Dear Colleagues,
This is my final message to you as Director of the LA CaTS Center, and, truth be told,
it is a hard one to write. I have had the honor of leading this Center for almost
9 years, and it has been the most rewarding work of my career. I want to use this
moment, my last in these pages, to say thank you. Not the polite kind, but the deep
and lasting kind.
When we set out, we shared a simple conviction: that Louisiana could build a translational science enterprise second to none and that we would do it together, across institutions and across the state. You proved it. Consider what this Center has accomplished over the life of the grant:
When we set out, we shared a simple conviction: that Louisiana could build a translational science enterprise second to none and that we would do it together, across institutions and across the state. You proved it. Consider what this Center has accomplished over the life of the grant:
- Helped secure more than $394M in grants for Louisiana, including $275M from the NIH
- Supported investigators in producing more than 2,000 publications and 1,200 presentations
- Expanded our partnerships, including Ochsner, to deepen data access and research capacity
- Enrolled a clinical trial population that is roughly 52% minority, reflecting the Louisiana we serve
- Sustained active Community Advisory Boards guiding our research and outreach statewide
- Logged more than 1,650 core service uses across the program, including 280 in cycle 3 to date
- Supported 30+ scholar promotions and delivered 225+ educational events to over 2,000 participants
- Served as an awardee or collaborator on 12 NIH supplement grants totaling more than $9.3M
If there is one thing I am especially proud of, it is the remarkable stability and
commitment of this leadership team over those 9 years. In a world where centers often
churn through directors and partners, ours held together. The same dedicated people,
pulling in the same direction, year after year. That continuity is not an accident.
It is the product of trust, shared purpose, and genuine fondness for the work and
for one another. It is also, I am convinced, the quiet engine behind every number
on that list.
Numbers tell part of the story, but they are not the part I will carry with me. What I will carry is the people. The investigators who took a chance on a bold idea, the scholars who became leaders, the community partners who kept us honest, and the staff who held the whole thing together with skill and grace. You are the reason LA CaTS works.
As I step away, the Center is already moving forward, and our renewal application is in excellent shape. That work belongs to many hands, and I want to recognize the partners who are carrying it. Ochsner Health assumes an expanded leadership role in the renewal, a fitting reflection of how much that partnership has grown and how central it has become to everything we do. I am thrilled to see them take on this larger role.
I would also be remiss not to offer a special word of thanks to Tulane University. Our Tulane colleagues have enriched this Center at every turn through their science, collaboration, and friendship, and they remain a valued partner in the Louisiana research community. I am grateful for all they have contributed to this work and for all they will continue to contribute.
I am delighted to share that Dr. Peter Katzmarzyk will take the helm as the Center enters its next phase. Peter has been at the heart of this enterprise for years, and the Center could not be in safer hands. I will be cheering him and all of you on from the next chapter of my own.
On that note, on September 1 I will become Executive Director of the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center and Vice Provost at the University of Oklahoma. Here is a happy coincidence: Oklahoma is an IDeA state with its own IDeA-CTR, the Oklahoma Shared Clinical and Translational Resources, and its clinical research space is housed in the very center I am going to lead. So, in truth, I am not leaving the IDeA-CTR family at all. I am simply carrying its mission to another corner of it, and I have no doubt the bonds between Louisiana and Oklahoma will only grow from here.
As one chapter closes and another begins, I leave with complete confidence in this Center and the team that will carry it forward. The mission is bigger than any one of us, and it is in very good hands.
It has been the privilege of my life to serve with you. Thank you for everything.
John Kirwan, PhD
LA CaTS Center IDeA-CTR Director
Numbers tell part of the story, but they are not the part I will carry with me. What I will carry is the people. The investigators who took a chance on a bold idea, the scholars who became leaders, the community partners who kept us honest, and the staff who held the whole thing together with skill and grace. You are the reason LA CaTS works.
As I step away, the Center is already moving forward, and our renewal application is in excellent shape. That work belongs to many hands, and I want to recognize the partners who are carrying it. Ochsner Health assumes an expanded leadership role in the renewal, a fitting reflection of how much that partnership has grown and how central it has become to everything we do. I am thrilled to see them take on this larger role.
I would also be remiss not to offer a special word of thanks to Tulane University. Our Tulane colleagues have enriched this Center at every turn through their science, collaboration, and friendship, and they remain a valued partner in the Louisiana research community. I am grateful for all they have contributed to this work and for all they will continue to contribute.
I am delighted to share that Dr. Peter Katzmarzyk will take the helm as the Center enters its next phase. Peter has been at the heart of this enterprise for years, and the Center could not be in safer hands. I will be cheering him and all of you on from the next chapter of my own.
On that note, on September 1 I will become Executive Director of the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center and Vice Provost at the University of Oklahoma. Here is a happy coincidence: Oklahoma is an IDeA state with its own IDeA-CTR, the Oklahoma Shared Clinical and Translational Resources, and its clinical research space is housed in the very center I am going to lead. So, in truth, I am not leaving the IDeA-CTR family at all. I am simply carrying its mission to another corner of it, and I have no doubt the bonds between Louisiana and Oklahoma will only grow from here.
As one chapter closes and another begins, I leave with complete confidence in this Center and the team that will carry it forward. The mission is bigger than any one of us, and it is in very good hands.
It has been the privilege of my life to serve with you. Thank you for everything.
John Kirwan, PhD
LA CaTS Center IDeA-CTR Director
Pennington Biomedical Research Center