Dr. Alessia Fornoni, a professor of medicine at the University of Miami and director of the Peggy and Harold Katz Family Drug Discovery Center, shared research strategies and career advice at a virtual presentation Jan. 10.
The event was part of the Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science’s Research Grand Rounds, and invited doctors, residents and medical students in the Washington, D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area for collaborative learning and discussion.
Fornoni explained that she wanted to gain experience in the pharmaceutical industry after working in academia.
“I had discoveries, I had patents about drugs, and I felt like academia would not give me the opportunity to develop them properly,” Fornoni said. “I decided to negotiate a sabbatical and went to explore what it means to do drug discovery. So I did a jump over this valley of death in translational medicine from academia to pharma.”
In 2013, Fornoni became the global head of discovery in cardiovascular and metabolism at Hoffmann-La Roche, a pharmaceuticals and diagnostics company in Basel, Switzerland. Fornoni used this expertise to her advantage when she returned to the University of Miami in 2014.
Fornoni believes leveraging a bedside to bench and back (3B) approach can be useful in translating discoveries to clinical practice and accelerating medical research. In the 3B approach, clinical observations are first made at the patient’s bedside. They can then guide medical research and ultimately improve patient care.
“I’ve always felt like this is a way to de-risk my drug development effort, because if you actually stem your basic science from clinical observation and you bring it to the bench towards a cure, I think the probability of success is actually higher,” Fornoni said.
Fornoni shared how she applied the 3B approach to develop a drug combating kidney disease. In a healthy kidney, proteins called actin fibers act like construction beams and provide structural support to podocytes, cells in the kidney that help remove waste products from the bloodstream. Conversely, when a kidney becomes diseased, the actin fibers are damaged, causing podocytes to lose structural support and flatten.
As a doctor who witnessed patients face kidney diseases without an identifiable cause, Fornoni was motivated to investigate the role of podocytes in kidney disease.
“As long as we don’t know what really brings these healthy podocytes to these disease states, we will not know how to reverse the disorder,” Fornoni said. “What we do know is that podocyte injury is a common feature of rare and prevalent kidney disease.”
Another example Fornoni shared about connections between research and clinical care was her treatment of University of Miami patients who had focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a rare kidney disease. FSGS occurs when glomeruli, the filtering units of kidneys, grow scar tissue. The scar tissue impedes filtration and reduces kidney function. Fornoni’s research efforts led to a new advance in FSGS treatment, rituximab – a drug that combats kidney disease by preventing disruption of actin fibers and podocyte cell death.
After describing her findings, Fornoni moved into a discussion on how one can prioritize work-life balance while pursuing a career in scientific research.
Pallavi Bommareddy (CAS ’26), who conducts neuroscience research at Georgetown University, suggests that students communicate with their research mentors about setting reasonable workloads.
“I found it very helpful to discuss my project thoroughly with my research mentor before starting my work so I had a thorough understanding of the time commitment and expectations of me,” Bommareddy wrote to The Hoya. “This helped me make sure that I wasn’t biting off more than I could chew and that I would have enough time to spend on coursework and extracurricular activities.”
Full Disclosure: Pallavi Bommareddy (CAS ’26) was senior Science editor at The Hoya in Spring 2024.
Additionally, Bommareddy believes that student researchers can apply what they learn in the lab to their studies, which helps promote integration between research and other pursuits.
“I also try to make connections between the research I am working on and what I am learning in my classes, especially my neurobiology ones, so my research and coursework don’t feel as separate,” Bommareddy wrote.
Dr. Jason Umans, associate professor of medicine at Georgetown and a scientific director at MedStar Health Research Institute, views work-life balance as an opportunity to reflect on what is most important to an individual.
“For those of us who can achieve the personal agency to choose our professional pursuits, understand their sometimes formidable and uncompromising requirements and have the support of those we love and care for, the question might be rephrased to ask why you would not prioritize the privilege of reaching for all of the things most important to you,” Umans wrote to the Hoya.
Fornoni concluded her talk by encouraging attendees to approach scientific research with an open mind.
“Be humble in your science. Listen to the people that speak to you. And do your homework,” Fornoni said.
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