“As researchers, we focus on the generation and propagation of knowledge,” says Jacob I. Sznajder, MD, Roy and Elaine Patterson Professor of Medicine and chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. “We are inspired by our mentors and build on the work that has come before.”
       Dr. Sznajder mentors several graduate and postdoctoral students and junior faculty members in his laboratories. His mentorship was inspirational for Karen M. Ridge, PhD, research assistant professor of medicine. “I’m proud of Karen,” says Dr. Sznajder. “She started as a technician, then completed her PhD in my lab while getting married and having two children. Along with gaining those responsibilities, she completed a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellowship here. She recently earned her own independent research funding, a career development award from the Department of Veterans Affairs.”
       “Working in his lab, I’ve been introduced to the forefathers of lung physiology,” says Dr. Ridge. “Iasha [as he is known to colleagues] let me take the lead in discussing my ideas with these other international leaders. He was there beside me to step in when I stumbled. As a trainee, you stumble more than you care to admit. But he never takes the limelight and always promotes his students’ interests.”
       Dr. Sznajder’s research was instrumental in explaining the role of the critical ion channel, sodium-potassium ATPase, in the alveolar epithelium. Says Dr. Ridge, “His seminal work defined the active sodium transport mechanism involved in removing fluid from the alveolar space and improving gas exchange, which is important for patients with congestive heart failure and pulmonary edema.” She contributed to these studies for several years, but some “small experiments” led her to focus on keratin intermediate filaments, structural components of the cytoskeleton, in collaboration with Robert D. Goldman, PhD, Stephen Walter Ranson Professor and chair of cell and molecular biology. “Iasha encouraged me to explore this interest and introduced me to another mentor in Dr. Goldman,” says Dr. Ridge.
       Generations of mentor-student relationships develop in this way. Dr. Sznajder also accepts medical students for summer research experiences, such as second-year student Byron F. Santos of Des Peres, Missouri. “The school’s Office of Minority and Cultural Affairs connected me with Dr. Sznajder,” says Santos. “He introduced me to the research process: how to design experiments, carry them out, and present the data in a form other scientists can use.” Santos’ primary mentor was Laura A. Dada, PhD, research assistant professor of medicine, with whom he studied the molecular biology of cytoskeletal components interacting with sodium-potassium ATPase. The three wrote two abstracts for presentation based on Santos’ summer work.
       “You have a better appreciation for mentorship once you work with students on your own,” says
Dr. Ridge, who mentors a graduate student and postdoctoral fellow in her lab. “This is how we give back to academia, by helping train the next generation of scientists. If you look at the people who studied under Iasha, the vast majority have gone into academia.”
       “Mentorship is a two-way street,” says Dr. Sznajder. “With the revolution in genomics and proteomics today, bringing in talented, bright young people who challenge us to think in new ways helps us move science to heights never before achieved.”