98. Julie Lin, The Kidneys and Chamber Music

Show Notes:

Julie Lin was a medical student at Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons when she met her future husband. It was the first day of medical school and they met while attending a class where they were both serious amateur classical musicians. Julie talks about their shared love of music and how they planned to have a family quartet. 

The All-state Orchestra Model

Julie shares her story of starting an orchestra at medical school, which initially had a traditional weekly rehearsal and concert. However, they found that the show rate was low as exam time approached, leading to the creation of the Allstate orchestra model. This model involved distributing music and parts ahead of time, having a three or four-hour rehearsal, and playing in front of an invited live audience.

Experiences at Medical School 

Julie initially thought she would be a clinician, but during her nephrology fellowship program, she trains to become a specialist in kidney medicine, she also became interested in clinical research. This realization led her to pursue academic nephrology, which was life-changing for her. After her husband's residency and postdoctoral training in Boston, Julie started working as an instructor at Harvard Medical School and attending physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital. As part of her job offer, she negotiated for funding from the nephrology division to obtain a Master's in Public Health from Harvard, focusing on quantitative analysis rather than policy.

Working in Nephrology Research

Julie worked as an investigator in the Channing laboratory at Brigham and Women's Harvard, where they had ongoing cohort studies of health professionals for over 10 years. She was one of the many NIH-funded investigators in the Nurses Health Study, a cohort study of  >120,000 US nurses who signed up in 1976. A subset of women in the study had submitted blood and urine samples, which allowed for analyses of  change in estimated kidney function over 11 years between 1989 and 2000.

 

Kidney Function Decline Research 

Julie's research included looking at diet, nutrients, foods, and dietary patterns and how they impacted kidney function and change. Work that gained the most media attention was diet work. Her research found that drinking two or more servings of artificially sweetened drinks, likely soda, was associated with a faster kidney function decline in women over 11 years. This was about three times faster than normal aging alone. The researchers adjusted for factors like diabetes and high blood pressure, which are big risk factors for kidney function loss. Julie also talks about research on the Mediterranean diet vs. Western dietary patterns. 

Diet for Kidney Health

The conversation turns to the concept of the blue zone, which has been associated with longevity and longevity, but that many people living over 100 years in these areas may have exaggerated their age due to poor record keeping. This leads Julie to remark that a main concern for scientists is how well information is being captured and measured.  Julie shares tips on the best diet for kidney health. Low sugar intake is recommended, as it can lead to weight gain and diabetes. Vegetarian diets are also healthy, and fish is recommended as the main source of animal protein.

A Clinical Research Career in Industry

Julie talks about the reduction in academic research funding, and why she decided to continue her clinical research career in industry, working on clinical trials and developing new drugs. She has worked with Amgen, Genzyme, a rare disease company, as well as at a gene therapy startup called Dimension Therapeutics, which was acquired by Ultragenyx. Her current role is as global project head at Sanofi. She talks about her role and the importance of assessing efficacy and safety of new therapies.

Playing in Community Orchestras and Chamber Music

Julie explains that, as an amateur musician, she has found it to be a great outlet for her stress and the intense work she had to do while working and taking care of her children when they were younger. She joined a community orchestra in 2012,  since then she has played in a number of community orchestras, including New Philharmonia, Longwood, and Brookline Symphony. Julie has also played with the Mercury Orchestra, founded and conducted by Channing Yu, Class of 93. Recently, she decided to focus on chamber music, which has been her true love. She has a lot of local musician friends to play with. Julie explains that playing chamber music brings a sense of flow and connection to others, making it a great gift. 

Influential Harvard Professors and Courses

Julie shares her experiences in Harvard's music 180 class, taught by Leon Kirchner and Lynn Chang, which was an intense experience. She also recalls a class where a modern and atonal piece was played by an advanced violinist, which changed her view of Schoenberg's music. She also mentions Helen Vendler's poetry class.

Timestamps:

05:38 Medical school experiences, including a non-linear podcast format and a successful orchestra performance

09:30 Career paths in medicine, including becoming a physician scientist, with insights on negotiation for benefits and research in nephrology 

16:31 Diet and kidney function, with findings on artificial sweetened drinks and Mediterranean diet

21:17 Aging, nutrition, and kidney health with a former academic researcher turned pharmaceutical industry professional

28:36 Musical experiences and focus on chamber music

33:01 Music, Harvard, and the importance of flow

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-lin-md-mph-fasn-71796b2a/

 

Featured Non-profit

The featured non-profit of this episode is Esperanza Shelter, recommended by Caribou Honig who reports “Hi, I'm Caribou Honig, class of 1992. The featured nonprofit of this episode of The 92 report is Esperanza shelter. The shelter does incredibly important work, enabling people and very importantly, their children, to escape abusive relationships throughout northern New Mexico. Equally important, is that they provide a wide range of services to help those survivors get back on their feet, providing everything from emergency shelter to transitional housing to counseling and life skills. My wife and I have been donating to Esperanza shelter since 2020. You can learn more about their work at Esperanza shelter.org. Esperanza for those of you not in the know is the Spanish word for hope. And now here's Will Bachman with this week's episode.

To learn more about their work, visit https://esperanzashelter.org/.