Science Visualization, Rhode Island College

Dr. Kirsten Hokeness, (Professor & Chair of the Biological and Biomedical Sciences Department at Bryant University), kicked off the 2024 RI-INBRE Winter Retreat with a welcome speech that shared her journey of becoming Chair of the Biological and Biomedical Sciences Department at Bryant University. 

“I am a native Rhode Islander who had dreams of going to medical school, my dad a doctor and my mom a nurse. I went to UNH and got a BS in Biology. It was a large school and research opportunities were dominated by graduate students. I decided to take a gap year before applying to medical school and was first exposed to research at my first job. I worked at Roger Williams Hospital in their Surgical Oncology division where cutting-edge research on immunotherapy cancer treatments was being done. This is when I realized that research was really cool and it started my love of immunology.

I suddenly faced a crossroad when figuring out my career path. I did a lot more shadowing and other experiences that led me to realize that I actually did not like sick people. It kind of freaked me out. I loved the patient care aspect, the side I always saw from my dad, but handling sick people was another thing all together. So I decided that I would study illness instead.

I went to Brown, studying in their Pathobiology program and studied under Dr. Thais Salazar-Mather. I loved my experiences as a PhD student and still loved research but I figured out that over time you spend so much time going down rabbit holes, and responding to reviewers that it made me question my desire to do research at an R1 like Brown. Something was missing. I did however enjoy my time as a TA.

The opportunity to apply to Bryant came my way. Growing up in RI, I too knew Bryant as a business school. But there was something about the opportunity itself that was bigger than the job. I was promised the ability to build. They were building moderate labs and the idea that I could build a biology program was intriguing. Part of what I love about research is the strategy and problem solving and thinking about long-term impacts. I could use those skills to build programs. Bryant offered me the opportunity to do research and teach and build. No one quite understood my decision to go there from Brown, but they didn’t have to.

Bryant was not at all equipped to handle biomedical research. We had no seed funding when I joined the faculty in fall of 2007 and the research labs weren’t built until 2008/2009. This is where I looked to INBRE for support. In August 2010 and then again in 2011 I was awarded pilot funding. In 2011 I was on a collaborative award with Dr. Reid.”

• RI-INBRE grant awarded August 2010 entitled “Effects of octenol on immune cell function”. This 1 year grant carries and award in the amount of $18,115.
• RI-INBRE grant awarded April 2011 entitled “Interactions of fungal pathogens and immune cells: Mechansisms for pathogenic success”. Kirsten Hokeness and Christopher Reid. This 1 year grant carries an award in the amount of $46,364.
• RI-INBRE Collaborative grant awarded November 2011 entitled “Bacterial Glycome as Antibacterial Targets. Christopher Reid, Kirsten Hokeness and Amit Basu. This 2 year collaborative grant carries an award in the amount of $280,000.

“I owe INBRE a world of gratitude. It was their funding that helped me to develop a research program here at Bryant and to train students. Ultimately it was this support that enabled me to get tenure. Which was also not an easy feat given that the year my tenure package was due I had my twins who were born two months early and my mother was diagnosed with ALS, a disease she succumbed to just 18months later.

I may not be considered a huge success in INBRE terms – I didn’t go on to become a prolific researcher with independent funding, at least in this area. But what I found was a love for the strategic planning process. I saw what was possible and I wanted to build more. The Biology program was launched shortly after I got my first INBRE grant and it became one of the fastest growing majors in the College of Arts and Sciences. We had an amazing opportunity for students to study at the intersection of science and business- something that was a bit rare. We had small class and emphasized hands-on learning early and often. And the power of mentorship was invaluable. These were all things that I missed going to a large school- that I loved about Bryant.

I moved up the ranks, got promoted, and took on the role of chair in 2018. This is when I saw the opportunity to build the health sciences major which also took off given the success of our PA program. Working with the Psychology department and my current Associate Director, Dr. Joe Trunzo, we saw the value in the synergy between health sciences and behavioral health. In June of 2022, shortly after the arrival of our new provost, Dr. Paliwal, Bryant launched the School of Health and Behavioral Sciences, a reimagined version of the current School of Health Sciences which only housed the PA program.

We continued to build and now we have 5 undergraduate majors (Biology, Psychology, Health Sciences, Healthcare Analytics and Exercise Science), the PA program, MS in Healthcare Informatics and are launching the university’s first doctoral program, a Clinical Doctorate in Psychology (PsyD). Our new Exercise and Movement Science lab was completed in August 2023 (a multimillion dollar investment to support our newest major) and we are in the planning phases for an enhanced and expanded health and behavioral sciences lab that will provide new teaching and research labs to support our current and future growth. I am a co-PI on an NSF S-STEM grant and just submitted an 8-million-dollar infrastructure proposal.

The INBRE funding helped me in so many ways. It allowed me to establish my own research. Helped to fuel my ability to build the sciences at Bryant, ultimately creating an entire school devoted to it. It has helped to recruit fantastic talent to Bryant. It has helped to transform the lives of all of our graduates who are off in medical school, dental school, PA school, Doctoral programs and more. It has helped us to establish a research presence at Bryant. Over the past 5 years we have received $1,961339.00 in funding but currently we have Grants out for review that include $2,431,560.00 in research and an additional $9,800,000.00 in infrastructure awards, indicating a huge proliferation in grant writing. We are undergoing considerable infrastructure investments and honestly- the sky is the limit. And it all started with a little pilot money and a vision. A vision that most did not see, and many did not believe could be possible.”  Read more