He may not have known exactly what the future would look like, but he knew how to get us there. —David Polsky
I met Irwin Freedberg in 1977 when he offered me my first "real" job, as an assistant professor in his new Department of Dermatology at Johns Hopkins Medical School. In his letter offering me the job, Irwin said, "We shall look into the matter of grant support, and I will be back in touch with you as soon as we have identified the appropriate sources. I am certain that the relationship we have discussed will be a mutually productive, extremely fruitful one for all of us. I am very much looking forward to the adventure." Indeed, that offer began my own fruitful, 28-year association with Irwin, first at Hopkins and later at New York University (NYU).
When Irwin informed me he would "look into the matter of grant support," I assumed he would simply provide me with the names of funding agencies to which I could then apply. However, Irwin's involvement in my initial grant application process was much more extensive than that. Irwin provided me with some of his own grants as examples, and he then carefully reviewed my writing, which, I must say, was pretty awful (and still is). Irwin was an amazingly effective editor; without his painstaking work, I am certain that my first grants would never have been funded. From this experience, I learned from a master the skills of writing and good grantsmanship.
Irwin was committed to supporting research because of his deep conviction that research ultimately holds the key to improved clinical care. Shortly after his arrival at Hopkins, he recruited Arthur Bertolino, Gopal Bhatnagar, Peter Gibbs, and Mary Gilmartin to set up a laboratory located on the ninth floor of the Blalock Building to perform pioneering studies on the biosynthesis and posttranslational modifications of keratins. These researchers were the first to demonstrate that various keratins can be differentially phosphorylated. My laboratory was next door, and we focused on the immunological characterization of keratins. We, together with Franke, Osborn, and Weber, demonstrated that keratins were present as the major intermediate filament proteins in almost all epithelial cells. Tom Provost arrived soon afterward and set up a laboratory to study mechanisms of blistering diseases. Under Irwin's leadership, the department, despite its small size, quickly rose to become one of the top five dermatology departments in the country in terms of National Institutes of Health funding.
The author and Irwin Freedberg at the annual departmental dinner party, 2002.
Similar success followed when Irwin assumed the chairmanship of the NYU Dermatology Department. Although the department already enjoyed a reputation as one of the best in the world, with Rudolf Baer's famous contributions on Langerhans cells, Irma Gigli working on immunological diseases, Al Kopf studying melanoma, and Jean-Claude Bystryn examining autoimmune blistering diseases, Irwin further expanded its research base. He recruited Miki Blumenberg to work on the regulation of keratin and other genes of the epidermis; Pam Cowin to study desmosome structure and function and, later, mammary epithelial growth regulation; Maryana Tomic-Canic to study hormonal regulation of keratin genes; and Seth Orlow to study melanogenesis. I arrived to continue our studies on keratin expression and eventually became involved in the examination of corneal epithelial and follicular stem cells, and urothelial differentiation. Through the Sulzberger Scholars Program, Irwin cultivated a whole new generation of physician-scientists, including Victoria Werth (autoimmune blistering and connective tissue diseases), Cindy Loomis (skin development), David Polsky (melanoma formation), Thomas Hornyak (melanocyte development), Sumayah Jamal (melanoma), Jo-Ann Latkowski (T-cell lymphoma), David Chu (epithelial stem cells), Henry Wong (cutaneous lymphoma), and Timothy Cardozo (computational biology). Many of these individuals now hold faculty appointments at other institutions. As a result of Irwin's tireless efforts in promoting research, the NYU Dermatology Department in 2004 ranked second in the country in National Institutes of Health grant support, with a total annual support of $5,063,262 — missing the front-runner by a mere $73,314!
As a basic scientist, I was initially hesitant to join a dermatology department, because of concerns that restricting my work to the epidermis might hinder my overall research efforts. Irwin assured me, however, that he would support expansion of my research to include other epithelia. In fact, Irwin took the broad view that a comparison of various epithelia could yield unique insights into biological processes that are of fundamental importance to epithelial biology. Therefore, it was with Irwin's encouragement that I studied the differentiation of a number of epithelia. Indeed this approach proved to be fruitful. Our work on epidermal and corneal keratins led to the discovery that corneal epithelial stem cells reside in the limbus; later, similar experimental approaches were used to demonstrate that hair follicular epithelial stem cells reside in the bulge. Other faculty members in the department also occasionally take advantage of other organs to study epithelial biology, and Irwin was always as excited as we were when these explorations paid off.
As a leader of a major academic dermatology department, Irwin had an insatiable appetite for new knowledge. In addition to our own departmental seminars, he regularly attended the school's weekly Honors Lecture Series, which cover a wide range of biological subjects. Irwin was deeply concerned about the future of academic dermatology, and he wanted to do everything in his power to recruit new residents who had the potential to perform meaningful research. One approach Irwin took in this regard was to send out letters each year to all the MD/PhD students at NYU encouraging them to apply to dermatology. Finally, Irwin allocated some of the departmental endowment to secure an entire floor of 7,500 square feet in the new Smilow Research Building at NYU School of Medicine. He hoped this would allow his successor to recruit additional investigators, and further strengthen the department's research activities.
In preparing this article, I asked some of Irwin's former trainees as well as some of my own colleagues about his influence on their research careers. Thomas Hornyak said, "I could depend upon Dr. Freedberg to make time in his busy schedule to review my novice fellowship and grant applications. Even after I have left NYU, he continued to maintain contact, and provide valuable advice and perspective, during my time at Henry Ford and currently at the NIH. It was always comforting to know he was there, and I will miss his energy, insight, and humanism." Patrick Burnett remarked, "Irwin Freedberg liked people; he liked residents; he liked to be the guy who could help you get where you want to go. He had a father's love for those he trained and for those whose career he guided." Sumayah Jamal remembered, "He saw to it that I always had protected time so that I could develop my research. He helped me with all of my papers and grants and was always happy to hear about my triumphs, no matter how small." Joanne Latkowski noted that "Dr. Freedberg was indefatigable. When I would leave the lab at 11 p.m., feeling sorry for myself after working a twelve-hour day, I could not help noticing the light on inside Dr. Freedberg's office, with his hunched silhouette at his desk — still hard at work. In this, as in all things, he was my mentor and my inspiration." Cindy Loomis noted, "Irwin was not only interested in our academic achievements, but also in our achievements in life — Irwin was almost as excited as I was when my kids were born." Pam Cowin said, "He always kept an open-door policy. You could see him at any time with anything that was bothering you, and even if he couldn't solve the problem, you left feeling better. He read my first grant and my first manuscript (as he put it, 843 times, once for every amino acid in the cadherin sequence) and was a wonderful copy editor and teacher. He really loved research and the academic enterprise."
David Polsky put it well: "A medical school professor once told his first-year students that only 50% of what he was teaching them would be true in 20 years; the only problem was that he didn't know which 50% it would be. Irwin Freedberg could see the future, even if he didn't know all the details. Irwin knew that the future of medicine depended upon the creation of new knowledge and its dissemination. Irwin was a champion of the physician-scientist and worked hard to help junior investigators get a start in their chosen fields of investigation. During his tenure as the Chair of Dermatology at NYU, Irwin formalized the training of dermatologist-scientists under the Sulzberger Scholars Program, named after a former chairman, Marion Sulzberger. A unique program among dermatology residencies, this program allows a third-year resident to get a head start on their postdoctoral fellowship by relieving them of 90% of their clinical responsibilities in order to begin their research projects. Furthermore, Irwin appreciated that the New York City scientific community was rich with opportunities, so he allowed residents to pursue their research at any of the local medical schools in the New York City area, not just NYU. Irwin's interest did not stop with offering these training opportunities. He was also interested in reviewing grants and manuscripts written by his trainees, and he consistently provided excellent editorial feedback to improve whatever crossed his desk. Irwin was a tireless worker, involved in nearly all facets of dermatology from education and training to clinical practice, government and academic affairs. He was an inspiring leader with a genuine concern for the future of the specialty. He may not have known exactly what the future would look like, but he knew how to get us there" (italics mine). I think that is a fitting description of Irwin Freedberg, who was and continues to be an inspiration to all of us. Irwin, we will miss you dearly.
