Theresa Lu, MD, PhD
Associate Scientist, Autoimmunity and Inflammation Program and Pediatric Rheumatology, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York City, Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York City
Background: Understanding how to manipulate the vasculature in lymph nodes is the basis for Dr. Lu’s research—and one that is paying off after eight years. “We now have some insight into how lymph node vascular growth and function is regulated,” she says. “And, when we disrupt what happens normally to the blood vessels, we can have an impact on immune responses and antibody production. We now need to apply this understanding to ask if disrupting normal vascular regulation can truly be used to manipulate immunity and autoimmunity. We also need to understand whether there is something wrong with vascular regulation or how the vasculature regulates the immune cells in autoimmune diseases.” Dr. Lu earned her medical degree from Yale University and specialized in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She had a “fantastic learning experience” working on a Navajo reservation in Arizona before completing a pediatric fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. The long-term goal of Dr. Lu’s research is to understand the regulation of lymphoid tissue vascular growth and function, and “to use that understanding to disrupt undesired autoimmune responses,” she says.
Q: How excited are you to go to work every day?
A: I’m excited because there are a lot of interesting directions that we can take now. I’m excited to go to work every day because we want to see if the ideas that we are testing are correct; or, if they’re not correct, how we can change the ideas to try and solve this big mystery. … Ultimately we’re excited because we can potentially make a difference in the treatment of rheumatologic diseases.
Q: What did working with the Navajo teach you about medicine and about yourself?
A: I learned to try to consider things from the parents’ perspective. They just sold a silver bracelet to buy enough gas to drive 30 miles and wait four hours to have their four-year-old seen by a pediatrician. Even if it is just a mild viral ear infection that does not require antibiotics, it is important to treat the child and family seriously.
