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Presentation of the Julius M. Friedenwald Medal to Gail A. Hecht, MD, MS

2020; Elsevier BV; Volume: 158; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1053/j.gastro.2020.05.023

1528-0012

David W. Hecht, Kim E. Barrett,

Colorectal Cancer Screening and Detection

We are honored and delighted that the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) has chosen Gail A. Hecht, MD, MS, to receive the Julius M. Friedenwald Medal, the highest honor given to any AGA member. The award, established in 1941, recognizes “an individual who has contributed significantly to the AGA and has made lifelong contributions to the field of gastroenterology.” Without any doubt, Gail has demonstrated her dedication to the field and the organization throughout her entire career. On Gail’s installation as president of the AGA in 2009, Gail’s sister, Diane Martinez (now sadly deceased), provided an extensive and personal description of Gail’s rise from her upbringing in a tiny settlement to her present-day extraordinary career (Photo 1).1Lawson Martinez D. Trier J.S. Madara J.L. et al.Our new president—Gail A. Hecht, MD, MS.Gastroenterology. 2009; 136: 1821-1826Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1) Google Scholar Here we summarize and highlight some of that history as a backdrop to her successes in professional and family life. Gail was born to parents Lillis and Roy Lawson in a small hospital in Carthage, Missouri, the closest town to her home of La Russell, population 128. This tiny locale consisted of her grandparent’s general store, the post office, 2 feed stores, a gas station, 3 churches, and the town pump. Gail’s early family life included her 2 working parents who tended to the general store, her older sister Diane, her younger brother John, and numerous pets. Unfamiliar with modern-day concerns of abduction or other worries, Gail enjoyed extraordinary freedom, allowing her to explore, imagine, and channel her curiosity. Two very early experiences to which Gail attributes her curiosity and draw to science included her visits to the nearby slaughterhouse, and watching frog eggs develop into tadpoles. Repeatedly witnessing the slaughter and preparation of cattle, including removal of all internal organs, was fascinating, and “not gross,” whereas the development of tadpoles from frog eggs was “amazing to me.” Gail’s early education was obtained in a 2-room schoolhouse (lacking indoor plumbing) until fifth grade. With 1 teacher for 4 grades at a time, Gail recalls being mostly bored throughout the unstructured days, with reading her favorite subject. Financial hardship precipitated her family’s first move when Gail was 11 to El Dorado Springs, Missouri, population 3500. The new school she attended consisted of 100 students per class and offered a much richer academic experience, as well as extracurricular activities as a cheerleader (Photo 2). Following a promotion for her father, the family moved one more time to the Kansas City, Missouri, suburb of Blue Springs, where Gail completed high school and had her first successful election as secretary of her senior class while continuing with her cheerleading activities. Gail received her undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Missouri in Columbia while supporting herself as a nurse’s assistant at the Harry S. Truman Veterans Administration Hospital. Her work experience prompted her to pursue a nursing degree at St. Louis University, but she was denied admission! Not discouraged, and perhaps a bit resentful, Gail channeled her energy to pursue graduate training in microbiology at the University of Missouri. She joined the laboratory of Thomas Brauner and focused her skills and attention on treatments for genital herpes simplex virus. Because she lacked most of the basic science courses required for graduate school, Gail added multiple courses to her schedule that allowed her to pursue a graduate degree. At this key inflection point in her life and filled with the excitement of science, and also influenced by her sister (by now a medical student) and future husband David (a future medical student), she decided to pursue a medical degree while completing her Master of Science degree in 1979. Gail and David were both accepted to Loyola University Chicago–Stritch School of Medicine. In a whirlwind of 3 weeks, Gail and David were married in St. Louis on June 9, honeymooned in Kansas City for 3 days, returned to Columbia to defend their theses, and moved to Chicago to start the 3-year medical school curriculum at Loyola in July. At Loyola, Gail was influenced immensely by the outstanding educators Rolf Gunnar (cardiology) and Ketty Badrinath (oncology). Both of these superb clinicians encouraged her to seek internal medicine for residency, which followed at the University of Minnesota. Although initially interested in rheumatology and nephrology, her experience and curiosity working with Craig McClain and Robert Knodell at the University of Minnesota drew her to pursue gastroenterology for specialized training. Gail and David subsequently pursued fellowships in Boston: Gail at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in gastroenterology under Jerry Trier, and David at Tufts University in infectious diseases. Combining her training and experience with cell culture, and her curiosity and interest in epithelial cell function, she joined James Madara’s group in the pathology department at the Brigham for her postdoctoral research training until 1988. In that incredibly rich training environment, she nurtured and honed her research skills while also developing lifelong relationships and collaborations with fellow trainees who have all become leaders in their fields. Following completion of her training at Harvard, Gail joined the faculty at the University of Illinois, Chicago, under the leadership of Thomas Layden, MD. Tom hired Gail, against the department chair’s advice because she was a woman and would have children, having been impressed with both her unquestionable enthusiasm for research and her Midwestern family values. Gail exemplifies what it means to be a physician-scientist. She sought to combine her background in microbiology with her interest in the epithelial interface. To this end, Gail hit the ground running immediately with a focus on the effects of Clostridium difficile toxin A on the gut epithelium, which allowed her to publish her first paper “Clostridium difficile toxin A perturbs cytoskeletal structure and tight junction permeability of cultured human intestinal epithelial monolayers” in the Journal of Clinical Investigation in 1988. Her important findings were proven even more prescient as C difficile emerged as the most significant nosocomial pathogen many years later. Gail leveraged her initial work to receive funding through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) career development program, which was followed by continuous VA Merit Review and National Institutes of Health funding. Gail shifted her focus to the important pathogen, enteropathogenic Escherichia coli, and has led this field by providing key findings revealing the interaction of host and pathogen and the importance of tight junctions in pathogenesis. Academically, Gail was promoted to professor in 2002 while honing her leadership skills to become the first woman division chief of gastroenterology at the University of Illinois at Chicago from 2002 to 2013. Gail was later recruited back to her alma mater, Loyola, to be division chief from 2013 to 2019. Turning her attention to this new challenge, Gail rebuilt the division to national recognition, achieving US News and World Report rankings in 2018 and 2019, a first for Loyola gastroenterology. As Assistant Dean of Medical Student Research, Gail simultaneously led and still leads the STAR (Student Training in Approaches to Research) and Research Honors programs at Loyola, a comprehensive training program for medical students to develop research skills, well-suited to her passion to train the next generation of physician scientists. In 2019, Gail stepped down as division chief to focus her attention on both her research and training future clinician scientists. Gail has an unbroken record of involvement in service to the AGA, spanning the 30 years that have elapsed since the very outset of her faculty career at the University of Illinois, Chicago. She initially participated on abstract review committees and as chair of Digestive Disease Week (DDW) research fora. She went on to serve on the AGA Research Committee and on the AGA Council, where she chaired the Intestinal Disorders Section. She also directed the AGA Academic Skills Workshop and designed and initiated a highly successful companion program to attract more MD/PhDs to gastroenterology. In these, as well as many other AGA roles, it was clear that Gail was destined to make a major impact on the organization. This was borne out as she ascended to serve as basic science councilor on the governing board and soon thereafter as the AGA president. Her selection for this latter role as only the second female president, and the first in more than 60 years, signaled to the growing cohort of female gastroenterologists and gastrointestinal (GI) scientists that their contributions would be valued equally and that they could aspire to the highest levels in their careers. This has resulted in a number of additional women who have followed her into the highest AGA leadership roles, including the presidency and service on the governing board. Indeed, Gail used the platform provided by her presidency to showcase how diversity makes our discipline stronger. She has therefore had a disproportionate impact on the AGA’s organizational strength. She also impressed many with her leadership style. For example, Bob Sandler, another AGA past-president, commented “I had the chance to work with Gail on the AGA Governing Board when she was the president. There was a crucial issue facing the organization that Gail handled with great diplomacy. Her leadership approach was inclusive, deliberate, and strong. There was no drama—she just got the job done. It was impressive. I learned a lot from watching her and I am ever grateful for the experience.” Gail also impressed the AGA’s professional staff. Lynn Robinson, former co-executive director, stated “from her very first board meeting, Gail was an active and vocal participant. Unlike most new members who mostly kept quiet for a year to learn what was going on, Gail stood out with well-informed opinions that were invariably well respected by her peers.” Lynn also commented that in working with Gail in 2009 on the development and promotion of the AGA’s 5-year strategic plan, “Gail got clear buy-in in the process to broaden participation and then ‘sold it’ with great communication skills and command of all the issues.” Furthermore, even after completing her presidential term, she co-chaired the corporate campaign. She was also a founding member and chair, and is currently past-chair, of the AGA Scientific Advisory Board for Microbiome Research and Education. Gail worked hard with another past-president, Loren Laine, to persuade the governing board to take on this forward-thinking initiative, and consequentially positioned the society as a leader in the area. As chair of the advisory board and director of 3 AGA Gut Microbiota for Health World Summits, she has been an incredibly effective spokesperson for the burgeoning field of microbiome research, as well as approaches, such as fecal microbial transplant, that seek to harness the power of the microbiome for therapeutic purposes. Given the huge public interest in the microbiome, as well as the occasional unwelcome intrusion of hype and excessive speculation, Gail’s steady hand in this role and insistence on data-driven decision making has served not only the AGA, but also the public at large, extraordinarily well. Gail also boasts an important legacy to the field as a tireless mentor in both formal and informal settings. Many outstanding trainees from her own research group have gone on to forge independent trajectories after leaving her laboratory, including Suzana Savkovic, associate professor at Tulane University, and Vish Viswanathan, associate professor at the University of Arizona. She has also been a generous informal mentor to literally dozens of individuals. These include early-career researchers attending the AGA’s MD/PhD workshops and academic skills workshops, and the biannual FASEB GI conference (which she has organized twice). We have also seen her unselfishly provide abundant clear-headed and practical advice to female faculty seeking to balance their career with family responsibilities. Despite her hugely productive scientific and administrative career, Gail has always known how important it is also to make time for the personal activities that give true meaning to life. Gail and David celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in 2019 and have watched their 2 boys launch their own successful careers (Photo 3). Aaron (32) earned his MD/PhD at the University of Chicago and is now a second-year resident at the University of Pennsylvania internal medicine program and will start his GI fellowship a year early in July 2020. Clearly the apple did not fall far from the tree. Cameron (30) is completing his PhD in educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin in 2020 and will start his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Texas, Austin, also in July 2020. Gail and David also have been blessed to welcome 2 wonderful and successful daughters-in-law, Nathania and Saule, respectively, to the family. In addition to devotion to her family, Gail has been incredibly dedicated to her role as a back-up singer to a band of GI scientists known as GI Distress, which was formed initially at the biennial FASEB GI conference (and whose performances are now a highlight of that meeting). GI Distress has now played not only at numerous FASEB conferences, but also at scientific meetings as far flung as London and Dublin, at a graduate program retreat at the University of Massachusetts, and even at a Hecht family wedding (Photo 4). The band’s lead singer, Cormac Taylor, was a signatory to Gail’s nomination for the Friedenwald Medal and was delighted to know she was chosen for this honor. When asked to comment on Gail’s accomplishment, he said “I do love to see my girls have a hobby to keep them busy when the band is not on the road. Seems like Gail is actually quite good at this gastroenterology lark!” Gail’s steadfastness as a friend to many of her female peers in gastroenterology and GI science is likewise legendary. KEB met Gail at DDW in Boston when we were both just beginning our careers, and we have supported each other ever since, being roommates at virtually every subsequent meeting. Gail was also a founding member of “The Swans,” a group of women who got together while still assistant professors to network over dinner at DDW and share challenges and triumphs. Although our meeting schedules have posed ever greater hurdles for getting together, the dinners have continued for more than 20 years. The members of the group have uniformly gone on to run departments and divisions, serve as presidents not only of the AGA but also basic science societies, and garner numerous honors for their scientific contributions. We will all look forward to celebrating receipt of the Friedenwald Medal with Gail.