Linda Giudice

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Linda C. Giudice is an American

postdoctoral fellowships introduced her to translational medicine
and the genetics of women's health, resulting in her returning to her studies to obtain a medical degree.

Afterwards, she has spent her professorship for multiple decades at Stanford University and then the University of California, San Francisco, becoming tenured chair of several obstetrics and gynecology departments. A member of many professional academic organizations, she has also been and remains president or board member for a collection of reproductive health groups and non-profits. She has been given a number of awards and honorary professorships for her work and public outreach, nationally and internationally.

Early life and education

Chemistry and engineering

Born in

Brooklyn, New York to an immigrant family, with a Sicilian father and a second generation mother whose parents were from Italy, Giudice was taught strong values about education from a young age. This focus resulted in her repeatedly skipping grades in both elementary and high school and openly pursuing her interests in math and science, along with many other fields as well. In the middle of her attending high school, her family moved to Norfolk, Virginia, due to her father being transferred in the military and she completed her education there.[1]

Her interests in chemistry and physics led her to pursue a degree in engineering, with an aim of eventually going into

gonadotropins. This also resulted in her learning more about reproductive hormones and the biological underpinnings of how genetics shapes reproduction.[1]

Expanding her medical interests

Once Giudice was done with her degrees, she began a

endocrinologists had her better understand the importance of translational medicine, which made her want to go to medical school herself to learn more. She then was accepted to Stanford University's medical program.[1]

Beginning her

outpatient gynecology clinic. Her work alongside other obstetricians, including Jagdip Powar and Emmet Lamb, increased her interest in conducting reproductive medicine. The final years of her residency had her return to Washington University to mentor under James Warren before finally finishing her training at Stanford as a Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Fellow.[1]

Career

After her medical training was complete, she was accepted at Stanford as an assistant professor and ran her own research lab on infertility and reproductive and growth hormones.[1] She spent two decades at Stanford before transferring to the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in 2005 to become the Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences. She worked to improve and expand the research done by the department, achieving the top spot at the university for amount of NIH research funding. Recruiting multiple new professors during her tenure, she also worked with Kaiser Permanente to fund the University of California, Berkeley's Undergraduate Research Intern Program. This led to the creation of a summer program at UCSF for interns.[1]

Giudice was furthermore in charge of the 2015 move of the UCSF department from its location at Parnassus Heights to the new Mission Bay campus.[1] During this time period, she was also made Chair Emerita of the department and the Robert B. Jaffe, MD, Endowed Professor in the Reproductive Sciences for UCSF.[2]

She has advocated for the use of IVF to treat infertility issues and overall suggested that using the process to delay motherhood is an option for women.[3] Relatedly, she was appointed in 2002 as chair of the Food and Drug Administration's Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs.[4]

Research

Due to attending the

insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) and particularly insulin-like growth factor-binding protein (IGFBP), because of its involvement in the uterine decidua. Her lab's work on the serum of pregnant women found that IGF-I and II are increased due to the action of a protease in cleaving IGFBP-3. This discovery required the usage of a cloned protein created by Genentech, which was also found simultaneously by a French lab. Presenting what they found jointly at the annual Endocrine Society meeting, they decided to write papers separately on different components of what had been found and publish them back-to-back in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. This finding, alongside her lab's later reveal that IGFBP-4's protease comes from the trophoblast, helped further explain how IGFs function as a whole and their importance beyond just reproduction, but also in the field of oncology's research on cancer development.[1]

Then, during the early 1990s, the research company

proinflammatory markers with possible health effects to emerge.[1]

Continuing investigations into the endometrium, Giudice's lab turned to

fibroblasts and their impact on the onset of pregnancy helped develop a clinical understanding of how progesterone resistance occurs.[1]

When asked by a patient if her infertility issues might be related to local water pollution with

endocrine disruptors, Giudice decided to conduct an investigation into the possibility. While the scientific literature had some evidence based on animal studies, no human level research had been conducted at the time.[1] The research she conducted found that bisphenol A has a measurable correlation with the concentration of the disruptors in pregnant women's urine and the likelihood of miscarriage.[5] Organizing a conference on the subject with other reproductive endocrinologists, fertility organizations, and national politicians, she presented her preliminary findings and had a discussion on possible impacts. This also led her to create the Program for Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE) at UCSF and a second following conference, whose findings eventually led to the publication of the textbook Environmental impacts on reproductive health and fertility.[1] She also presented her findings in 2015 at the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) conference, successfully convincing the delegates attending to release an official FIGO statement calling for global action on the issue.[6]

In total, she has published over 350 papers in her field of research.[1]

Organizations

Having held membership and leadership positions in multiple professional societies, Giudice also has been on the council for the nonprofit

Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility,[7] the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, and the World Endometriosis Society.[8]

Giudice is the president of the International Federation of Fertility Societies and holds a chair position in the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics's Committee on Reproductive and Developmental Environmental Health.[7] She is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.[8]

Awards

Giudice has received numerous awards and accolades for her work throughout her life. The Society of Reproductive Investigation gave her the Fredrick Naftolin Award for Mentorship for the over 250 graduate and undergraduate students she has mentored during her tenure as professor.[1] The American Society for Reproductive Medicine bestowed on her the Distinguished Researcher Award[9] and the American Medical Women's Association named her the 2008 Women in Science Award winner.[1] For her research into environmental effects on infertility, the American Infertility Association gave her their Illumination Award. The 2013 Lifetime Alumni Achievement Award was given to her by the Stanford Medical Center.[8]

Two honorary professorships were gifted to her by the

NICHD Sadler lecturer position, and the Royal Reproductive Biology Society's Founders Oration position and medal.[1]

Personal life

Giudice is married to plant biologist Dr Athanasios "Sakis" Theologis after meeting him during graduate school. They have two children.[1]

Bibliography

References

  1. ^
    PMID 34332715
    . Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  2. ^
    doi:10.1055/s-0028-1108003
    . Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  3. Newspapers.com
    .
  4. Newspapers.com
    .
  5. ^ Marchione, Marilynn (October 14, 2013). "BPA's possible role in miscarriages examined". USA Today. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  6. Newspapers.com
    .
  7. ^
    PMID 29385410
    . Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d "Linda Giudice honoured by the RCOG". Endometriosis.org. June 23, 2016. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  9. ^ "Linda Giudice honoured as distinguished researcher". Endometriosis.org. November 9, 2008. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  10. ^ Reviews for Environmental Impacts on Reproductive Health and Fertility:
  11. ^ Reviews for Endometriosis: Science and Practice:
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