The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
When asked to reflect on the five-decade career he has had at the University of Iowa, Francois Abboud, M.D., smiles.
"I see that you use the past-perfect tense in phrasing your question," he responds patiently, then adds with a tone of mock indignation, "Career I have had?"
After nearly 50 years in the Carver College of Medicine – as a cardiovascular physician and researcher, administrator and mentor to hundreds of faculty, postdoctoral fellows, students and medical residents – one might assume that the former head of the Department of Internal Medicine (Abboud led the department from 1976-2002) would be content to bask in past achievements and peer recognition.
Abboud, however, shows no signs of slowing down.
He continues to serve as an associate vice president for the university's Office of the Vice President for Research, and in the past few years he has chaired search committees for key leadership positions at the UI. Abboud also recently completed a term as president of the American Clinical and Climatological Association (ACCA), one of the oldest and most prestigious organizations in academic medicine and research.
In his ACCA Presidential Address titled "Knowledge, Compassion and the Restless Spirit" and delivered at the group's annual meeting last fall, Abboud spoke about the life events that brought him from Cairo, Egypt to Iowa City and the values that have guided him throughout his career (read a copy of Abboud's ACCA Presidential Address).
But make no mistake, it's the career he has...not had.
Recently, Abboud's cardiovascular research program received a five-year, $10.4 million grant renewal from National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, to support ongoing studies, involving multiple research teams, on how the brain and nervous system affect cardiovascular function. Established in 1971, it is the longest continuously funded program project grant by the NHLBI under the direction of the same principal investigator.
"It's funny – people are constantly asking, 'Are you still working?' as if I'm not supposed to be!" Abboud laughs.
Through their work over the past several decades, Abboud and his colleagues have advanced scientific understanding about autonomic control of circulation. As a result, biomedical researchers know more about the interplay between the nervous system and the heart and blood vessels, which has led to better treatments for heart disease, obstructive sleep apnea and high blood pressure.
It's worth noting that when it was established in the early 1970s, Abboud's research program was also the first major interdepartmental, intercollegiate research program in the Carver College of Medicine, involving multiple teams whose members included basic scientists and clinicians from areas such as internal medicine, physiology, biochemistry and pharmacology.
As Vice President for Medical Affairs Jean Robillard has stated, Abboud's work "epitomized the best in translational research before it was even known as translational research."
"It's common today, but when we started it was still a unique approach – the idea that if you brought together people with different expertise, you would have a convergence of ideas and a different way of approaching problems that might not be possible if everyone is working separately in his or her own lab," Abboud says.
"Since the '70s, we have recruited hundreds of people, and many have gone on to distinguished careers here and around the world," he adds. "But it goes back to what we established, what I call the 'Iowa glue,' where people have an opportunity to build an identity and grow while at the same time be part of a team – working together, sharing ideas and supporting each other."
For Abboud, serendipity played a part in his coming to Iowa. Nearing the end of a cardiology fellowship at Milwaukee County Hospital in the late 1950s, Abboud was considering a move to Bellevue Hospital in New York to work under Nobel Laureate Andre Cournand, a pioneer in cardiac catheterization.
While attending an American Heart Association meeting in Philadelphia in November 1959, however, Abboud was introduced to John Eckstein, a UI cardiovascular researcher (who later served as dean of the medical school). It was a chance meeting that proved pivotal.
Eckstein's research centered on control of circulation – how veins contract and move blood in the body, and the hormones that play a role in this process. As a research fellow, Abboud also had done work related to hormones and arteries. Both were interested in a hormone called norepinephrine, a powerful regulator of blood pressure that is produced by the nervous system.
It was common ground that helped lead to numerous collaborative animal- and patient-based research studies involving basic science and clinical investigators from across the UI campus.
Indeed, dozens of scientists who are current UI faculty or who have left to lead other national research programs have been members of Abboud's research teams.
So what keeps Abboud going today? Good health and support from family and friends, for sure. But it is also the chance to ask questions about fundamental concepts in disease states -- and to find the answers.
"It's a curiosity, a desire to know more, and having the opportunity and environment that allows you to do that," he says.
Abboud's current research project involves an ion channel located in the nerve endings in blood vessels that senses changes in blood pressure. When blood pressure goes up, the ion channel opens, which is how the brain recognizes when blood pressure increases and is able to respond accordingly.
"We have been able to genetically delete that channel from a mouse, resulting in hypertension, and so we're characterizing that," Abboud says. "Then we're going to look at humans with hypertension to see if there is a genetic variation that affects whether that channel functions properly or not."
Scientific discovery moves in incremental steps. It never stops. Much like Abboud, who takes satisfaction with a "steady-as-it-goes" approach.
"It's just like weaving a tapestry – you put in the threads," he says. "Each scientist puts in a piece and eventually you will make a fabulous carpet. And then someday a Nobel Laureate flies on that carpet. That tells you that you've done something.
"It's not always as if you can point to one thing, like finding a cure for debilitating disease," Abboud adds. "It's the incremental pieces that each of us adds to the tapestry, and the interactions with people that allow you to do that. Trying to find that one little piece of research that no one else has seen before continues to be rewarding for me."
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