Carole was born in Cleveland, OH. As a child she enjoyed her science classes in school, doing experiments on her own, learning about health, and visiting the natural history museum. She decided to study science because she liked the fact that science explains how things work, including the human body. She liked the logic she found in studying chemistry and physics. Plus, math and science were much easier for her than writing, English, and the humanities. Also, she knew she would not make a good attorney. 

College
When it came time for college, Carole’s parents wanted her to attend a state school. She decided that Miami University in Oxford, OH was far enough away from home and yet still offered a very good science program. She graduated with her Bachelors of Arts in 1966.

Unlike more people who are interested in a research career, Carole then went to work instead of going straight on to graduate school. She worked for 6 years as Senior Research Assistant to a medical doctor who studied the role of vitamins in health and disease. When she decided to go back to school, she stayed close to home this time and applied at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, OH, because of the excellent training program. As part of the training program, there was a requirement to teach. So in her first year, Carole was assigned to teach histology to medical students. From there, she went on to teach gross anatomy and neuroanatomy.  

It was in graduate school that Carole had her first formal course in physiology. The course material made a lot of sense to her because it overlapped and blended into her previous courses, like chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, and biology (zoology). It also helped that the course work was enhanced by laboratory exercises, which she found exciting. 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. 

As she stayed working in the department, she was promoted to Instructor and then Assistant Professor. She was happy there and remained in the department. However, the longer she stayed, the more difficult it became to think about relocating. As she worked to develop a well-funded research program, she was promoted through the ranks. She is now a full professor in that same department/division.

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.

As a teacher, she is privileged to interact with undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and physician trainees to bring them to a better understanding of basic and applied physiology.

As a scientific researcher, she investigates 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 scholarly work, 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 meetings. 

Part of any faculty job includes serving on committees for the department, division, medical school and university. Dr. Liedtke serves or has served on committees ranging in focus on research, personnel, budget, nominating and executive committees of Faculty Senate, radiation safety (university committee at invitation of the Vice President of Finance and Administration), admissions (medical school), plus many others. Another service activity finds her organizing a postdoctoral mentoring program for the Department of Physiology and Genetics, the first of its kind at CWRU.

She has been active in the APS Cell and Molecular Physiology Section, 1 of 12 APS sections. She has served in several capacities, but most recently she was elected to be the chair of the Section. She had to turn that position down, though, because she was also just elected this year (2004) by the entire membership to a higher office, that of APS Council. As a Councillor, she will be responsible for overseeing the activities and finances of the entire Society. She is thrilled to have been elected and has already started to work in that new job.

In addition, she became involved in the publications program of APS. She serves on the Editorial Review Board of the American Journal of Physiology.  She also reviews manuscripts for at least six other journals, reviews grants for private foundations and national agencies, and represents CWRU at the Federal Demonstration Partnership meetings.

At the international level, Dr. Liedtke was a visiting professor to St. Xavier University in Antagonish, Nova Scotia; was invited to serve on the Medical Research Board of the Canadian Cystic Foundation; and has attended international conferences and meetings as an invited speaker.

Advice for Graduate Students
Test a range of research projects in physiology. Attend seminars and journal clubs – this is venue for hearing and discussing new ideas, new approaches. Study hard. Work hard – learn latest and newest techniques for your research project. Become expert with electronic resources for obtaining information, writing, etc. Publish.

2. Liedtke, C.M., R. Papay, and T.S. Cole. Modulation of Na/K/2Cl cotransport by intracellular Cl^- and protein kinase C-  in Calu-3 cells. Am. J. Physiol. Lung Cell. Mol. Physiol. 282:L1151-1159, 2002. 

3. Liedtke, C.M., M. Hubbard, and X. Wang. Stability of actin cytoskeleton and PKC-  binding to actin regulate NKCC1 function in airway epithelial cells. Am. J. Physiol. Cell. Physiol. 284:C487-C496, 2003. 

4. Liedtke, C.M., V. Raghuram, C.C. Yun, and X. Wang. Role of a PDZ1 domain of NHERF1 in the binding of airway epithelial RACK1 to NHERF1. Am. J. Physiol. Cell. Physiol. 286: C1037-C1044, 2004.