Michael Czech delivers keynote at 15th annual research retreat
When Michael Czech, PhD, founding chair of the Program in Molecular Medicine and the newly-minted Isadore and Fannie Foxman Chair in Medical Research, took the podium on Tuesday, Oct. 19, at the 15th annual UMMS Research Retreat, he was also inaugurating a new tradition: as the first recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Research, it became his privilege to give the retreat’s keynote address in Lillie Auditorium at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole—a stage that has seen more than its share of eminent speakers from the UMMS faculty and beyond.
Kicking off the research retreat is a special honor, as Chancellor Michael F. Collins noted in introducing Dr. Czech. “A little more than a year ago, I spoke at Convocation about the need to recognize faculty accomplishment. During that year, the campus community came together under the leadership of Dean Terry Flotte to create a process and a practice for acknowledging the distinguished teaching, service and research of the faculty.
“There were truly terrific nominees, whose achievement and contributions were examined closely by the awards committees. On a campus such as ours, it is extremely difficult to single out one researcher for acknowledgement: there is such a seriousness of purpose in the faculty, and their drive is, in part, what causes other faculty to be drawn here, and drawn to succeed. But in this instance, I can say that the choice was clear, and the outstanding work of Michael Czech makes him an exceptional choice for this honor,” Chancellor Collins said.
After an introductory video showing Czech’s investiture in September as the Foxman Chair, Czech began his talk by pointing out that he was directing it not necessarily at his colleagues, but rather at the new graduate students, as many of the 85 first-year GSBS students were in attendance. Czech said his talk would “mix both science and my take on science,” and laid out the three elements that are key to successful science.
“First, there is the element of bringing passion and intensity to the enterprise. This is really critical—there is much that you can learn that will help you be successful, but passion and commitment, that is something that you have to bring,” he said.
Czech then artfully integrated into his talk on the molecular biology of insulin resistance and recent progress in the understanding of insulin signaling, a second element of success in science that he wanted to impart to students: picking the right question. “A big question, an important question, one that you choose carefully—it can take as much, or more, work to answer a bad question than a good one.”
Czech’s final point was about the value of collaboration, and he spoke about the value of scientists in labs and core facilities across UMMS in understanding how insulin resistance develops. “Have a great question, but also listen to the great ideas you learn from your colleagues,” he said.
The annual Research Retreat continues through Wednesday, Oct. 20, with presentations by more than a dozen UMMS faculty and students organized around visions in virology, immunology, RNA therapeutics and diabetes. “When I first sat down with my retreat co-organizers, Mike Czech and Silvia Corvera, we all had, independently, a similar idea,” said Thoru Pederson, PhD, the Vitold Arnett Professor and professor of biochemistry & molecular pharmacology. “We all had hit upon the idea of having the session chairs give broader than usual introductions, visions, really, of the field at UMMS. It was really a striking convergence.”
Most faculty speakers are recently appointed faculty, who are given the opportunity to present on their work and their own vision for research; the three retreat organizers arranged the speakers into coherent sessions by topic. Another innovation this year was moving the four student talks to the first night, where they had the unenviable task of following Czech. “They did a fabulous job,” he said afterward, a sentiment echoed by Vice Provost for Research John Sullivan, PhD, who closed the first session by proclaiming that, in fact, the student talks had been “the best in the 15 years” of the research retreat, creating an even more unenviable task for next year’s speakers.
