HEALTHCARE LEADER. ‘Rising Star’ Shines

‘Rising Star’ Shines

UF researcher Erika Moore, PhD, named Forbes 30 under 30 healthcare experts to watch in 2021

University of Florida researcher Erika Moore, PhD, was recently named to Forbes magazine’s 30 Under 30 health care experts to watch in 2021. The 10th annual list recognizes 600 entrepreneurs, scientists, activists and entertainers who are changing the world.

The honor came as a surprise to Moore, 29, the Rhines Rising Star Larry Hench assistant professor of materials science & engineering in UF’s Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. Moore is also a KL2 scholar in the UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute. She celebrated with a quick call to her family and a tweet, then it was back to work.

Forbes noted Moore’s unique research on a form of lupus that primarily affects Black women. Her findings could be applied to any number of population segments based on race, age or gender.

Moore’s achievements, chosen by Forbes’ editors and industry judges from thousands of nominations, places her among the world’s most impactful young entrepreneurs and game-changers.

Moore answered a few questions recently about this important recognition and her work.

Why has an engineer’s perspective on human cells attracted so much interest?

My background is in immunology and biomaterials — looking at how our immune system responds and recognizes biomaterials in our bodies — within the context of regenerative medicine. I’m investigating how we might get the immune system to help us recover better after injury. This becomes really critical as we age and as we develop other malignancies, such as cancer. But one large aspect of this research that is overlooked is the fact that personalized medicine plays a huge role in how each person’s body responds. The consideration of race, sex and age will help us understand diseases better and build better biomaterials for clinical applications.

Why are you developing many different drug and therapy models with a variety of human cells? Aren’t all human cells basically the same?

Many researchers only really consider one sex, one ethnicity in their models, and that’s a really limited perspective. We know clinically that different populations respond differently, even if it’s the same drug or treatment. Take redheads for instance: They respond differently to pain medications. So, metabolically they are different. These differences must be considered. In fact, the National Institutes of Health mandate the consideration of sex. What motivated you to focus on lupus?

The idea came when I was talking to a Johns Hopkins colleague at the gym one day about the contribution of sex, age and ethnicity or ancestry to our work. Since I’ve been at UF, it’s become a fascinating aspect of my group’s work. We started with lupus because systemic lupus erythematosus is one of the most disparate forms you can find. It’s like night and day differences between women who are minorities who get it and women who identify as Caucasian. Of 100 people who get it, 90 are women, and 76 of those 90 are going to be women of color.

Has UF’s community helped your research?

Oh, yes. Before I moved here, I reached out to UF lupus expert Dr. Laurence Morel, (Laurence Morel, PhD, a professor in the UF department of pathology, immunology and laboratory medicine) who is now one of my mentors. I emailed her out of the blue, “Do you want to work with me on this?” and she responded, “Absolutely!” Through our conversations, we’ve combined my passion with her expertise. Since then, I’ve gained collaborators in the UF College of Medicine’s lupus clinic and faculty in UF’s Institute on Aging (including Mark Segal, MD, PhD, an assistant professor in the department of medicine; Thomas Pearson, MD, PhD, MPH, director of the college’s MD/PhD program; and Christiaan Leeuwenburgh, PhD, a professor in the department of aging and geriatric research. This is just another reason why UF is such fertile ground for me and my team.

What will your team’s work mean for health care?

We’re trying to close the loop between translational medicine at the (lab) bench and clinical data in the hospitals. We’re trying to connect that personalized medicine aspect with the consideration of age, sex and ethnicity to the models that we develop in the lab. Hopefully, this will help us learn more about the diseases we study and why certain populations respond divergently from others.

Why did you come to UF?

Well, it was a combination of prayer and a visit that led me to believe, “I could grow here.” Both my chair, Michele Manuel, PhD, and Rolf E. Hummel Professor of Electronic Materials, and my dean, Cammy Abernathy, PhD, and a professor of materials science and engineering, are committed to diversity, whereas in general, academia really struggles with diversity in faculty. UF is a leader in this regard. The Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering has more African American women in tenure-track roles than any other university in the