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Lou Guillette: Scientist and communicator par excellence

2015; Wiley; Volume: 82; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/mrd.22587

1098-2795

Jerrold J. Heindel, Retha R. Newbold, Taisen Iguchi, Charles R. Tyler, Carmen J. Williams,

Biotechnology and Related Fields

Louis (Lou) J. Guillette, Jr., PhD, internationally recognized scientist, mentor, and communicator par excellence, died August 6, 2015 at the age of 60 from complications from his eight-year battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. His passing shocked and saddened family, friends and colleagues worldwide. He was the Director of the Marine Biomedicine & Environmental Sciences Center and Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), a Professor of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and SmartState Endowed Chair of Marine Genomics at the SC Center of Economic Excellence. Prior to moving to MUSC, he was in the Biology Department at the University of Florida for 15 years. Guillette's research examined the evolution of the reproductive system in vertebrates and the role of various environmental factors, including environmental contaminants, in modifying the development and function of this system. He focused on alligators, fish, frogs, and humans, and his work extended from population-level endpoints to the molecular endocrine mechanisms. As he once noted, “I have a passionate love of wild places and the interesting and weird animals that live in those places.” Lou's legacy covers not only his contributions to science, but also his focus on mentoring, his outstanding communication skills, and his dedication to family. Lou started studying the possible use of the American alligator as a renewable resource. During those studies in Lake Apopka, he noticed that there were fewer alligator eggs and the newborn alligators had reproductive-system birth defects. Further study showed that the alligators had hormonal abnormalities (PubMed identifier: 7895709). These results were discovered just as the field of endocrine disruption was getting off the ground, and they led him to serendipitously become a leader in this new field as he discovered that environmental contaminants in the lake were responsible for the alligators' reproductive problems. Lou demonstrated that low-level exposures during critical developmental periods in the alligator can have lasting health implications, drawing important conclusions from both field and controlled laboratory studies. Lou was an outstanding communicator - as his students, colleagues, and many journalists will tell you. He could chat with you for 10 minutes, and change the course of your life. His work was featured in the international media (BBC, NHK, ABC, and PBS) and other scientific, news, and general-education outlets. He served as a science advisor to many domestic and foreign agencies; testified in the United States Congress and for various foreign administrations regarding the impacts of environmental contamination on human and ecosystem health; and served on National Academy of Science panels examining endocrine-disrupting contaminants and health issues in the post-Hurricane Katrina environment. Lou was an advisor to numerous countries -including New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, and Botswana- on the development of reproductive biology programs for endangered wildlife. He was appointed honorary professor at academic institutions in Japan, the Philippines, South Africa, and South America. Lou recently received the Heinz Award for his concern for humanity, his passion for scientific excellence, and the enduring and meaningful impact of his research on the reproductive system of alligators and other wildlife and its translation to human health. John McLachlan, from Tulane University, noted, “In addition to Lou's singular scientific accomplishments in characterizing environmental effects on alligators, he was a charismatic scientific communicator who could explain complex scientific issues to congressional panels, news media, or scientific audiences with equal skill - and always under it all was his passion.” Alligator eyes…Lake Apopka…sentinel species…environmental contaminants… Lou's public presentations made these into household words. He was an extraordinary photographer who captured exquisite images of the wildlife he saw or studied, and used these images in presentations to actively engage those of us who traveled in less exotic locales. He also shared many of these images on his Flickr web site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lou_guillette/ . One of Lou's outstanding attributes was his ability to translate his findings and research in general to the public, helping people understand why wildlife research is important and informative. “People don't appreciate how much wildlife and the things living around us can tell us about the health of the environment, and actually tell us something about our own health,” Lou once said. “If the environment isn't healthy for a baby alligator or a baby dolphin, it probably isn't healthy for us as well.” With a focus on the translation of ecological studies to human health, Lou's position in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at MUSC was a good fit. Roger Newman, MD, the Maas Chair for Reproductive Sciences in MUSC's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology who was instrumental in recruiting Lou into his department noted, “One legacy Guillette leaves is that he sparked interest among animal-based researchers who took note of his interdisciplinary collaborations with clinical researchers and physicians.” Newman said he blazed a trail in crossing traditional boundaries of how science can be performed. After all, Newman said, “there aren't many researchers as comfortable talking with physicians and basic scientists as they are 'wrangling alligators' in the field. Though Guillette's loss is a setback, his legacy will continue not only in the students he influenced, but also in how he worked at the frontiers of multiple scientific disciplines building bridges across those gaps.” “His most important thing in life was to be a mentor, to teach others how to find their own solutions to a problem or question,” his wife, Elizabeth Guillette, said. Indeed Lou is quoted as saying, “My legacy to science is not just the work I did - that's just brick and walls. Your true legacy is the people you leave behind.” Elizabeth said she believes his students and colleagues at MUSC and around the world will continue the research that he left behind, something that Russ Lowers, a wildlife biologist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and a colleague of Guillette, echoed. “You have no idea how many lives he's touched. He's built this big legacy that all of us are fighting to keep going now,” Lowers said. “He's given us the building blocks.” Lou worked to build a multi-generational mentoring program involving high school students, university freshmen and sophomores, more advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty. In 2006, he was named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor, an award program to support the efforts of leading scientists who are dedicated to actively engaging undergraduates in their research. More than 125 students participated in hands-on research with him involving the capture of alligators, fish, turtles, and frogs in the wild. “I want them to appreciate the difference between 'studentship,' [which Guillette defined as relatively passive attendance at lectures and labs where the results of experiments are predetermined] and 'scholarship,' the pursuit of new knowledge,” he explained. Laura Vandenberg from the University of Massachusetts noted, “Lou's kindness and encouragement of junior scientists was endless. He gave me some of the best advice I've ever received about teaching: 'If you don't know that it is a performance art, you're doing it wrong.'” Lou had a great sense of humor, too. “Memories of his fabulous smile and sense of humor help a bit to sweeten the sadness of our loss”, noted Ana Soto, a colleague from Tufts University. Lou with students in March, 2015, working and as always, having fun. Photo courtesy of Pete Myers. Lou is survived by his wife Elizabeth (Buzzy) Arnold Guillette, two sons, and two daughters. Buzzy is a cultural/medical anthropologist, and recently retired as an Associate Scientist with the Department of Anthropology at the University of Florida. He is also survived by literally hundreds of students whose lives he changed and who now are devoted to keeping his legacy alive by inspiring the next generation to be outstanding scientists and also great mentors and communicators. Jerrold J. Heindel National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Division of Extramural Research and Training Retha R. Newbold Emeritus, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Division of the National Toxicology Program Carmen J. Williams National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Division of Intramural Research Lou Guillette Memories from the Bamboo Forest of Kamakura Hey Lou, my dearest twin brother. I reminisce about your favorite temple, Ho kokuji, in Kamakura, one of the old historical towns of Japan. Ho kokuji Temple is one of the Zen temples, established in 1334, with a Mo so bamboo garden (forest). The bamboo forest was usually very silent - you could hear only noise of leaves with wind. We enjoyed a bowl of green tea with a sweet, and talked a lot about our lives and science. Lou wished to write a book for children, telling them of nature and environmental contaminants. He often quoted “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.” from The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, and he might have started the book by saying “I am Lou, I will speak for the wildlife and humans…” Lou loved various kinds of art, drawings, and prints by Mr. Jim Wilson, and sculptures by Mr. Howard Suzuki. I also have some of their art - “alligators with mice”, “hatching 'gators”, “a 'gator chasing a duck”. Our tastes in the arts and sciences overlapped a lot. We chatted about, gators in the bamboo forest, too. Lou wanted to have the 'gator estrogen receptors, so he sent us 'gator tissues and Dr. Katsu, who was in my lab at that time, cloned them in a week. Since that project, Lou wanted to establish molecular biology techniques in his lab to identify more of the genes, so he recruited Dr. Satomi Kohno. We collected tissue samples from different kinds of animals: ancient fish, whale shark, teleosts, salamanders, lizards, snakes, turtles and birds. The receptor-gene zoo has been growing since, and will prove to be useful in the near future. These are only a part of my connections with Lou - memories originating from the Bamboo forest at the Ho kokuji in Kamakura. I wish to visit the temple with Lou again; this will bring us peace of mind. Lou and Taisen catching alligators near the NASA Kennedy Space Center, Florida, 2012. Taisen Iguchi Professor of Integrative Bioscience, National Institutes of Natural Sciences National Institute for Basic Biology Lou Guillette Ambassador for the environment, outstanding man, and true friend Lou Guillette was an outstanding man, and his world-famous work on the effects of chemicals on alligators influenced a paradigm shift in ecotoxicology. He was an exceptional communicator, too - a rare individual who bridged the divides among the realms of the environment, wildlife, and human health. But for me, Lou's greatest legacy in science is the people he supported on his life's journey, those who now carry the 'torch' he lit in them. Lou cared for so many, and always took the time to support 'the young folk'. His academic family now extends to all quarters of the Earth -from the United States to Canada, Europe, South Africa, Australia, and Japan. Lou's passion and advocacy for the environment was unparalleled. Kindred spirits in our love for nature and photography, I was lucky to travel to many parts of the globe with him -cameras in hand - and share in his passion. Some of the many wonderful memories etched in my 'soft drive' include hiking together on Dartmoor in the pouring rains of an 'English summer'; collecting 'gator' eggs from their nests in the swamps of Florida; marveling at male ospreys as they carried oversized fish in their display flight to females; 'chasing' echidna and other weird and wonderful 'evolutionary bottlenecks' in Australia, just last year; and finally, only a few weeks before Lou passed away, photographing a fledgling barred owl near his home in South Carolina. Lou always wanted a great owl shot - and he got one. Lou's life was so rich, and he made the lives of so many around him much richer too. I consider myself blessed to have known the man and to call him my friend. He leaves a gaping hole in the lives of so many people that will be hard to fill. I will miss him hugely; I do already. My heart goes out to his family, and to all who share my love for this man. Lou, you touched my soul. Lou and Charles on Kangaroo Island, Australia, after SETC Australasia, 2014. Charles R. Tyler College of Life and Environmental Sciences University of Exeter