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Who is Carole M. Liedtke? Teacher, Researcher, and APS Leader
College Most people who want to do research go straight on for more school after college and get their Ph.D. degree. Carole did things differently. She went to work instead. She worked for 6 years as Senior Research Assistant to medical doctor who studied the role of vitamins in health and disease. When she decided to go on for her Ph.D., this time she picked a school close to home and went to Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, OH. The reason she chose CWRU was because of their great training program. As part of that training, Carole was required to learn to teach. So in her first year, she got to teach medical students about cells and tissues and how they look when normal and when diseased (called histology). From there, she went on to teach the structure of the body (names and locations of bones, muscles, nerves, called gross anatomy) and the structure of the brain and nervous system (called neuroanatomy). It was in graduate school that Carole had her first real course in physiology. The course made a lot of sense to her because it overlapped and blended into all her other courses, like chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, and biology (zoology). It also was really helpful that the courses came with labs where she could learn hands-on about the subjects. For her own thesis research, she studied membrane biochemistry and transport in intestinal tissue under Dr. Ulrich Hopfer. Her project helped us to understand how the intestine absorbs sodium and chloride during normal physiological functions. Starting Her Own ResearchAfter getting her Ph.D. degree in 1980, Dr. Liedtke stayed on at CWRU to get more research training (called postdoctoral training). She got a job as part of a Pediatric Pulmonary Training Grant in the Pediatric Pulmonary Department at CWRU. The department was very interested in her work on how chemicals (like sodium, potassium, and chloride) move in and out of cells and what regulates that movement. She was able to come up with her own hypotheses and do experiments to test them on a research project that eventually got the department involved in a whole new area of research. Dr. Liedtke was able to get some small local grants to get extra funds to help pay for supplies. Then, two years later, she applied for and got a big grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She was happy working in the department and over the next few years she got promoted to Instructor and then Assistant Professor. The longer she stayed, the more money she was able to get to support her research, and the more promotions she got. It made it very hard for her to even think about leaving. She is now a full professor in that same department. Dr. Liedtke also continued her own professional education and development by earning an M.B.A. degree in 1989, as a part-time student. She brought new skills and knowledge to her laboratory and professional activities. Activities at WorkWorking in a research college means that Dr. Liedtke has to teach, do scientific research, and serve the university, mainly on committees. As a teacher, she has the chance to interact with undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and medical doctor trainees to help them have a better understanding of physiology. As a scientific researcher, Dr. Liedtke studies how the lungs handle fluids, how this is altered by genetic diseases, and how to correct this mistake so that the lungs can function normally. For her research, Dr. Liedtke has received the APS Cell and Molecular Section’s Award for research. She publishes her research both in journals and books and is invited to speak at national and international meetings. Part of her job includes serving on committees for the department, division, medical school, and university. Dr. Liedtke has served on committees to discuss research, staff, budgets, safety, admissions to the medical school, and many others subjects. A couple of years ago she got asked to set up a mentoring program for postdoctoral fellows for the Department of Physiology & Genetics, the first of its kind at CWRU. Service to the APSDr. Liedtke wanted to get involved in the APS too. She did that in lots of different ways. She got on the Women in Physiology Committee to help make sure women are involved in all areas of APS. After 2 years she was asked to be the Chair of the Committee. As Chair, she has helped re-do the APS mentoring program that is now open to both women and men and helps find them someone to talk to for advice. She has put on workshops to teach people how to get up and speak, put together posters on their research, find postdoctoral jobs, and then interview for them. She has helped start a new mentoring award for people who are good at helping young people. Just this year (2004) she was elected by all of APS to the APS Council where she will help run APS and oversee all its programs. She is very happy that she got elected and has already started to work in that new job. In addition, Dr. Liedtke helps to review papers for at least six different journals (including 1 APS journal) to see whether they are accurate and worth publishing. She reviews grants for private foundations and national agencies like NIH to see whether money should be given to people for their research. She also represents CWRU at certain national meetings. On a world-wide level, Dr. Liedtke went to St. Xavier University in Antagonish, Nova Scotia as a guest teacher and researcher. She was also invited to be on the Medical Research Board of the Canadian Cystic Foundation. She has had invitations to go to international meetings to talk about her research and hear about other research going on all over the world. For funWhen she’s not busy with work, Dr. Liedtke enjoys doing cross stitch, playing golf, reading, and gardening. She also volunteers as a lector at church and helps with various community service projects. |
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