Who is Kathleen O’Hagan?
A Teacher and a Researcher
Kathy was born in Teaneck, NJ and spent her childhood in Midland Park, NJ,
a small suburban village in Northern NJ. She didn’t have a particular
fascination with science as a child. Most of the “science” she had in
elementary school involved the physical sciences, which did not interest
her much.
Listen to Your Mother
In addition to reading voraciously and playing
sports, Kathy did enjoy learning about the natural world, an interest that
was nurtured by many family camping trips and visits to the American
Museum of Natural History in New York City. Two factors in high school
pushed her in the direction of a career in science, and particularly the
life sciences. The first occurred early in her high school career, as she
mused over potential college majors, such as English and psychology. Her
mother interjected rather abruptly “You should go into technology. It’s
the wave of the future for smart girls”. This statement, uttered in the
mid-1970s by a stay-at-home mom, had quite an impact and it opened her
mind to science as a potential career path for a woman. Second, she found
her high school biology classes far more interesting than chemistry or
physics, so biology it was when she entered college.
Teachers Make a Difference
Kathy chose to attend the College of the Holy Cross
in Worcester, MA, which is a small liberal arts college. In her second
year there, Kathy took a one-semester class in Animal Physiology as a
sophomore, and she knew she had found her niche. In physiology, she saw a
path for combining her interests in exercise and in understanding how
organ systems function in health and disease.
Being at a small college gave Kathy the opportunity
to have close contact with the science faculty, which was important in
that it helped foster her burgeoning interest in research. One of those
faculty members, Wayne Carley, was gracious and allowed her, as a senior,
to design and complete a small exercise training study using rats, even
though his own research interests were in reproductive physiology. She
graduated with a bachelors degree in biology in 1983.
Training to Be a Researcher
For her graduate work, Kathy returned to her home
state to work on her Ph.D. in physiology at Rutgers, The State University
of NJ (and yes, that is the official name of the university) in New
Brunswick. Under the direction of Edward Zambraski, she learned that
exercise is an excellent tool with which to probe the physiological
mechanisms regulating cardiovascular function and renal hemodynamics. The
cross-training in renal and exercise physiology she received, which on the
surface may seem incongruous, has served her well in both research and in
teaching. It was at Rutgers that she had her first taste of teaching in
both lab and lecture formats. She found she enjoyed it very much.
In 1990, Dr. O’Hagan moved to Milwaukee, WI where she
completed 3 years of postdoctoral work in the Department of Anesthesiology
at the VA Medical Center/Medical College of Wisconsin under the direction
of Philip Clifford and Leonard Bell. The training she received in neural
control of the circulation during exercise led her to her current interest
in understanding how pregnancy impacts vascular control mechanisms during
exercise. While she greatly enjoyed her postdoctoral experience in which
she spent 100% of her time in research, Dr. O’Hagan believed that a better
fit for her for a permanent position was a combination of teaching and
research.
Teaching is as Important as Research
Dr. O’Hagan’s current position is Chair and Professor of
Physiology at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, Midwestern
University, Downers Grove, IL. MWU is a teaching-intensive institution
that specializes in the education of health professionals. She feels that
her previous teaching experience as a graduate student and her broad
training in systems-level renal, neural control, and exercise physiology
were major advantages in competing for this tenure-track position at MWU.
A good portion of Dr. O’Hagan’s time is dedicated to instruction, and
consequently, her salary money is provided by the institution. This
differs from faculty positions in many medical schools where faculty
members are expected to devote most of their time to research and generate
most of their salary (if not all) from extramural grant funds. As a member
of the physiology faculty at MWU, Dr. O’Hagan helps to provide instruction
to professional students in the colleges of pharmacy and health sciences
as well as to the osteopathic medical students. Her primary teaching
responsibilities include lecturing in renal and exercise physiology and
facilitating small-group discussions in all areas of physiology.
MWU also values original scholarship and service to
the community. So Dr. O’Hagan has a small research lab where she is
currently focusing on trying to understand the impact of pregnancy on the
regulation of uterine artery blood flow during dynamic exercise. She is
interested in how the sympathetic nervous system, the vascular endothelium
and circulating humoral factors interact to control uterine blood flow
during exercise, and how normal pregnancy affects this response.
Family and Fun
Dr. O’Hagan’s family includes her husband Kyle Ramsey
(an immunologist also on faculty at MWU), their son Matthew, and Kyle’s
older children Hannah and Seth. They enjoy playing a variety of
recreational sports and spending time outside. They often visit the
various Chicago museums and enjoy traveling to their extended family,
which live across the eastern US. Dr. O’Hagan is also involved at her
parish in the lay ministries of reader and adult education.
Advice for a Graduate Student
My advice is to take
advantage of opportunities to teach. Find out now if teaching suits you.
It will help you forge the career path that is right for you. Second, when
considering postdoctoral opportunities, look for a position that offers
you the opportunity to learn new techniques in an area different from your
graduate work. Broad training can make you more flexible in a tight job
market.
Recent Publications
1. Nesbitt A.E., R.J. Murphy, and K.P. O’Hagan. Effect of gestational
stage on uterine artery blood flow during exercise in rabbits.
J.Appl. Physiol. 99: 159-2165, 2005.2. O'Hagan, K.P., and
J.A. Alberts. Uterine artery blood flow and renal sympathetic nerve
activity during exercise in rabbit pregnancy.
Am. J. Physiol. Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol. 285: R1135-R1144, 2003.
3. Brooks, V.L., K.A. Clow, and K.P. O'Hagan. Pregnancy and acute
baroreflex resetting in conscious rabbits.
Am.
J. Physiol. Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol. 283: R429-R440, 2002.
4. O'Hagan, K.P., K.A. Skogg, and J.B. Stevenson. AT1
receptor block does not affect arterial baroreflex during pregnancy in
rabbits.
Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol. 280: H1996-H2005, 2001.
5. Mueller, P.J., K.P. O'Hagan, K.A. Skogg, J.B. Buckwalter, and P.S.
Clifford. Renal hemodynamic responses to dynamic exercise in rabbits.
J. Appl.
Physiol. 85: 1605-1614, 1998.
6. O'Hagan, K.P., and S.M. Casey. Arterial baroreflex during pregnancy
and renal sympathetic nerve activity during parturition in rabbits.
Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol. 274: H1635-H1642, 1998.
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