The feature "Getting Back to Basics: Dr. Hasina Outtz Reed's Mission to Uncover the Origins of Lung Disease" is among the features in the Department's 2023 Annual Report.
When Dr. Hasina Outtz Reed pursued a Ph.D. in science, she knew she wanted her work to directly impact people. “I wanted to have the ability to use my knowledge to see how science related to medicine and patient care, particularly translational medicine,” she says. Today, Dr. Outtz Reed, the James Hilton Manning and Emma Austin Manning Foundation Research Scholar and Assistant Professor in the division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, leads the Outtz Reed Lab, which she founded in 2019—right before the pandemic. “There was a long pause where we couldn’t hire people,” Dr. Outtz Reed says. “But finally we were able to move forward and today the lab is at a place where it’s growing, and that’s exciting.”
Dr. Outtz Reed investigates impaired processes in lymphatic vessels that drain fluids from lung tissues and their roles in chronic lung diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) and emphysema. Despite being a central organ – and the foundation of our respiratory system – scientists still know relatively little about lungs compared to other organs.
Through her use of a smoke machine leveraging mouse models, Dr. Outtz Reed has been able to show the progression of cigarette smoke’s injury to lymphatic vessels, revealing a link between lymphatic dysfunction and disease development. This can help reveal how certain people are predisposed to COPD while other, lifelong smokers rarely develop the disease, or develop the disease at a much slower rate. People with a predisposition to COPD tend to develop lymphatic clots, similar to blood clots. “That was a complete surprise,” Dr. Outtz Reed says. “It’s fascinating when we form a hypothesis and the exact opposite happens. It’s about following the data and the science.” She adds with a laugh, “I love that I get paid to think for a living!”
Dr. Hasina Outtz Reed
She says the smoke machine, a gift from Dr. Daniel Libby, a clinical professor of medicine and currently voluntary Weill Cornell Medicine faculty member, has been critical to her research findings. Dr. Outtz Reed also credits a succession of mentors, notably Dr. Augustine Choi, Professor of Medicine, a leading clinician-scientist in Pulmonology, for providing her support as she navigates the still relatively early stages of her career. “Mentorship definitely works in both directions,” she adds. “I’ve been trained by my own mentees.” An advocate of promoting a truly open and inclusive environment, the Outtz Reed lab employs undergraduate students from Hunter College and other area universities as well as a closeknit team, including Barbara Summers, Research Specialist and Lab Manage; Dr. Anjali Trivedi, a postdoctoral researcher; Chou Chou, Research Fellow; Tony Lakouetene, M.S., Senior Animal Technician; and Dr. Aneel Bhagwani, a postdoctoral researcher developing novel models of lung lymphatic dysfunction to test the role of lymphatic vessels in lung homeostasis and injury.
Dr. Outtz Reed and two of her students.
As her lab’s mentoring mission statement acknowledges, there is a persistent lack of diversity in scientific research that must continue to be addressed. Dr. Outtz Reed is dedicated to ensuring her lab’s focus on the recruitment and retention of underrepresented individuals in research careers.