PUTTING SCIENCE TO WORK FOR PATIENTS

Ke Yuan, Ph.D., grew up in Hangzhou, China, where her parents tried to give her a good education and every opportunity to succeed. Their home near the Hangzhou Botanical Garden was full of books, thanks to her parents’ love of learning.

After receiving the book “Kid’s Encyclopedia” for her fifth birthday, she spent many afternoons in the botanical garden trying to identify plants and insects. “I decided to devote my life to the pursuit of scientific knowledge. I hoped to share my love of science with others by writing my very own encyclopedia.”

Her interest in science eventually led her to pulmonary hypertension (PH) research. In December 2019, she received the Pulmonary Hypertension Association’s Aldrighetti Research Award for Young Investigators. The award, supported by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, provided funds to research signaling mechanisms that regulate pulmonary arterial hypertension progression.

The grant allowed Dr. Yuan to start her own laboratory at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. She recently was promoted to associate scientific researcher and assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and a Parker B. Francis Fellow in the Division of Pulmonary Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. It also allows her to mentor students and trainees, especially women pursuing scientific careers, she says.

Most importantly, the grant allows her to advocate for patients with PH and raise awareness among clinicians and scientists. “By pooling our efforts, we can provide patients with treatment options that will give them control over this devastating disease.”