“It fuels both of our fires”–
Strobels, Father and Son, Also Share Research Focus as Colleagues
HOUSTON – (Nov. 10, 2006) – The first time Nathaniel Strobel, M.D., went to China with his father, Henry Strobel, Ph.D., it was more or less an adventure – something fun to do during his third year of undergraduate school at Lynchburg College, where he was majoring in history.
Drs. Henry (left) and Nathaniel Strobel – father and son, UT Medical School colleagues.
The second time, six years later, he was a member of the delegation as a senior at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
Along the way, Nathaniel found his calling.
Now an assistant professor of pediatrics in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Nathaniel offices on the same floor as his father in the Medical School Building at 6431 Fannin St.
Dad, who has been with UT-Houston since before there was a medical school building, is professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and a recent recipient of the President’s Scholar Award for Teaching.
The Strobels are the first full-time father-son faculty members in the school’s 35-year history.
“To see him with his big hands treating little kids is a treat for me,” said Henry Strobel, whose son has gone from having to jump to reach the emergency showers to having to duck under them (he’s 6’-4” tall). “I think when he went to China the first time and visited all the hospitals, it beguiled him. He found his focus.”
Nathaniel said the death of the mother of a good friend and interacting with medical students on that first trip to China made him think about going into medicine for the first time.
“I saw the medical students and how they interacted and I thought it was possible for me to become a doctor,” Nathaniel said. “I’ve always liked critical care and I decided I wanted to do pediatrics because with a child, if you can bridge them through the illness, they have the rest of their lives to continue on as healthy humans.”
After Nathaniel was accepted at the UT Medical School, both father and son wondered what it would be like to be there together. In his first year, Nathaniel’s biochemistry class was taught by his father, who is also associate dean for Faculty Affairs and former assistant dean for Student Affairs.
“What’s it going to be like for me to have a dad who teaches on the faculty?” Nathaniel said was a question that crossed his mind. “He obviously had a very big name here. He gave me enough space, so I could make my own name and have my own identity.”
Now the two are teaming up to find a way to stop an inflammation process that happens after severe head injury, which can lead to Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS).
Henry Strobel has spent his professional life researching cytochrome P450, a series of enzymes that metabolize drugs, among other actions. For reasons still not known, after acute head trauma, these enzymes are decreased in a chemical response that leads to inflammation in other organs in the body, including the lungs.
“In the first 24 hours after a trauma, the pro-inflammatory signals are made and they do all the things that cause inflammation,” Henry said. “If you get a cut on your hand and don’t treat it, it will turn red, hard, hot and painful. The ions and fluids and cells are inflamed. During a head trauma, the body goes into overdrive trying to protect itself. The brain swells and pushes out and down.
“But then there’s a relay system, the nature of which we don’t know, that sends a message to the lungs, liver, gastrointestinal tract and kidneys that something is going on and they all mount a response. The relay system is not via blood or hormones, so it might theoretically be transferred through the nerves. If we can raise the level of P450, that could stop the process. We’re still looking for the chemicals to do that.”
Nathaniel became interested in his father’s research because he treats children with acute pulmonary problems that are sometimes a result of head trauma.
“We see more head and brain injury than anyone else,” Nathaniel said. “We’ve pushed our treatment further than anyone. Head trauma can lead to ARDS in the lungs. If we can control that, we can decrease the morbidity.”
He’s found another benefit to the joint research.
“Working on the research together has helped me understand who my dad is more,” Nathaniel said. “When we get excited together about something, it fuels both of our fires.”
By Deborah Mann Lake with Camille Webb