rheumatologist
Rheumatology (Greek ''ῥεῦμα'', ''rheûma'', flowing current) is a branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis and management of disorders whose common feature is inflammation in the bones, muscles, joints, and internal organs. Rheumatolog ...
and
physician-scientist A physician-scientist is traditionally a holder of a medical degree and a doctor of philosophy also known as an MD-PhD. Compared to other clinicians, physician-scientists invest significant time and professional effort in scientific research and ...
known for her work in
cell migration
Cell migration is a central process in the development and maintenance of multicellular organisms. Tissue formation during embryonic development, wound healing and immune responses all require the orchestrated movement of cells in particular dire ...
and
wound healing
Wound healing refers to a living organism's replacement of destroyed or damaged tissue by newly produced tissue.
In undamaged skin, the epidermis (surface, epithelial layer) and dermis (deeper, connective layer) form a protective barrier again ...
.
Early life and education
Huttenlocher was born to two academic parents; her father,
Peter
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a sur ...
, was a pediatric neurologist and her mother, Janellen, was a psychologist. She completed her
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
degree at
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...
and her
medical degree
A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...
from
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
. Following Harvard, she completed her training at
Boston Children's Hospital
Boston Children's Hospital formerly known as Children's Hospital Boston until 2012 is a nationally ranked, freestanding acute care children's hospital located in Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent both to its teaching affiliate, Harvard Medical Scho ...
and the
University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It cond ...
.
Career
Huttenlocher joined the faculty at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...
(UW-M) in 1999 with a joint appointment in the Departments of Pediatrics and Pharmacology and as an associate director of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP). While serving in this role, Huttenlocher focused her research on defining the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate cell migration and identifying the basic adhesive mechanisms that regulate cell migration and leukocyte chemotaxis. By 2005, her research team had identified a novel pathway that turned out to be critical for cell migration and chemotaxis as it involves intracellular proteolysis by the calcium-dependent protease calpain. As a result, she was also elected a member of the
American Society for Clinical Investigation
The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), established in 1908, is one of the oldest and most respected medical honor societies in the United States.
Organization and purpose
The ASCI is an honorary society to which more than 2,800 ph ...
. Following this discovery, Huttenlocher was promoted to Professor with tenure and was the recipient of the Graduate School’s H.I. Romnes Fellowship award. She also received the Burroughs-Wellcome Fund’s Clinical Scientist Award in Translational Research for her project "Diagnosis and Treatment of Autoinflammatory Disease."
As a result of her research, Huttenlocher was the recipient of a 2011 WARF Kellett Mid-Career Award. In 2012, Huttenlocher was appointed the director of the MSTP, succeeding a retiring Deane Mosher. During this time, she was also elected into the
Association of American Physicians
The Association of American Physicians (AAP) is an honorary medical society founded in 1885 by the Canadian physician Sir William Osler and six other distinguished physicians of his era for "the advancement of scientific and practical medicine." ...
and became a Member of the
National Academy of Medicine
The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, En ...
"for her pioneering studies of cell migration and alterations of cell migration in human diseases." In 2017, Huttenlocher was awarded a UW2020 grant to support her project "Engineering leukocytes generated from human iPS cells to treat human disease." At the same time, she was also elected a Fellow of the
American Society for Cell Biology
The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) is a professional society that was founded in 1960. The following year, she was one of eight researchers recognized with the Society for the Immunotherapy of Cancer’s Team Science Award as someone who has "made a long-standing contribution to the field of cancer immunotherapy over the past 35 years." Huttenlocher later started a research project entitled "Cell migration and wound repair" and "Imaging Immunometabolism in live animals during host defense."