SEPTEMBER 2017
chestfoundation.org
In 2015, Debasree Banerjee, MD, MS, received the CHEST Foundation
Research Grant in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. She was also a 2016
NetWorks Challenge Travel Grantee as a member of the Women’s Health
NetWork, allowing her to attend the 2016 CHEST Annual Meeting and
network with peers and leaders in chest medicine. Read our follow-up
interview with Dr. Banerjee on her research progress and how the grants
she’s received have impacted her and the work she is doing.
Debasree Banerjee, MD, MS
What is the project you have been working on? What barriers have you encountered with your research?
I have been researching the role of the specific sodium channel
in the heart, how it affects the conductance in patients with
pulmonary arterial hypertension, and how it might affect RV
function. We know in some sources that about 25% of patients
with PAH can die of sudden cardiac death, and sudden cardiac
death is more common in patients with left-sided heart disease. Not having all the control, like unplanned hospitalizations or
advanced sickness in the patients. There are also things cost-
wise that are needed for the research that I wouldn’t have had
access to without the grant. I didn’t do much research in medi-
cal school and residency, since I was more focused on teaching,
so I hadn’t been prepared for the administrative legwork. But,
it’s something I’m learning.
Instead of dying of sudden death or end stage heart failure, we
wanted a way to see, just based on a physical exam, if there’s
evidence of heart pump function not working well. With the
funding, I’ve been able to more than double the sample size of
the original pilot data and add in two more large objectives to
complement my original aim.
What has receiving the grant meant to you?
One of the reasons I was able to stay at Brown was because of
winning this grant from the CHEST Foundation. It was able to
cement my interest in fully pursuing a physician scientist career,
which is huge, because it is not what I had planned on doing.
Because of this grant, I had an 80% protected research position
in my first year. Winning the grant gave me a feeling of affirma-
tion and validation, and that certainly motivates me to continue
on this path.
Going into fellowship, if you had asked me what I had envi-
sioned myself doing, I would have said I’d be a medical edu-
cator. I think I was surprised by my research year in fellowship
when I was working on this project, because the grant created
so much excitement. I felt like I could actually do this, and
obtaining the grant upped the ante of investment and kept me
excited. Plus, the grant allowed me to do everything, see the
whole process, the full arc, and I’m not even done.
Being able to follow up with the CHEST Foundation and attend
the CHEST Annual Meeting are exciting ways to overcome any
slumps or doubts, because you see the interest and encourage-
ment for the work you’re doing. Receiving the travel grant and
coming to the annual meeting as a new faculty member, it was
the most high-yield conference I’ve ever attended. Every day,
there is something new and interactive for development.
What advice would you give to someone who hasn’t
received a grant before but is considering applying?
If they can get a good mentor, that’s invaluable. It takes per-
severance, persistence, and passion, and if you believe your
work is having an impact, it’s absolutely worth doing. Even if
you apply and don’t get it the first time, try, try again. I have so
much more faith in CHEST because of the positivity I see from
the investment in my own mentor, who was a past foundation
grant recipient and encouraged me to apply. CHEST gives am-
ple opportunity to network and help to be steered in the right
way. As a grant recipient and being folded into the CHEST
community, you start to think, “I want this feeling again.
Someone thinks this is important work.”