OL Reign Legend: Dr. Helen Y. Chu – Immunologist and Professor at the University of Washington
The Legends Campaign, a partnership between OL Reign and Starbucks, honors women for their extraordinary contributions to our community in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Prior to the October 16 match against the Washington Spirit, OL Reign recognized Dr. Helen Y. Chu, Immunologist and Professor at the University of Washington.
Dr. Chu has done incredible work over her career, but particularly over the last two years, when she took her place at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic, doing important research.
“I’m an infectious disease doctor and for the last decade I have been studying viruses and vaccines and doing studies in the community to understand how viruses spread. I also teach the vaccines course at the University of Washington and see patients at the University of Washington,” explained Dr. Chu.
“As part of the work we did, we had established this pandemic surveillance platform around three years ago and we called it the Seattle Flu Study and it was really intended to help us understand how to better prepare for the next pandemic. So, some of the early efforts we did during this pandemic was understanding how Coronavirus spread in the Seattle area. A lot of the other work I do is around vaccine development, figuring what kinds of drugs to use to treat coronavirus and that sort of thing,” said Dr. Chu.
Outside of her work, Dr. Chu has three children. Though she doesn’t have a lot of free time, Dr. Chu really enjoys the outdoors and loves hiking and gardening. Before the pandemic, her work was global, taking her to places like Nepal and Bangladesh. Though she hasn’t been able to do that recently, that was one of the things that inspired her to get into medicine and public health.
“When I was deciding to go into medicine one of the main things I thought about was I really enjoyed the idea of doing work that had a global impact and more of a public health impact. Being a doctor, there are just so many ways you can shape your career to have impact,” said Dr. Chu.
She continued to explain, “When I was in medical school, I thought about the kind of doctor I wanted to be, and I knew I wanted to be an infectious disease doctor. It was very clear to me from the beginning, that infectious disease doctors were the doctors who fought diseases and did work in public health and that’s what I wanted.”
Another element of infectious disease research that drew her in was the ability to be involved in the community in a more tangible way.
“It became very clear to me after I read this book called “Mountains Beyond Mountains.” It’s about a doctor who did a lot of work globally on healthcare infrastructure and I thought I would like to do something like that. It’s work that’s important and wasn’t so lab based. That’s how I decided to go into a more public health focused field.”
There is no doubt that this pandemic has been challenging for everybody, but particularly for those deeply involved in what is going on. However, Dr. Cho confessed that no one really stopped to think about that.
“When you’re in the moment doing the work and what you do is just part of what has to be done, you don’t really have time to stop and think about whether or not you want to do it. I don’t think any of us had that luxury. We were clearly in a position where we were essential to do the work and testing, to do the vaccine trials. It wasn’t really an option to not do the work. Though, it was possible to take a pause and think about how remarkable this all was, and how fortunate we were to have a group with the skills and expertise to do this work at a time where it is very useful,” shared Dr. Chu.
“You know, infectious disease doctors aren’t surgeons. Most of what we do is not of interest to the general public and considered super important on a day-to-day. It is remarkable to be at a moment where all our training and the years spent working on this particular thing, in my case, respiratory viruses and vaccines, suddenly became very important and very tangible to the world as a whole. It certainly was gratifying, but we never had the option to step away and say, “not today,”” said Dr. Chu.
Dr. Chu is a Multiple Principal Investigator of the Seattle Flu Study, which first identified COVID-19 community transmission in the United States. She is also a Co-Investigator on the University of Washington Vaccine Trials and Evaluation Unit (VTEU), and Site Principal Investigator for the ACTT-1 trial, which evaluated Remdesivir for the treatment of COVID-19.
“There was large team of us at the Seattle Flu Study. We had collected a lot of samples from people’s noses who had respiratory illnesses in the community. We just had all of these samples sitting in our freezer and we had a lab where we could test. So, when it became clear that the pandemic had extended beyond China and had gone internationally, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time, was go back to all of our samples and all of the data that we had collected over the last year and a half and test those for Coronavirus,” Dr. Chu explained.
“We spent a lot of time talking to public health, local, state, CDC, FDA, a lot of different groups, on how to do this ethically and responsibly. Ultimately, we stated testing those samples using a lab test that we made, which found Coronavirus. Then what happened is we took that sample and we genetically characterized it. We sequenced it. We matched it to the original sample that had first appeared in Washington State. When we matched it, we were able to make the conclusion that Coronavirus had been circulating in the region the entire time. It was a large group of us, and we all made that discovery together.”
When asked about what advice she would give to young women pursuing a goal in the field they are underrepresented in, Dr. Chu said, “I think things have changed a lot even in last year or two. Things have moved in a different direction, where there is more awareness and more articulation of the problem. Once you articulate, you can actually do something about it. I think it is a better time than when I was in training.”
She continued, “It is hard, as a woman and a scientist. This is a field that is very male dominated. One of things I learned very early was to have really good mentors that most of time are women. That was foundational to my ability to succeed. Those women who supported me and made sure that I had the opportunities I needed to be successful.”
“There is still the question that comes up about if you want children, which is a whole other conversation. For a lot of women, there can be that tension of wanting to have a career, but how do I do it with children? Having children and trying to be a parent and also having a career in a society where we have very little of a safety net or infrastructure to support any of it whatsoever. I hope things change on that front,” said Dr. Chu.
“My entire lab is 99% women, and they are so excited to be going to the OL Reign game. It is extraordinary that we have this in Washington. Not just local leaders really, but international leaders in these women’s sports teams that are at the forefront of conversations about equity, abuse and all of the things that have happened, and the pay differential between men and women athletes. I think it’s wonderful that we have them here and the support and infrastructure to bring up women from below and also to have these strong voices.”
Dr. Chu expressed her gratitude for being honored as an OL Reign Legend. Though it was unexpected to her, it was a pleasant surprise.
“I am very humbled by this honor. It has been a very challenging time and it’s very gratifying to be acknowledged, not just as me, but women scientists everywhere and the women who have played important roles throughout this pandemic. It’s just really nice that this happened and to be recognized.”