“College helps mold you into who you’re going to be; it’s when you have a chance to decide what you believe,” said Dr. Robin Leach (78), professor and chief of the research division at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA). “At PLNU, my faith became my own. Receiving a science education from Christian believers taught me that God and science can coexist, and that foundation has helped sustain me through the years.”
Like her faith, Leach’s commitment to research has remained constant. After receiving a bachelor’s in biology and mathematics from PLNU, she attended the University of Utah and earned her doctorate in biology with a focus on human genetics. From there, she accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at USC, where she studied gene regulation, before accepting her position at UTHSCSA.
Leach has been involved in multiple areas of genetics research over the years, including diabetes and schizophrenia, but cancer genetics has been the primary focus of her work. More specifically, for the last two decades, she has been studying biomarkers that may help detect
prostate cancer, the second most common type of cancer among American men.
While prostate cancer can be life threatening, this is only the case when it spreads outside the prostate, Leach explained. And because this occurs only about 20 percent of the time, there is a risk of overtreatment for many patients. Leach and her team are looking for markers that will help indicate which cases will become aggressive in hopes of determining which patients should seek treatment and which should simply track their cancer to make sure it doesn’t progress. By helping make that distinction, Leach sees potential to empower and educate patients.
“It used to be that the doctor made the decisions for you,” she said. “But now, with more information available, patients want to decide for themselves, and we want to give them tools to help them make informed decisions. In that way, I feel my research is clinically relevant. Or, as it is commonly stated, ‘The research goes from bench to the bedside.’”
Leach loves being in the lab, working hands-on with her research, but admits that role is only one of many. She is also part of the Early Detection Research Network for the National Cancer Research Institute, and she helps train staff and organize clinical trials as the chief of the research division for the Department of Urology at UTHSCSA. As professor and director of the school’s training program in genetics and genomics, she oversees doctoral students, teaches genetics and personalized medicine, and works with medical students to help analyze results from clinical studies. And like her husband, Chuck (page 32), she stays actively involved with her alma mater and the professional development of PLNU’s science students and faculty as part of Research Associates.
The Viewpoint
PLNU's university publication, the Viewpoint, seeks to contribute relevant and vital stories that grapple with life's profound questions from a uniquely Christian perspective. Through features, profiles, and news updates, the Viewpoint highlights stories of university alumni, staff, faculty, and students who are pursuing who they are called to be.