Seventh Edition Marquis Who’s Who INSIGHT 15 INSIGHT MARQUIS WHO′S WHO SEVENTH EDITION SUMMER 2025 What are two key behaviors/personality traits that allow you to be effective in your role? One thing is to keep plugging away. During a research career, most of us go through periods when funding is scarce. You just have to keep going. Another factor is the importance of collaboration. Different basic scientists and clinical investigators have different specific areas of expertise, and it's almost impossible for one person to master enough different parts of a given field to work alone successfully. We can make better progress by collaborating with other people having different areas of expertise, and by bringing our expertise together to focus on the same problem. How do you feel your industry has changed/evolved? I’ve seen how medical research has evolved over many decades. There's been progression from observational studies and early disease descriptions to a more organspecific focus and, eventually, in the last half-century, to research at a more molecular level, looking at specific molecules and then finally to the genetic level. In my lifetime, I've seen medical science progress from the idea that genetics is important in human health, to understanding the structure of DNA, and to identifying specific genes in the DNA and mutations of those genes. What excites you the most about your industry? Two things that excite all of us in medical research are the experience of discovery and developing new knowledge, and then seeing how these discoveries can improve patient health care. How have you navigated disruptions in your industry to remain a top professional? Concerning my research on disorders of iron metabolism and related subjects, I had three different phases in my career associated with relocating. I began my research in this area during my fellowship training in hematology and oncology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, where I later joined the faculty for several years after completing my fellowship. Then, I moved partway across the country to the VA Medical Center in North Dakota and the University of North Dakota School of Medicine, which represented moving from an established research environment to one where I was more independent. I successfully competed for merit review grants from the VA Research Service and was able to continue my work in a new lab. It was a time of great personal growth, both in terms of my research and my clinical work. I had many great colleagues at the VA, and I also directed the hematology curriculum of the Introduction to Clinical Medicine course for medical students. After 12 years, I moved again, this time to UC Irvine. I also began clinical work at the UC Irvine-affiliated VA Medical Center in Long Beach. There, I was able to compete successfully for another VA merit review grant. I also underwent a transition in my research from basic work with cells in culture and experiments with animals to human studies and clinical research, particularly with hemochromatosis patients. In this work, I collaborated with my wife, who is a biostatistician. Together, we conducted several research projects that were funded by the National Institutes of Health.
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