

Halloway’s research found that just 30 minutes of daily activity that gets the heart rate up is enough to improve blood flow to the brain and help form that protective bubble that helps preserve memory and thinking – and hopefully prevent or delay the onset of dementia. However, she warned that too much sitting can offset the positive health benefits we get from exercise.

Next steps for Halloway include a nation-wide project that studies the extent to which small changes in behavior can improve brain health.

Want to learn more? Connect with Shannon at sthallow@uic.edu.

Can the Same Tech That Facebook Uses Lead to Healthier Newborns?

ITM-UChicago researcher Mohan S. Gundeti, MD, Professor of Surgery, Pediatrics, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, followed by presenting his work on using artificial intelligence to help diagnose a kidney condition called hydronephrosis that affects about 1 in 100 newborns.

“Children are the future, and I spend all (my) life taking care of children,” Gundeti said. “That’s my life’s purpose.”

There are different grades, or stages, of hydronephrosis – the mildest will resolve on its own and the most severe will require the infant to have surgery. The problem lies with human differences when diagnosing the stage of the condition. One ultrasound is commonly given two separate grades by two different specialists, leaving parents with tremendous uncertainty. But AI might be able to help.

Thanks to a partnership with fellow ITM-UChicago researcher Maryellen Giger, PhD, the A.N. Pritzker Distinguished Service Professor of Radiology at UChicago, Gundeti is studying the use of the same AI technology that Facebook uses to recognize faces to have more objective grading of hydronephrosis. If his team can develop this algorithm and standardize diagnoses, the impacts could include everything from providing clear treatment plans to parents and even saving babies from kidney failure.

Want to learn more? Connect with Mohan at mgundeti@bsd.uchicago.edu

Preventing HIV in Women of Color

Last to present was ITM-UChicago researcher Jessica Ridgway, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, on her work in preventing HIV in women of color with the medication PrEP. Ridgway shared the story of a pregnant patient who was newly diagnosed with HIV. The patient didn’t even know there was a medication she could take to prevent HIV.

“She had no symptoms of HIV,” Ridgway said. “She’d been tested for HIV before and it had been negative. She’d been to see doctors no one had ever before told her that there was something she could do, or a medication she could take to prevent HIV. She was upset and angry and worried. That really stuck with me.”

While there is no cure for HIV, PrEP is a medication that people can take to prevent it. There are a lot of people who could benefit from using it, she said, but mostly men get offered the medication. Ridgway said that women account for 19% of new HIV cases, but they only make up 8% of PrEP users.

In her ITM-funded pilot project, Ridgway’s goal was to create an AI algorithm to identify women who would benefit from PrEP and to understand women’s perspectives about this process. The overall opinions of the over 100 women her team spoke with were positive, though some had reservations around privacy and potential discrimination. Ridgway is now doing ongoing work to make the algorithm better.

Want to learn more? Connect with Jessica at Jessica.Ridgway@uchicagomedicine.org.

Looking for seed funding for your workk? Submit a one-page letter of intent through Feb. 28, 2025!

Never miss an ITM event like this!

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 a partnership between the University of Chicago and Rush in collaboration with Advocate Aurora Health Care, Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), Loyola University Chicago, and Endeavor Health that’s fueled by about $51 million in grants from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health through its Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program.

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.

ITM Contact: Sara Serritella, Director of ITM Communications, serritella@uchicago.edu

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.

Grab a leash and some good vibes because the Save Da Hoomans dog pack has officially taken over Chicago this winter — one bus and train at a time.

CBS News Chicago covered the latest mobilization of the Save Da Hoomans dogs that want to get their humans to sign up for health research that might help people like their owners live healthier, happier, longer lives.

CBS News Chicago anchor Suzanne Le Mignot’s dog is one of the Save Da Hoomans pack members adorning signs and buses to help humans. On a recent TV segment, Le Mignot discussed the importance of mental health and the ease of studies people can do from the comfort of home. One out of every two people in the world will develop a mental health disorder in their lifetime, according to research from Harvard Medical School and the University of Queensland. And about 80 percent of clinical trials are delayed or don’t happen because there aren’t enough people who’ve volunteered to participate.

“There’s an important campaign that I’m really honored to be a part of,” Le Mignot said during the segment. “I’ve taken pictures with my PAWS Chicago rescue dog, Lucy, to raise awareness about mental health and clinical research trials to help find ways we can all live healthier happier lives.”

The Save Da Hoomans campaign is from the dogs’ perspective, and it’s part of The New Normal® (TNN) movement to give the public easy access to health research about the causes they care about the most through a free matchmaking platform called TNN Match. The site is created at a conversational 7th-grade reading level, making it easy to find health research studies that matter most to you, whether that’s mental health, cancer treatment, chronic illness, or ways to age well.

The Chicagoland ads feature “Breaking News” or “Barking News,” depending on whether there’s a human or four-legged messenger. The Save Da Hoomans pack members that mobilized for this pawsitive cause appearing on more than a hundred signs. They range from digital street locations in the Loop to bus routes to Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Red Line platforms and trains. Those are among the locations where you’ll see Suzanne and Lucy, local doggo influencer Leo (@Pittielicious_Leo on Instagram), and mental health advocate Sandy Sotelo and her influencer doggo, Santi (@Santi.Blue.Pittie on Instagram).

“We can raise all the money in the world by doing runs and walks and funding research, but unless there are actually people participating in the studies, those studies can’t move forward and find answers and new treatments and cures,” said Save Da Hoomans Campaign Director Sara Serritella, who also serves as the Director of Communications at the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM).

If you spot the ads, snap a photo and tag @bethenewnorm and @savedahoomans to join the movement! To join the movement, check out the dog’s message at savedahoomans.org or the human’s voice at bethenewnormal.org.

About The New Normal® and Save Da Hoomans® Movement

The New Normal® and Save Da Hoomans® Campaigns are championed by the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM), a partnership between the University of Chicago and Rush in collaboration with Advocate Health Care, the Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), Loyola University Chicago, and Endeavor Health, as well as the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute and the University of Illinois at Chicago Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS). The ITM, NUCATS, and CCTS are fueled by nearly $80 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS) Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program. The Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research shared its technology to help connect the public with research opportunities for this initiative. This initiative is also supported by the Chicago Department of Public Health and other regional and national partners who believe in empowering everyone to get involved in making discoveries to improve human health. Learn more and join at bethenewnormal.org or savedahoomans.org.

This project is supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through Grant Number UL1TR002389 that supports the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM); Grant Number UL1TR001422 that supports NUCATS; Grant Number UL1TR002003 that supports the Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS); and Grant Number UL1TR002240 that supports the Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research (MICHR). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

Joshua Jacobs, MD, Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) Director and Grainger Director of the RUSH Arthritis and Orthopaedics Institute, received the 2024 Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons (ABJS) Nicolas Andry Lifetime Achievement Award at the organization’s annual meeting in Montreal, Québec, Canada.

The award is given to a nominee whose musculoskeletal research has significantly contributed to the knowledge and impact in orthopaedics. Jacobs’ contributions to the field span over four decades. Some of the many highlights from his career include improving the performance of hip and knee replacement implants and helping develop new diagnostic testing methods that monitor implant performance.

“The surgeon-scientist pathway is a difficult one with many twists and turns along the way,” said Jacobs. “This award helps to validate the career choice that I made years ago. I am particularly grateful to my predecessors as department chairs in Orthopaedic surgery at RUSH, Dr. Jorge Galante and Dr. Gunnar Andersson, who made this pathway possible. I am also grateful to my talented multidisciplinary research collaborators at RUSH and beyond.”

Josh Jacobs receives award from Matthew Dobbs, MD, immediate past president of ABJS.

The award comes with a $10,000 prize. Jacobs will be donating the money to the Robbins and Jacobs Family Biocompatibility and Implant Pathology Laboratory in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at RUSH. Currently, the lab is focusing on research that includes the effects that circulating debris from orthopaedic implants has on brain health and how well new materials used in knee replacements work. Jacobs’ lab is working to innovate the field of total joint replacements.

Renowned physician-researcher Julian Solway, MD, goes emeritus this fall after a nearly 40-year career at the University of Chicago securing more than $165 million in research funding, serving thousands of patients, and launching the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) that has fueled the scientific innovations of hundreds of faculty and helped families receive cutting-edge care.

“UChicago provides the perfect environment to have a most fulfilling career,” said Solway, the Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine, Founding Director of the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM), and Associate Dean for Clinical Science Research/Translational Medicine. “My own research primarily focused on asthma, but I’ve also dedicated myself to advancing the careers of others and scaling an institute to accelerate health research at UChicago and institutions all across Chicagoland.”

Mark Anderson, MD, PhD, Dean of the Biological Sciences Division, said Solway transformed UChicago’s physician-researcher environment with the ITM, which has been key to making scientific breakthroughs and accelerating findings into real-world applications.

“We’re so fortunate to have a leader like Julian pave the way for multidisciplinary research and programs supporting physician-scientists and scientists across departments,” Anderson said. “The discoveries that his initiatives helped fuel allow us to be at the forefront of medicine.”

Under Solway’s leadership, the ITM received more than $100 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program and expanded to six Chicagoland institutions, including RUSH, Loyola University Chicago, Endeavor Health, Advocate Aurora Health, and the Illinois Institute of Technology along with UChicago. Their most recent renewal earned an almost perfect score, demonstrating ITM’s national reputation for accomplishment and vision.

“There is no better mentor in the universe,” said Lainie Ross, MD, PhD, who co-directed the ITM with Solway for 15 years before becoming the Inaugural Chair of the Department of Health Humanities and Bioethics at the University of Rochester. “His incredible vision helped us think about how we could make our collective ideas a reality.”

Solway’s creativity and camaraderie led to several major initiatives, including The New Normal Campaign to increase awareness of and participation in health research. He also emphasized the importance of the “sociome,” the everyday factors in people’s daily lives – like exposure to green space, sunlight, noise, and violence – that can have huge health impacts. He mobilized teams to create a big data platform so that physicians can give patients more customized care.

“He’s published many important papers, but his biggest contribution is his cadre of trainees who are now all over the world improving the lives of other trainees and patients,” said Jeffrey J. Fredberg, PhD, Professor of Bioengineering and Physiology at Harvard University.

Solway attended the Harvard Medical School-Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) MD Program in Health Sciences and Technology after graduating from MIT in electrical engineering. He joined UChicago in 1985.

Solway’s expertise in engineering and medicine set him apart, leading to innovative research and a commitment to mentorship so the next generation could be just as unique in the ideas they chose to explore. Donald P. Gaver, PhD, until recently Chair of Biomedical Engineering at Tulane University, credits Solway with encouraging the out-of-the-box thinking that shaped his career.

“I was an outlier,” said Gaver, a physicist and former Solway postdoc whose experiments linked physiology and physics. “Julian was awesome and let me explore. It was magic.”

Solway has published more than 225 peer-reviewed papers, editorials, reviews, and book chapters; spoken at events around the world; and held leadership roles at UChicago and nationally, including co-chairing the NIH CTSA Program Steering Committee. While his professional accomplishments kept him busy, Solway still made time for loved ones, performed in bands, and played the piano with colleagues at conferences.

“He never forgot that life has balance,” said Andrew J. Halayko, PhD, a former UChicago fellow and now Professor at the University of Manitoba. “If Julian Solway had time to referee his kid’s soccer game, then there was no excuse for me to say that I don’t have time to do anything but work.”

Solway’s colleagues said they cherish his humor, mentorship, and trademark “Julianism” phrases and questions that spark laughter and encourage people to think in new ways.

“I can’t wait to see what he’ll do next,” Ross said. “He has so many great talents.”

Julian Solway's Emeritus Celebration Event

Stories From Colleagues and Friends

Lainie Ross, MD, PhD

“Julian values every person for who they are. He believes that everybody brings different strengths to the table.”

Lainie Ross, MD, PhD, co-directed the ITM with Solway for 15 years before becoming the Inaugural Chair of the Department of Health Humanities and Bioethics at the University of Rochester.

“Julian represented the Department of Medicine and basic science research, and I represented the Department of Pediatrics and ethics and community engagement, so we really sort of covered the whole range of the clinical and translational science spectrum. To Julian’s credit, we were not going to divide and split. We were going to do everything as a team because if he couldn’t explain basic science ideas to me, then that was a problem. And if I couldn’t explain why the humanistic side of the equation was important, then it was a problem. He really valued the collaboration. He valued thinking about the picture holistically. He is not only curious, but he also can see where all these disparate pieces belong together.

He can see beyond all of the obstacles that everyone else sees and he can say this is where we need to go and we’ll find the path together. He was able to figure out ways of connecting people in ways that sometimes dumbfounded the rest of us, but we were always scrambling to help him because he had this beautiful vision.

There’s nothing you could ask Julian that he wouldn’t do. You just can’t say that about a lot of people. Julian was there for everybody who walked through his door.

The way he treated people, you would never know if he were talking to a trainee or the dean…he treated everyone really respectfully.

Julian, for 15 years, we worked side-by-side, building the ITM with amazing faculty and staff colleagues. I value your curiosity, your creativity, your intellect, your leadership, and your friendship. I hope we find reasons to continue to collaborate. Be well.”

Andrew Halayko, PhD

“Julian is an incredible mentor and believes that most people have something to offer that you personally do not. You can help them excel by letting them be themselves.”

Andrew J. Halayko, PhD, is a former UChicago fellow and now Professor at the University of Manitoba.

“I can’t state strongly enough how much of an impact Julian had on getting me to meet the right people and giving me platforms at important meetings.

He became the chair of a committee called the programming committee for one of the assemblies at the American Thoracic Society (ATS). That committee looks at the abstracts, they grade them, they decide how to create sessions of talks or posters. He added me as a member of that committee, as a fellow.

Since then to this day I’ve served on ATS committees or as a chair. I’m now the editor-in-chief of the ATS Red Journal, which is the number one cell molecular biology journal in respiratory sciences. So had Julian not added me as a member of that ATS committee early in my career, I might not have discovered my love for that kind of work or be where I am today.

Julian is also kind. When I was a fellow, the university didn’t have an extra desk available for me in the fellows’ room when I started. Julian had a large office, and he actually had a desk brought in, put in the corner, and that was my temporary office for a number of months.

He was a very good teacher without you knowing you were being taught. His style is very much by example and very much asking the questions so that you figured out that you’d screwed up or that you maybe should have done something slightly different or had considered something that you hadn’t considered. I learned that there’s a way you can be critical and honest with people, but encouraging at the same time.

He was very good about that. His emotional intelligence is through the roof.

Julian is really an exceptional scientist and thinker. His breadth of knowledge is really immense. He’s one of those people that you think, there’s nothing he doesn’t know, from engineering through to biology. I mean, think about it. He’s a clinician trained in respiratory mechanics and respirology.

His capacity as being a truly innovative scientist is really exceptional.”

Donald P. Gaver, PhD

“Follow your instincts. Don’t follow the crowd.”

Donald P. Gaver, PhD, until recently Chair of Biomedical Engineering at Tulane University

“When I think of Julian, I can’t help but smile. He’s one of my favorite people in the world—not just because he’s brilliant, but because of how genuinely kind and supportive he is.”

I was a graduate student at Northwestern University in a program in theoretical applied mechanics. I didn’t know what I was going to do when I finished my PhD. Julian invited me to be a postdoc in his lab. It was transformative for me. When I left Northwestern, I was working on partial differential equations and really simple idealized models of surfactant spreading on thin films. I don’t think it would have had any impact.

And then when I was put into the environment at the University of Chicago, I could see the kinds of problems that could be important from a physicist frame of reference that also had physiological impact. Julian was just awesome at that and he let me explore. I did these crazy experiments that nobody was thinking about doing. I was doing these experiments with miles of flexible polyethylene tubes, the kind of plastic tubes that posters are held in, and looked at the physics behind what happens when you try to open a collapsed lung airway. He didn’t direct me. He guided me by gentle persuasion.

We published those experiments that linked physiology and physics in the Journal of Applied Physiology, and they’re still cited regularly 35 years afterwards. And when I decided to accept an offer from Tulane University for a tenure-track faculty role, Julian set me up for success like you wouldn’t believe. He is the best writer I’ve ever seen, and he helped me write grants to springboard my financial support when I started here at Tulane. I got all three grants within a month of being hired here.

Academia often breeds narcissists, but that’s not Julian. Julian is super good at guiding from behind. He doesn’t need attention for his own self.

He’s a craftsman literally in his hobbies from woodworking to performing as a pianist with his bands, and figuratively in molding his research, innovative programs, and the careers of those he mentors. He draws the best out of people.

Jeffrey Fredberg, PhD

“Julian proves that nice guys can finish first.”

Jeffrey J. Fredberg, PhD, Professor of Bioengineering and Physiology at Harvard University.

“If you’re with Julian, you can’t not have a smile on your face. It’s never, ever boring. It’s always challenging in a good way and stimulating.”

Julian is also persuasive. When we would be at the NIH at a meeting where grants are being reviewed, if one person doesn’t like your grant, it’s really hard to get it funded. I’ve seen Julian turn the room, where two other reviewers had had very negative things to say and Julian in his very Julian way will say, “Gee guys, you know, have you thought about this other aspect of the work and why this is so important?” And like five minutes later, he totally opened minds and turned the review around. Julian was never shy. It didn’t make any difference how famous these other people were, or how knowledgeable they were. If Julian saw something that he thought was valuable, he would speak up.

He’s also brilliant and creative. Once we went to a meeting together in Australia. I don’t remember any of the science from that meeting, but I’m sure everyone who was there remembered Julian composing and singing and playing a song about cytokines on the piano. It was fantastic.

Julian is a great leader. He doesn’t just educate people. A great leader makes great leaders. He trained other people who went on to other institutions and to become great leaders.

When you meet people who get high in the academic ranks, they can tend to be a little arrogant or pushy or assertive. Not Julian. Julian took a totally different approach and did it his own way. There’s not a selfish bone in his body. He understands why he’s on this earth, and he has fulfilled everything he possibly could have done. He’s a gentle soul. But on the other hand, don’t mess with him. Because he’ll put you in your place, but in such a gentle way.

Julian is a man of integrity. He knows what the right thing is to do. He is one of a kind.”

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 a partnership between the University of Chicago and Rush in collaboration with Advocate Aurora Health Care, Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), Loyola University Chicago, and Endeavor Health that’s fueled by about $51 million in grants from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health through its Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program.

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.

ITM Contact: Sara Serritella, Director of ITM Communications, serritella@uchicago.edu

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 (ITM) has selected three winners for its latest round of Pilot Awards that provide $60,000 in funding and ITM resources valued at thousands of dollars to kick-start innovative research projects.

“The ITM is a champion of creative ideas and exploring ways to better improve human health,” said Julian Solway, MD, Founding Director of the ITM and Associate Dean for Clinical Science Research/Translational Medicine at the University of Chicago. “These awards fuel new ways of thinking and help foster relationships with the communities we serve.”

The spring 2024 finalists hail from UChicago, RUSH, Loyola University Chicago, Advocate Aurora Health, and the Illinois Institute of Technology. The top three awardees are from UChicago and RUSH. Their projects will tackle topics like how to keep the most common hospital disinfecting soap effective in protecting patients from infections, finding what parts of people’s daily lives and environments might cause a severe type of uterine cancer, and the best ways to give Chinese Americans cultural tools for caring for their loved ones with dementia.

“These projects have the potential to impact many lives and spark even deeper dives into understanding these health challenges,” said Joshua J. Jacobs, MD, ITM Director and Grainger Director of the RUSH Arthritis and Orthopaedics Institute.

The ITM has supported more than 45 creative research projects and provided more than $2 million to research teams through its Pilot Awards program since 2017. Previous pilot award winners and finalists have gone on to launch companies, secure millions of dollars in federal funding, build national programs, and more.

“Alumni of the ITM Pilot Program don’t stop here,” said David Meltzer, MD, PhD, ITM Director and UChicago Professor of Medicine. “They use this support to catapult them into more opportunities, and we can’t wait to see the impacts this latest group makes on the world.”

Each round applicants submit a one-page letter of intent, and up to 10 finalists are selected to move forward through a range of ITM resources – including one-on-one science communications coaching, a professional video of the project, study design, biostatistics, community feedback forums, and more – to create their proposals. All finalists leave with thousands of dollars in science communications training and content to advance their work and opportunities to connect with communities even if they are not selected in the top three for funding.

Boards of patients, community members, industry experts, and scientists review the proposals and watch the public-friendly pitch videos as part of the funding selection process.

“The community is directly involved in providing feedback to researchers about everything from study design to whether they think a project should be funded,” said ITM Director Doriane Miller, MD. “The science is communicated in ways that non-scientists can understand. This empowers the public and communities we serve to join the conversation and literally sit at the table to make decisions with physicians and researchers.”

Learn more here about the ITM Pilot Awards here and sign up for the ITM newsletter to stay up to date on more unique ITM resources. Want to join the Pilot Program? A one-page letter of intent for the next round is due Sunday, Sept. 22.

“We’ve designed the ITM Pilot Award Program to give physicians and researchers more than just dollars to do a project,” said Eric Beyer, MD, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics at UChicago and leader of the ITM Translational Endeavors Core that offers the awards. “All finalists win access to thousands of dollars in training, ITM resources, networking, all at no cost to them. It’s a personalized tour and access to all the ways the ITM can help them achieve their academic research goals.”

Meet the Spring 2024 Chicago ITM Pilot Award Winners

Keeping a Hospital Soap Effective at Protecting Patients

Rachel Medernach, MD, MSCI

Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine

RUSH University

Rachel_L_Medernach@rush.edu

What we uncover may change how we protect our patients from infections in the future, saving trillions of dollars and millions of lives.” – Rachel Medernach

Using the Sociome to Help Tackle an Aggressive Type of Uterine Cancer

Sarah Ackroyd, MD, MPH

Assistant Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology

University of Chicago

Sarah.Ackroyd@uchicagomedicine.org

“Discovering trends and connections between cancer and any social, behavioral, and environmental exposure, might help find ways women can prevent or delay themselves from getting this aggressive uterine cancer.” – Sarah Ackroyd

Helping Chinese American Caregivers Navigate the U.S. Healthcare System

Chien-Ching Li, PhD, MPH

Associate Professor, Health Systems Management

RUSH University

Chien-Ching_Li@rush.edu

“But a lot of Chinese family caregivers don’t know much about home care and the long-term care services. To help them navigate the healthcare system, I’m working on an online tool for dementia-care planning that is rooted in Chinese culture.” – Chien-Ching Li

Check Out the Spring 2024 Chicago ITM Pilot Award Finalists

Could a tiny tumor-in-a-dish lead to big cancer discoveries?

Nan Sethakorn, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor, Cancer Biology

Loyola University Chicago

Can the microbiome help people recover from gun violence?

Andrew Benjamin, MD

Assistant Professor of Surgery

University of Chicago

Understanding Alzheimer's in Individuals with Down Syndrome

Hannah Graham, MD

Family Medicine, Adult Down Syndrome Center

Advocate Aurora Health

Patching Broken Hearts: A New Era in Cardiac Care

Narutoshi Hibino, MD, PhD

Professor of Surgery

University of Chicago

Bridging Gaps in Diabetes Care for Black Chicagoans

Mudassir Rashid, PhD

Research Assistant Professor

Illinois Institute of Technology

Giving Patients
What They Value

Austin Wesevich, MD, MPH

Hematology/Oncology Fellow

University of Chicago

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 a partnership between the University of Chicago and Rush in collaboration with Advocate Aurora Health Care, Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), Loyola University Chicago, and Endeavor Health that’s fueled by about $51 million in grants from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health through its Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program.

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.

ITM Contact: Sara Serritella, Director of ITM Communications, serritella@uchicago.edu

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.

A University of Chicago Medicine physician scientist went from clinic work to pursuing both patient care and health research fueled by more than $200,000 in funding – career leaps that she credits to the training, mentorship, funding, and protected research time she received from the Institute for Translational Medicine’s (ITM) trainee and junior faculty programs.

“When I came to the University of Chicago and got the TL1 and KL2 funding through the ITM, that is how I began my journey as a physician scientist,” said Maylyn Martinez, MD, MSc, Assistant Professor of Medicine. “And without the ITM, I wouldn’t have had those opportunities and that time to have this very closely mentored training and skill development that has allowed me to take my career to a completely different place that has given it so much meaning.”

Martinez is one of 25 junior researchers to complete the ITM’s TL1 mentored research training program. This program has provided more than $4 million in funding to clinical and translational research trainees since 2017. She went on to receive an ITM KL2 award, which has provided more than $6 million and protected research time supporting 39 recipients since 2017. It was this award that set the stage for her subsequent National Institutes of Health grant, which provided nearly $800,000 from the National Institutes on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) to explore the most effective ways to use physical therapy in a hospital setting.

During her time as a TL1 trainee, Martinez studied the misallocation of physical therapy consults in an inpatient setting. Physical therapists are a limited resource in hospitals, she said, and it’s important to use their time wisely.

Her research showed that physical therapy is often not used effectively in hospitals. Nearly 40% of consults were for hospitalized patients who did not need them. She then showed that simple Electronic Medical Record-based clinical decision support can help doctors understand when these consults are needed. Martinez went on to publish her findings in the Journal of Hospital Medicine and the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Martinez then received an ITM KL2 Award, which provides a researcher up to $130,000 in salary support and research funds per year and 75 percent protected time. She went on to be awarded a K23 from the NIMHD for $795,960 dollars over 5 years as her career continues to advance.

In this next stage, Martinez is continuing the research she started under her ITM KL2 Award, exploring hospital-acquired disability and physical therapy use during and after patients’ hospitalization.

For her new K23 grant, Martinez is broadening this research across three different Chicago institutions: University of Chicago, Ingalls Memorial, and Northwestern. Her goal is to build an unbiased artificial intelligence predictive model that can be used on the day of admission to the hospital to predict which patients may be at risk for worsening physical function, and benefit from skilled physical therapy during their hospital stay. The training that she is receiving with funding from her K23 will help her test and implement this new tool.

Martinez has four pieces of advice for future applicants to both ITM training programs:

First, mentorship is key, so make sure to schedule regular meetings with your primary mentor and have an agenda ready for each meeting. Also make sure to have several other mentors and advisors, including peer mentors, who can help you with smaller, detail-, method-, or resource-oriented questions.
Second, be sure to be a “closer,” meaning finish your projects, write them up, and get them to a journal.
Third, take the knowledge and skills you learn from your training and career development plan. You truly do become an expert in these new areas, and you can take
Fourth, email me at maylynm@bsd.uchicago.edu if you have questions about applying!

Applications for the KL2 Awards are now open through Sept. 29! Click here to learn more and apply!

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 a partnership between the University of Chicago and Rush in collaboration with Advocate Aurora Health Care, Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), Loyola University Chicago, and Endeavor Health that’s fueled by about $51 million in grants from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health through its Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program.

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.

ITM Contact: Sara Serritella, Director of ITM Communications, serritella@uchicago.edu

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.

Clinical and translational science researchers can now submit poster and scientific session proposals for Translational Science 2025.

The annual conference from the Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS) will be in-person only from April 15 to April 17, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Save the date to connect with colleagues and learn about the latest developments in the field or submit your own work to be showcased! You’ll join colleagues in translational science from across the country gathering for this event – including several partners of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program, of which the ITM is a hub.

ACTS is now accepting scientific session proposals until September 23. Poster submissions will be accepted until October 21.

The University of Chicago recognized the Founding Director of the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) with its Gold Key Award during its recent 2024 Distinguished Faculty Awards for the Biological Sciences Division (BSD).

Mark Anderson, Dean of the Division of the Biological Sciences, presented these awards that honor UChicago faculty members for their achievements and contributions to education, research, program innovation, patient care, diversity and inclusion, and service to community.

ITM Founding Director Julian Solway, MD, the Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Family Medicine and Associate Dean for Clinical Science Research/Translational Medicine, received the Gold Key Award that recognizes a career of outstanding service. Solway launched the institute at the University of Chicago in 2007 to help speed scientific discoveries and improve human health, and over nearly two decades he expanded the organization from one to six institutions across Chicagoland fueled by more than $100 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health.

“It’s an honor to receive such a recognition from the university and my esteemed colleagues,” Solway said. “I’m grateful for our decades of collaboration to make impacts here in Chicago and across the country, creating the infrastructure and resources for brilliant researchers and physician-scientists to explore potential solutions to challenging health issues.”

ITM Founding Director Receives Gold Key Distinguished Faculty Award

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 a partnership between the University of Chicago and Rush in collaboration with Advocate Aurora Health Care, Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), Loyola University Chicago, and Endeavor Health that’s fueled by about $51 million in grants from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health through its Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program.

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.

ITM Contact: Sara Serritella, Director of ITM Communications, serritella@uchicago.edu

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.

Nearly one hundred people came together to get the inside scoop on the latest health research explorations and team up with the presenters to grow in science communication skills at Chicago’s MATTER in the Merchandise Mart on May 23, 2024.

Six researchers from across Chicagoland institutions presented their big ideas and passion projects to the general public at a special Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) Grand Rounds event that was a culmination of science communications training on how to connect with a non-scientific audience. Nearly 90 percent of U.S. adults don’t have the health literacy necessary to navigate the health care system, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Policy, making communications skills critical to building trust and helping people understand their health needs.

“Science communication and storytelling skills are powerful tools that allow you to connect with people from any background,” said Sara Serritella, ITM Director of Communication who led the training and gave the researchers an inside look into the art of connection from her work as a private detective. “It was magical to see the public’s eyes light up and engage with the researchers in ways that wouldn’t be possible without those tools.”

The series of TED-style Talks challenged the presenters to share their work in just eight minutes and provided the audience with an opportunity to share the gift of feedback for what worked well and anything that could be optimized. The evening ended with an audience vote on the most engaging scientific talks and awarding two presenters with trophies.

ITM-UChicago’s Faith Abodunrin, MD, came in first place for her presentation on bone marrow transplants for treatment of a blood cancer called acute myeloid leukemia. She shocked the audience with a statistic that on one bone marrow donor registry website, Black patients have less than a 30% chance of getting a matched donor, compared to White patients, who have a nearly 80% chance. She said she plans to recruit donors of all backgrounds across Chicago college campuses to make things like registries more efficient.

Following Abodunrin’s talk, two audience members shared touching stories from their personal health journeys. Luna Bitar, student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, shared that she underwent a bone marrow transplant, and her brother was her match. Another audience member said she was her brother’s donor.

Austin Wesevich, MD, from ITM-UChicago came in second place. His research focused on giving patients what they value when it comes to breast cancer and sickle cell care. A short 15 seconds into his presentation, a timer on his phone went off. That 15 seconds symbolized the average time it takes a doctor to interrupts a new patient. Wesevich gave the audience tips for how to get the most out of their short doctors’ appointments: Come with a list of top three things you want to talk about with your doctor, and pick one that’s most important, in case you can’t discuss all three.

UChicago’s Lorraine Canham, MD, and Lindsay Schwartz, MD, MS, from UChicago, Lajja Desai, MD, from Northwestern’s Lajja Desai, MD, and Loyola’s Samie Tootoni, PhD, also took the stage.

Schwartz’ research focused on smoking and vaping in young cancer survivors. One-third of the 700,000 cancer survivors in the U.S. smoke cigarettes, and another third vape. Those are higher rates than in young people who’ve never had a cancer diagnosis. Schwartz has teamed up with cancer survivors to create a two-way text messaging program that helps these young patients deal with stress management and hopefully discourage them from using nicotine.

Desai presented on using MRIs to help children with pediatric heart disease. She shared a heartbreaking story of one of her pediatric patients who passed away just days ago.

Tootoni proposed that artificial intelligence (AI) can help doctors make important patient-care decisions when treating a specific type of hospital-acquired infection called an MRSA staph infection. He shared a story of an infected patient who needed eighteen surgeries and had both legs amputated below the knee.

“Even the best doctors may miss some important details when they are under pressure,” he said. His compared decision-making between doctors and AI, and showed that AI was right 67% of the time, while humans were right 50% of the time.

The audience and researchers got to mingle and enjoy a reception following the talks and voting.

“My favorite part about the event was probably hearing medical professionals talk about what they work on every day in regular terms,” said one audience member. Another said she impressed by the spirit of collaboration and the audience and researchers being “able to partake in this wonderful event.”

The event was a partnership between ITM and Chicagoland Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Programs partners Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (NUCATS) and the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC CCTS). It was fueled by support from the National Institutes of Health National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS).

Stay up to date on ITM events like this one by signing up for our newsletter!

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 a partnership between the University of Chicago and Rush in collaboration with Advocate Aurora Health Care, Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), Loyola University Chicago, and Endeavor Health that’s fueled by about $51 million in grants from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health through its Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program.

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.

ITM Contact: Sara Serritella, Director of ITM Communications, serritella@uchicago.edu

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 Clinical Research (CR) Forum recognized two ITM-UChicago researchers in its annual Clinical Research Achievement Awards held in Las Vegas this month.

The CR Forum works to accelerate medical research and bring treatments and cures to people faster. The organization hosts an annual national competition to recognize major advances in clinical and translational science that will ultimately improve human health.

“These researchers have done incredible work to help improve the quality of life of patients and advance scientific discoveries that have real-world impacts,” said Julian Solway, MD, Founding Director of the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) and University of Chicago Associate Dean for Clinical Science Research.

James LaBelle, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at UChicago Medicine, received the Herbert Pardes Clinical Research Excellence Award for using stem cell gene therapy to target the root cause of sickle cell disease and improve patients’ health and everyday lives. This award recognizes the best study among the Top 10 Awards given by the CR Forum, which describes the recognition as “the research study that best shows a high degree of innovation and creativity, advances science, and has an impact upon human disease.”

“On behalf of everyone involved in the study, we’re excited that our trial adds to the growing data showing that gene therapy changes the lives of patients with sickle cell disease,” LaBelle said. “Recognition by the Clinical Research Forum reflects the indefatigable and coordinated effort of many people within pharma and across academic institutions. Many people played important roles in this study, including research technicians, clinical research coordinators, physicians, nurses, data analysts, scientists, and patients.”

Sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder that causes red blood cells to have an abnormal shape, making patients sick with infections, pain, organ damage, and more.

LaBelle’s study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, used a special technology that can edit parts of the human genome. They used the tool – called CRISPR-Cas9 – to target the specific cells that cause sickle cell disease. The research team was able to influence the production of healthier blood cells and a protein that can protect patients against the sickle cell complications.

While treatments for sickle cell exist, this new approach is a groundbreaking because it tackles the underlying cause of the disease. Patients in the study still saw improvements in their condition and less of the bad side effects caused by sickle cell even 1.5 years after the study treatment. The treatment might also one day lead to more discoveries in other genetic conditions.

“This discovery has the potential to impact hundreds of thousands of lives,” said Doriane Miller, MD, ITM Director and University of Chicago Professor of Medicine.

LaBelle has received ITM support over the years through the ITM Core Subsidy Awards.

Bhakti Patel, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at UChicago Medicine, was a Top 20 finalist. Her research explored whether getting critically ill patients moving early after they’ve been on a ventilator could help them think better and be less disabled. The study found that mobilizing patients earlier could help them feel better in the long run.

“As a practicing ICU physician, I was struck by the persistent disability my patients suffered after surviving critical illness,” Patel said. “The pandemic shed light on this important issue as ‘brain fog’ and functional impairment after illness received incredible interest and public awareness, but no known treatments have been found. This award from the Clinical Research Forum recognizing our efforts to discover the first intervention to prevent cognitive impairment in ICU patients is validating and highlights what we can do now to prevent disability in our patients.”

Over the years Patel has received ITM support from its Core Subsidy Awards as well as the ITM Lung Omics K Scholar program.

“The ITM is thrilled to help support the careers of researchers like these who are making concrete differences in people’s lives,” said David Meltzer, MD, PhD, Director of the ITM and University of Chicago Professor of Medicine.

Click Here to View the Top Ten Clinical Research Achievement Awards List

Learn About the ITM Core Subsidy Awards Here

Learn About the ITM K Awards Here

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 a partnership between the University of Chicago and Rush in collaboration with Advocate Aurora Health Care, Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), Loyola University Chicago, and Endeavor Health that’s fueled by about $51 million in grants from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health through its Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program.

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.

An Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) leader stepped onto the TEDx stage in Colorado to share how harnessing the power of science communications and private detective strategies can help people crack the case of human connection and change the world.

Sara Serritella, ITM Director of Communications and founding Science Communications Instructor at the University of Chicago, highlighted how the ITM and its partners have used these approaches in the award-winning Save Da Hoomans campaign that’s fueled by the National Institutes of Health National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, as well as how anyone can use these skills to improve their lives.

Serritella draws on her experience as a private detective at her family’s firm, Vantius, and her more than a decade as an award-winning storyteller helping renowned physicians and researchers secure millions of dollars in funding and better connect with the public at large. She teaches courses across UChicago’s medical school, graduate school, and undergraduate college that give students direct applications of investigation strategies to science, medicine, and beyond.

This project is supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through Grant Numbers UL1TR002389, KL2TR002387, and TL1TR00238 that fund the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM).

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About the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM)

About the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM)

The University of Chicago recognized the Founding Director of the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) with its Gold Key Award during its recent 2024 Distinguished Faculty Awards for the Biological Sciences Division (BSD).

About the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM)

About the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM)

The Clinical Research (CR) Forum recognized two ITM-UChicago researchers in its annual Clinical Research Achievement Awards held in Las Vegas this month.

About the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM)

An Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) leader stepped onto the TEDx stage in Colorado to share how harnessing the power of science communications and private detective strategies can help people crack the case of human connection and change the world.

Be social with us @ChicagoITM

Want to be an ITM Insider? Tell us what you want to know and we'll send it direct to your Inbox.

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