Caroline Appleyard

I decided to pursue Pharmacology. The ability to understand how to develop therapies and design drugs to treat diseases fascinated me. The School of Biological Sciences was an obvious first choice since I grew up just outside Edinburgh and it has a stellar reputation.

I was a ‘commuter’ student but really enjoyed campus life and especially all the labs - besides the one where I fainted when they did the frog leg nerve protocol. I have some great and not so great memories of further commuting between the main campus and King’s Buildings come rain, shine or snow! I really loved the ‘big’ university feel with its union buildings and clubs, the beautiful gardens and libraries, and walking across the meadows. 

My classes were obviously very heavy in physiology and pharmacology and as part of my senior project, I worked for one semester at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh in the blood transfusion unit helping to immunopurify the human coagulation factor IX. This led to my first scientific publication and a lifelong interest in the consequences of inflammation. 

Tell us about your Experiences since leaving the University?

My goal was always to end up in the pharmaceutical industry to help ‘translate’ the science to patients but during interviews I realized that there would always be a ceiling without a PhD so instead of accepting an offer I decided to pursue graduate studies first. I enrolled in the Clinical Pharmacology program at the University of Southampton to study some of the mechanisms behind gastrointestinal inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease, working directly with patient samples. 

From there I pursued an urge to travel and carried out two postdoctoral fellowships. At the University of Calgary in Canada I helped to develop an animal model for the more chronic intestinal symptoms seen in colitis. I then studied the influence of the nervous system on gastrointestinal inflammation through the gut-brain axis at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.

In 1998, wanting to open my own lab and pursue the opportunity to scuba dive in warm waters (versus the cold lakes of Canada or the mid-west United States) I accepted a junior faculty position at Ponce Health Sciences University (PHSU) in Puerto Rico. Being a relatively small institution there is much more interdisciplinary research and through conversations with my colleagues I realized that there were similarities between the inflammation seen in colitis and endometriosis. 

My current studies center on the interactions between inflammatory mediators, microflora, and behavior, in the pathogenesis and exacerbation of inflammatory conditions of the intestine. I have developed several animal models to study these conditions and help elucidate the neuro-immune mechanisms involved with a view to developing complementary therapies.

At PHSU I am heavily involved in scientific training in my capacity as Program Director of the NIH NIGMS-RISE graduate training program, and Co-Leader Training/Career Development Core of a partnership between the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida and PHSU. I am responsible for overseeing professional development workshops, research seminars, laboratory training experiences, mentoring teams and program evaluation. 

In 2017 I was the inaugural recipient for the A. Clifford Barger Underrepresented Minority Mentorship Award from the American Physiological Society in recognition of personally mentoring over 125 underrepresented students at all levels in my laboratory, and my involvement in mentoring and professional development programs at the national level and through society service.

Coming full circle back to my original desire to translate pharmacological therapies to the patient population I am a Co-founder and the Scientific Director of Sur180 Therapeutics, Inc, a woman-owned company which promotes integrative medical care for women’s well-being and focuses on raising the level of care for endometriosis.

Alumni wisdom

There will always be things you have no control over so keep an open mind, explore your options, be open to new adventures, value your individuality, don’t be afraid to ask questions and enjoy the journey!