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1/ 🔬🧫Tumoral lactic acid bacteria can rewire tumor metabolism and drive cancer treatment response. Our @cancercell paper is finally out #openaccess online! 🦠🔬
tinyurl.com/56puk8bx
Lauren E. Colbert, MD MSCR
1,359 posts
Lauren E. Colbert, MD MSCR
@colbertle
physician-scientist, GYN brachytherapist @mdandersonnews. #biostats nerd. we study tumor and vaginal #Microbiome, #HPV. Proud girl mom.
- I still have too few words to express the heartbreak, but also need too many words to capture what @taniguchiMD was to us. He was a scientist’s scientist and a doctor’s doctor - simply the best. So instead, a tweetorial of things I learned from him over the last 8 years:
- Two selfies, two BIG days. #1) walked OUT of @MDAndersonNews on my last day of residency, the best training program I could have imagined. #2) walked back IN to @MDAndersonNews, thrilled to start on faculty as an Asst. Prof. Physician Scientist in #RadOnc!
- Replying to @colbertle5. Be “one of the good ones.” He used this phrase to describe mentors, trainees, or collaborators. It had a specific meaning that those of us in his lab understood. My lab handbook opens with the following text - a detailed description of how to be “one of the good ones.”
- Colbert Lab is NIH funded and NIH reporter official! COVID junior faculty-dom is no joke, and this wouldn’t have happened without great mentorship @AnnKloppMD @TaniguchiMD @ACKoongMDPhD and an unbelievable team @danlin94 @MollyAlam and Rui Wang.
- Replying to @colbertle1. Dream Big. One of our first meetings, he brainstormed with me. I would throw out an idea. “That’s too small. Dream Big,” he said. Another. “Bigger.” That’s getting expensive. “No problem.” It was always First, get excited about the science. Second, figure out how to do it.
- Replying to @colbertleRecently, a postdoc candidate reached out to me, but her work was more in line with Cullen’s - so I sent her to him. Last week, I got this follow up email from her. It’s remarkable because it’s NOT remarkable. This sounds just like mine and many others’ first encounters with him.
- Replying to @colbertleThese lessons are not unique to me, but will echo on from every one of his trainees, and the generations that they will train. We will keep trying to make him proud. Mahalo, Dr. T. @RKouzyMD @Vince_BernPag @carogarciax2 @danlin94 @MollyAlam @DrMariSea @AColonOrtiz @ArianaCA12
- Replying to @colbertleI watched him do this for one person after another - help them move towards what they were good at until they figured it out for themselves, and then the door was in front of them because he’d been pushing them towards it. I know many trainees will recognize this feeling.
- Replying to @colbertle4. Give honest feedback with kindness. While he was always a cheerleader and a sponsor in public, he wasn’t afraid to give (sometimes brutally) honest, constructive criticism, always in private and always face-to-face.
- Study on Female Trainees in #RadOnc is out in IJROBP: bit.ly/2HxmEwU. 95% of female trainees reported burnout, 80% reported "gender specific biases or obstacles", 30% reported unwanted sexual advances. Great work by @S_W_R_O & @ARRO w/ mentorship by @reshmajagsi!
- Replying to @colbertleBut when he convinced me to teach a “Basic Biostatistics for Translational Researchers” course, he was right there in the front row of every class, taking notes.
- Replying to @colbertle2. Dream Big, Even for Those Who Can’t See Their Own Dreams Yet. From the very beginning, he always told me I was going to be a physician scientist someday. I would laugh and remind him that I didn’t even have a PhD — and I REALLY didn’t like mice. It didn’t matter to him.
- Replying to @colbertle3. Be Humble and Always Keep Learning. He ALWAYS told me that he was going to learn statistics. When we worked on a clinical trial together, he put me in the meetings with the CEO’s, the FDA, and told everyone I was the expert (dubious judgement).