Love the Job; Help the Community

Courtesy of James Madara

James L. Madara
Richard T. Crane Professor
Vice President for Medical Affairs
Dean, Division of Biological Sciences and the Pritzker School of Medicine
The University of Chicago

EARLY INDICATIONS: I was training in pathology and found that a more mechanistic understanding of the cellular relationships I viewed under a microscope was a worthwhile goal. I had no intention of becoming a department chair, nor a dean (at first). I did really enjoy interacting with postdocs in my laboratory and found the process of mentoring fulfilling as well as a fascinating way of learning about people.

PIVOTOL PAPER: A single-authored paper in Journal of Cell Biology permitted me to help establish the notion of rapid changes in barrier function of epithelia by dynamic changes in tight junction structure (J.L. Madara, "Increases in guinea pig small intestinal transepithelial resistance induced by osmotic loads are accompanied by rapid alterations...