Dr. Juan Calderon, PhD in Human Genetics | Associate Professor at Universidad del Desarrollo

In this episode, we discuss how Juan navigated the challenges of pursuing his doctorate at Johns Hopkins as an international student, the ways he’s had to pivot the direction of his research after returning to his home country of Chile, and his take on the importance of finding balance and supportive mentors for pursuing a career in academia.

Hosted by Brooklyn Arroyo

To connect with Juan and to learn more about his story, visit his page on the PHutures #100AlumniVoices Project website.

Transcript

Brooklyn Arroyo

Hello I'm Co-host Brooklyn Arroyo and this is 100 Alumni Voices podcast, stories that inspire, where we explore the personal and professional journeys of a diverse group of 100 doctoral alumni from Johns Hopkins University. Today we're joined by Juan Calderon, PhD in Human Genetics. Good morning, Juan.

Juan Calderon

Good morning, Brooklyn. How are you?

Brooklyn Arroyo

Good, good. So, before we get too deep into any of the discussions today, I think that I'd like to say a lot of people have a lot of fascination around Human Genetics. And I'd love to just hear about why you decided to pursue this in your PhD.

Juan Calderon

Well, that that is a that is a great question. I remember being fascinated with the with the novel findings that genetics in general and Human Genetics in particular were having by the time I was in high school, and this would be just for, for everyone's information around the 90s, late 90s. I graduated from high school and and I decided that I I was fascinated by by everything that was happening around Human Genetics and so I took my undergrad and and it was an easy decision later to pursue higher education in Human Genetics.

Brooklyn Arroyo

So, when when finally going down this path post high school, did you find that it was just a straightforward you went from high school to undergrad to to just all throughout your academic career? Or did you have some work experience in there? What did that look like?

Juan Calderon

It actually it it was not a straightforward path for me because I had an inner conflict in which I was fascinated by genetics. But I was kind of avoiding interaction with patients, and I was not sure that I was ready to engage into a clinical setting in order to do or to study genetic. So, I that was sort of a good resource or a good notion to have in order to to get away from Med school, for example. So, I then went ahead and did a an undergrad in molecular biotechnology. And my exposure to genetic was rather limited, you know, to a couple of undergrad courses, but I also have many other courses more from the engineering part and some others were only about biology. But I also had zoology and plant biology and other other classes and that even though they were not my primary, you know focus, they were good for having an overall background in biology, which later proved useful. And then very later on when I did I had to do a thesis work and experimental thesis work in order to graduate, and I ended up working with a with a physician that was at the time studying celiac disease, gluten intolerance and so on. And so, I ended up finishing my undergrad working only with neonatal and pediatric patients that were undergoing diagnosis for celiac disease. So, even though I worked kind of stubbornly so and hard to avoid patients, I ended up finishing my undergrad working exclusively with patients and with kids, which is fascinating, but also challenging to a certain extent.

Brooklyn Arroyo

Definitely. And I'd like to hear more about that work that you were doing within your your graduate work, whether it was with your patients or not. What were some of those experiences like for you?

Juan Calderon

And then so I graduated and I got my first job in a Human Genetics lab here in Chile and that was kind of, you know, after graduating, I wanted to find a job that was not only this nine to five, sort of easy money kind of thing, but but also that that put me in track to explore what would come next. And it was a very a very good setup. I would have to interact with patients with with a genetic disorder that involved problems in the cardiovascular system, which I kind of knew at that time that was what I wanted to study further, but I also was spending large hours in the bench. So, I did a lot of bench work, but I also had to engage with patients every now and then. So, it was kind of a very good exposure, you know to make up my mind in order to see what would come next. But then I moved to Hopkins for grad school and I started work with Doctor Haldid, which had, you know, he has a trajectory of pretty much 30 plus years working with animal models for cardiovascular disorders. So, this was a novel experience for me. I had never worked with mice in this case. But it was, it was a fantastic experience in that regard too. So, I kind of stepped away from patient for a while and then some other things happened that I ended up coming back home and worked with patient. I work exclusively with patients these days, yes.

Brooklyn Arroyo

Seems like the thing you were avoiding, you now do regularly.

Juan Calderon

Yes, yes, I always tell the story when I talk to to kids from high school because I like to do that and I usually go and visit high schools at least you know four to six times a year. And I always tell them, no matter how much you avoid certain things, things are going to come back to you when you, you know, you feel passion for them and you like them. So, it's good.

Brooklyn Arroyo

Yeah definitely. So, in your first work after your PhD, did you feel that there was a time when you weren't sure what—how the environment looked because you had been in academia for so long? Or do you feel that there's a transition period from from schooling to now your career?

Juan Calderon

So, I underwent, you know, a difficult transition, not because I walked away from academia. I am still in academia in a in a local university here in Chile, but rather because I left Hopkins to come back to my home country, and that transition was difficult. I was used to this, you know, world class research ecosystem in which, you know, you had a good good reference to go to every time and you were close to everyone. And here I'm geographically a little far away from everything, so it definitely was a transition more in that regard on the practicalities of doing research back home rather than a new environment, but you know academia is a complex world. It has many, many advantages, and it also has some, you know, oddities that that could definitely work better, and not only in Chile, but throughout the world. But I embrace it. I like it. It it gives me room for doing some teaching that I like. But it definitely gives me room to keep doing my research working with patient with as I as I said before. So, I guess it's a good combo for for being where I am right now.

Brooklyn Arroyo

So, you mentioned how you moved from Hopkins and now you're back in your home country of Chile. Was that always the plan for you or what were some of the factors that went into contributing you moving back to your home country?

Juan Calderon

This is always a question that that, you know, definitely goes back to some personal, you know, things that were happening in my life back then. First of all, I went to the US with a with a wonderful scholarship supported both by the US government and Chilean Government, and this the Fulbright program. You probably heard about this before, and the Fulbright program is by definition an exchange program, so it makes you come back to your home country to basically give back and pay forward or however you want to phrase it. And I was very happy. I always knew that this was the plan. Not to, not to say that I was not tempted to stay in the US. I had a wonderful experience not only at Hopkins in the academic perspective, but also in the in the personal life. I left a wonderful group of friends and colleagues, but the plan was to come back here at all times, yes.

Brooklyn Arroyo

OK, OK. And so, and you did mention how you felt that that was there was a transition period, as there would be for any big move like that, but career wise in general, do you feel that there was decisions that you made to do the work that you're doing now? Do you think that there were other pathways that tempted you or was this career work that you're doing now and working within your academic setting and with patients was always what you wanted to do and and you knew that's the path that you wanted to go down to?

Juan Calderon

Well, that's a wonderful question. I think that it doesn't have a unique answer because I have had to change paths or maybe orientations in what I do. So, when I came back from Hopkins, I came back as you could, you could ask every graduating PhD student and they they probably feel the same way. If I came back feeling that I really mastered my discipline. And I I was really good at, you know, with mouse work and experimental techniques. And then I came back here and discovered that it was a little too expensive for me to start my work again and you know, doing the exact same things that I was doing. And I also found out that for the diseases that I study, there was no work being done with patients and patients were really orphan from the clinical and research perspective. So, I have to kind of make up my mind in, in the in or in regard to what I thought was prioritary for me, was not necessarily something that I was going to be able to implement properly, and that the other, on the other hand, there were, you know, higher priorities from the patient perspective that I felt. But I would be very happy trying to put up with or to respond to, right? So that was a transition that it was sort of easy to do in the way that, you know, I started to get in touch with patient groups and, you know, getting to know their realities and understanding that not everything had to be done with bench work and so on and so forth. So, it was a good transition. I'm very happy now looking back. Probably back then it was it had it's, you know, tough moments. But I'm happy.

Brooklyn Arroyo

And those tough moments usually help us get even deeper into the work that we're doing and and into our careers, so.

Juan Calderon

Yeah, yeah, yes, yes, I agree.

Brooklyn Arroyo

So, I would like to pry more at at some of those obstacles that you faced, whether in the beginning of your career or throughout your PhD. What were some of the main obstacles that you have within your within your life that you think would help other people on this journey?

Juan Calderon

Wow, that's a that's a good question. I first of all, I think that in academia and especially in Graduate School, I think that no one teaches you to stop being your worst enemy. So, we all read about imposter syndrome and how it may affect you, and you know, you think that just by reading about it, you're prepared for it. And I don't think that is true. I definitely was my worst enemy at the beginning. I also comment and I talk to my friends from Hopkins very often and I always we remind this remember this moment and we're very we laugh at it. But it was tough to get to Hopkins you know this huge institution. I have never been in such a large research devoted place before. So, everything was large, you know, lectures where, you know, I would, I would share the auditorium with, you know, 200 people, Med school, grad school, everyone is there and everyone is, you know, on the edge and on their toes. So, it’s a transition. I think that I also had to work, you know, getting I have to be in peace with my English level, you know for, for, for those of us with English as a second language. It was always tough. I always got stressed and I remember, and my friends remind me of this very often, I remember that there were days on the week and I would I would reject going out for a beer just because I didn't want to speak in English anymore. I was just so exhausted and so that type of things, you know, kind of go against you as much as you let them go against you. So, you know, once I started to manage those things and to really enjoy being where I was, you know things would would start to to work out very smoothly and I I can tell you that I enjoyed it very much. Even though the first part and the landing into grad school at Hopkins was of course, a little rocky.

Brooklyn Arroyo

Do you feel that within your experience of your, you know, attaining your PhD, you've found that there were many other students who were international students, or English was their second language and you were able to develop some form of a community? Or did it feel a little isolating within your experience of having English as your second language?

Juan Calderon

A little bit of both. I mean, I got the sense of community from international student, but I also was very militant in trying to make friends with people outside my comfort zone. And so, I would avoid, for example, Chileans. I would, I would I never tried very actively to find them. Not because I don't like my my home country or anything. It was just that I I thought, well, I'm here and I don't need to get better with my Spanish. I really need you know, I just need to, you know, to engage other people and get to know other cultures. I already know my home country and my fellow people, so I kind of took that approach. Not to say that I didn't get to hang out with them every now and then. I used to play soccer with a with a lovely group of of people from Peru and Colombia, and the States and Italy and Europe in general. So, my approach was, you know, getting to know everyone from from everywhere rather than getting getting together with Chileans or with Latinos as my primary group of support. And I'm very happy that I did so.

Brooklyn Arroyo

I think that is definitely a great approach, just because something that's come up in many other podcasts is one of the most important parts of academia is meeting people, not just the learning, but all the people that you meet and all the perspectives that you see. So, I'd like to hear a little bit more about the work that you're doing and and maybe you could explain to the audience and whoever is listening to this podcast, what your day-to-day looks like and whether you have the same day all over again or each day is a little different. What does that look like for you? 

Juan Calderon

Wonderful. So, first of all, I do anything between one full morning or two mornings a week of teaching throughout the year. So, my days, my work days are always, or have always a teaching component or getting in touch with an invited colleague to give the lecture or preparing the lecture myself, and so on and so forth. And being in front with the students and and that is that is an active component of my of my work days or work week. And then in regard to research, I still like to do some bench work, so I try to at least a couple of week a couple of days a week try to engage with technicians and students that are on the bench just to to either teach them a technique or just to practice with them, or, you know, set up a new technique on the bench. I'd like to keep myself connected to that type of work. And then, you know, in academia, there's a lot of, you know, grant writing and you know admin work that you have to do in order to keep yourself, you know, in the loop. So, it's always, you know, several hours in the computer and in front of the word processor and so on and so forth. So, you know, all of us in academia, I say, would agree that there's never enough time to do bench work, never enough time to do all the writing you have to do or to write the papers you have to publish, but overall, it it it's a balance in which I have still time to drop my kid off at school and pick her up. And do some other, you know, personal interests that I have outside academia. And then for the first part of your question, I think I can say I can summarize my research in trying to understand the genetic component of cardiovascular diseases that affect the normal architecture of the aorta. And so, we have this group of genetic disorders, monogenic disorders that cause the aorta to be structurally and functionally weak. So, it it in these patients, the order tends to dilate and dissect, and when the aorta dissects, and tears, patients are at risk of death. And so, we try to understand why even though these patients can share a diagnosis and can share a pathogenic genetic variant that predisposes them to develop this disorder, they can actually manifest all the characteristics of this disorder at different times throughout life, or actually can show or not show manifestations at all. So, that is a fascinating question for me and for my group because again, even though they share a clinical diagnosis, they can show up as completely different diseases if you see the patient as a as a, as an entity. So, that's fascinating for me and I hope to keep working on this.

Brooklyn Arroyo

That is fascinating. So, what advice would you have for for anyone else who is working within their PhD or just graduated and is hoping to stay in academia?

Juan Calderon

Well, let's go in order. So, for people undergoing their their Graduate School experience, I think first of all, I'd say to take it one day at a time. It's important for them to keep balance. We always get excited and you can easily find yourself going to the lab or to your research place from Monday through Monday without taking time off, and I say that even though you can have some patches and you know phases of your PhD work where you actually have to do that and you have to put up some extra hours. Always keep in mind that you need to keep that balance and to keep your mental health, you know, in check at all times. That's one. The second, don't think you have to do everything alone; collaborate, share your experience, share your result, show your data to people that are going to give you meaningful feedback, and actually selfless feedback, right? You know, make sure that you have a good relationship with your mentor. Make sure you find yourself good mentors. Mentoring is not the is not the same as supervising. I think that we don't have that discussion very often in academia, and you can have actually a great supervisor that provides you with all the means you need, money and reagents, or, you know, support your research and actually not being good mentors. I think that that is not trivial and we don't talk about it very often. And then for after grad school, I said that we need to keep our eyes open for everything that comes to us. So, whether you want to look for postdocs, again you're going to need good mentors and good advice from people that that have always or that have had that experience before. If you want to switch, you know from academia to industry there there will be, as usual, pros and cons in regard to every decision, and then if you want to stay in academia, which was your question, I think that again you need to find a place where you can actually develop and do exactly what you want. So, there there are institutions that are more prone to research rather than teaching. There are some others where they're going to ask you for a teaching portfolio and a teaching philosophy statement. And I think those things are valuable. You just need to make sure that you're doing something that you have passion for because then if you don't, then you start feeling that you're not very happy from Monday through Friday, and I don't think that's a good thing. I could keep talking about it, but I I think those are my primary pieces of advice.

Brooklyn Arroyo

Well, those were great pieces of advice. I especially appreciated, and I do agree that it's not something that's talked about enough, that mentorship and and supervising are are not the same thing and and can exist outside of each other. So, I think that is a really important point.

Juan Calderon

Yeah, definitely. I think that academia is lacking in that aspect. And I hope that we'll fix it sooner rather than later, yeah.

Brooklyn Arroyo

Definitely. So, for our last question that we ask of all of our interviewees on this podcast is sort of the grand finale of all of it. And it is what inspires you right now?

Juan Calderon

Wow, that that's a that's a great question. Just on on top of my mind, I would say that what inspires me is to help from my laboratory from the bench my patients to feel supported and important to make them feel that someone cares for what they're going through. So, I think that drives my passion to again keep writing grants and keep looking for money and keep teaching kids, teaching students, teaching them. Sometimes I find myself, even though I'm not a clinician, talking to patients about what we have found out in the lab. And you know, they feel so good just to talk to someone that cares about the diseases they have and the life that they have had to go to go through, you know, having kids with the disease or having spouses or themselves with these sometimes terrible diagnosis. So, I think that definitely is what drives my passion.

Brooklyn Arroyo

That is, that is extremely, extremely inspiring and I think the work that you're doing is also extremely inspiring. So, thank you so much for coming on to the PHutures Podcast. I really enjoyed speaking with you and being able to speak with another Latino too, just in general. And so, thank you so much. Thank you.

Juan Calderon

Oh, sure, thank you. And I'm happy to share my experience. Thanks for inviting me.