Use science to make world better , grads told

Developmental biologist Lucy Shapiro, PhD, told 2015 graduates of the School of Medicine how, as a basic scientist who spent most of her life studying singlecelled bacteria, she stepped out of her laboratory and onto the global stage to try to help the world avert a potential disaster. “About 15 years ago, I sat up and looked around me and found that we were in the midst of a perfect storm,” said Shapiro, the Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Professor, speaking at the school’s commencement June 13 on Alumni Green. “There was a global tide of emerging infectious diseases, rampant antibiotic and antiviral resistance amongst all pathogens and a poor to nonexistent drug pipeline. “For me the alarm bells went off, and I was convinced that I had to try and do something. Let me tell you the story of how I stepped out of my comfort zone. I launched a one-woman attack.” She took any speaking engagement she could get to educate the public about antibiotic resistance; walked the corridors of power in Washington, D.C., lobbying politicians about the dangers of emerging infectious diseases; and used discoveries from her lab on the singlecelled Caulobacter bacterium to develop new, effective disease-fighting drugs.