The Power of Peer-to-Peer Support 

“The future of women's health research depends on the integration of disciplines,” says Rebecca Scalzo, PhD, Ludeman Center researcher and assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Diabetes at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and a VA Research Scientist at the Rocky Mountain Regional Veterans Affairs Medical Center. “We must learn how to merge our specific fields of research as well as consider the entire body to improve health for women across the lifespan.” 

For the last eight years, Dr. Scalzo has been collaborating with fellow Ludeman Center researcher and assistant professor of pathology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences, Elizabeth Wellberg, PhD. After meeting in 2016, these investigators had an ‘aha’ moment at a Ludeman Center event where they discovered that despite having vastly different research focuses, their work could significantly benefit one another.  

The Support of the Ludeman Center  

For Dr. Wellberg, her journey at the Ludeman Center began with an Early-Career Faculty Development Award as the first investment in her independent research career, which led her to receive two larger development awards and further establish her career. “Mentorship is a critical component of a successful research career,” shares Dr. Wellberg. Her research goals include identifying drivers of breast cancer therapy resistance in the context of obesity as well as determining how endocrine therapy, or cancer treatments using hormones, affects fat, liver, and skeletal muscle. Ultimately, she wants to find ways to prevent breast cancer relapse. 

During Dr. Scalzo’s postdoctoral work, she partnered closely with Ludeman Center Associate Director Jane Reusch, MD, who introduced her to the importance of studying sex differences in type 2 diabetes with a focus on understanding why diabetes results in a greater health burden for women compared to men. With Dr. Reusch’s encouragement, she applied for an Early-Career Faculty Development Award with the Ludeman Center, which she received in 2016. This work led to an additional career development award and now a full-time faculty position at CU Anschutz. As a faculty member, Dr. Scalzo is a translational scientist working both at the bench and with patients in clinical studies co-led by Ludeman Center Director Judy Regensteiner, PhD, and Dr. Reusch. 

“The Ludeman Center’s faculty leadership and one-on-one mentorship are designed to support career development in monumental ways, including the opportunity to connect with incredible scientists and senior mentors who are more advanced in their careers. Personally, and professionally, the directors at the center have uplifted my research and opened new doorways to success,” says Dr. Scalzo. 

The Whole Picture  

According to Dr. Scalzo and Dr. Wellberg’s paper published in Nature Reviews Endocrinology, type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a widely studied risk factor for breast cancer. This information became the foundation for the two researchers' interdisciplinary work and helped them develop their shared goal to reinforce the life-saving benefits of endocrine therapy and highlight the need for better predictive biomarkers of T2D risk and preventive strategies for the growing population of breast cancer survivors. 

Combining Dr. Scalzo’s laboratory research in diabetes and Dr. Wellberg’s breast cancer research, they conducted their first preclinical study. They researched if the therapies for breast cancer themselves could impact factors associated with T2D risk. “This became the focus for my Ludeman Center seed grant with the support of Dr. Scalzo who provided both her expertise as a clinical researcher and her knowledge of muscle and vascular research,” says Dr. Wellberg.  

“We’re doing our best to understand what we can do alongside these cancer therapies, such as an exercise intervention or an anti-diabetic medication that works with the breast cancer therapies to both prolong cancer-free survival and to limit the impact of diabetes in these women’s lives,” says Dr. Scalzo. In recognizing that women are underrepresented in diabetes research and that their cardiovascular outcomes from T2D are much worse than for men, their goals moving forward are to continue including women in clinical studies and to understand the progression of the disease in women. 

Since the two began collaborating, they have written a research paper and two review articles. They have also been invited to give several talks, including one at the American Diabetes Association that focused on how standard anti-diabetes drugs could work in women being treated with endocrine therapies. 

Understanding that medical questions cannot be solved alone, the two researchers prioritize collaborative research to help them look at specific diseases more holistically and to advance women’s health research, specifically diseases that disproportionately impact women. In addition, they have provided invaluable support to one another—both in the lab and in life. 

“You can feel very alone with this work,” shares Dr. Wellberg. “Having a peer to support you during tough grant reviews or moments of doubt as well as during personal experiences is critical to feeling seen and heard. They will remind you that you are not alone.”