YSM Issue 93.3_Old

SHORT
Pharmacology
A POTENTIAL THERAPEUTIC
ROUTE FOR WOLFRAM SYNDROME
Barbara Ehrlich, Forging Her Own Path
BY VERONICA LEE
ART BY ELLIE GABRIEL
From the beginning of her career, Barbara Ehrlich has been
break to attend a lecture,” Ehrlich said. But nevertheless, she
interested in using basic science to address problems in
forged her own path. She combined her two thirty-minute
human health. As a professor of pharmacology at the
coffee breaks into an hour break so that she also could attend
Yale School of Medicine, she leads her research team in the
search for new drugs that can help patients suffering from
Wolfram syndrome: a pediatric genetic disorder characterized
by childhood-onset diabetes, loss of vision and hearing,
neurological and psychiatric symptoms, and often early
death. Recently, Ehrlich and her team found that abnormal
calcium signaling—a mechanism used for communication
between cell structures—may cause the disease. In light
of this discovery, the group proposed a potential
new treatment involving two existing drugs:
ibudilast and a calpain inhibitor. Ehrlich’s
findings are especially exciting because
there is currently no treatment for
this lethal disorder. In addition
to studying Wolfram syndrome,
Ehrlich also investigates polycystic
lectures. After that summer, she went back to Brown and began
to pursue scientific research under Dr. Cserr’s guidance.
In graduate school at UCLA, she was the only female student
to advance past the first year. Oftentimes, she was sent to
conferences and events where she was the only woman in the
room. “There were times where I couldn’t get anyone to talk to
me,” Ehrlich said. But despite the adversity she faced, Ehrlich
says she was blessed by generous people at different points
in her career. She recalls a specific moment during
graduate school when a highly-respected
senior male scientist loudly exclaimed,
“This is so interesting!” while publicly
discussing her work to encourage his
peers to accept her into what was
very much a “boys with MD/PhDs
club.” Ehrlich recalls that, even
kidney disease—a condition
though it happened a long time
that causes cysts to grow in the
ago, the moment remains special
kidneys—and
chemotherapy-
to her to this day.
related pain in the hands and feet.
However, research is only part
of what Ehrlich does—she has
also dedicated her life to mentoring
According to Ehrlich, those who
encourage the research of the others,
especially underrepresented scientists,
are important allies. When she joined
students in STEM. “The most
the faculty at Yale twenty-three years
rewarding thing is when my former
students tell me ‘You know, I was going
to call you for some advice, but then I heard
your voice in my head and I knew exactly what
you were going to say,’” Ehrlich said. Ehrlich says that
she learns a lot from her students about expectations and
assumptions, and loves seeing them succeed.
In a way, Ehrlich is passing the torch of mentorship from
when she received guidance as a young scientist. Throughout
her life, Ehrlich said that she’s been blessed with many
wonderful mentors, including Dr. Helen Cserr—a “tough
woman,” as Ehrlich described her, who “had to fight for
everything she got at the university.”
Throughout her career, Ehrlich has also experienced the
impact of working in a field long dominated by men. When she
was still an undergraduate student at Brown, she got her first
job working in at the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole,
Massachusetts. “Back then, the only job available for girls was
chambermaid. Only the boys were allowed to take an additional
ago, Ehrlich was part of a special program
to increase the number of tenured women at
the School of Medicine. At that time, only sixteen
to seventeen percent of tenured professors were
women. Now, that number has jumped to twenty percent—a
definite improvement, but not enough according to Ehrlich. In
her opinion, further change remains necessary.
But she’s not just waiting for this change to happen. Ehrlich
continues to advocate for her female students and encourage
them to persist in the face of challenges. As Ehrlich describes,
confidence, a positive attitude, and being able to bounce back
from failure are key for success, and are attributes that she
tries to instill in all of her students.
“They always find a way to my door,” Ehrlich said of her
female students, “and I hope it stays like that as long as I’m
here.” Indeed, Ehrlich has not only forged her own path as
a woman in science, but continues to have an impact on the
next generation of STEM leaders—especially supporting and
amplifying the voices of other women in science. ■
8 Yale Scientific Magazine November 2020 www.yalescientific.org