Episode 13: Four Decades as a Spinal Cord Injury Research Scientist. A Conversation With Dr. Scott Whittemore

Dr. Maxwell Boakye
December 1, 2021

It’s not every day that you get to talk to someone with 40 years of research experience in your field. Let alone, someone as distinguished as my guest for this episode. Join me as I sit down with Dr. Scott Whittemore to discuss a myriad of topics from his four-decade career as a spinal cord injury research scientist including stem cell research, proteostasis in spinal cord injured patients, and the reversible silencing of lumbar interneurons.

You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in…

The secret sauce that makes scientific collaborations work [3:24]
Taking a deep dive into Dr. Whittemore’s research [10:06]
Dr. Whittemore’s take on the current potential of stem cells [18:40]
What is proteostasis? [21:22]
Pharmaceutical solutions for proteostasis [27:18]
The silencing of the lumbar interneurons [29:19]
What Dr. Whittemore wish he knew 40 years ago [35:02]
Becoming a good scientist and training the next generation [37:14]

Taking his talents to South Beach and beyond…

Dr. Whittemore may be in the field of spinal cord injury research today, but that’s not where he started. His initial area of study was molecular biology as it relates to the brain. So what led him to change his field? “Serendipity” as he puts it. His friend and colleague Åke Seiger recruited him to join the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis as it was being formed in 1986. He spent 12 years at the University of Miami before being recruited to the University of Louisville and becoming the Professor of Spinal Cord injury research. Get all the details of Dr. Whittemore’s 40-year journey on this episode of Optimal Neuro|Spine!

Before his time

One of the first things that piqued Whittemore’s interest when he got to Miami was stem cell research. This may be a common research area today, but in 1986 stem cells were just getting started. Whittemore and his team were able to establish that the adult central nervous system has the capacity to direct very appropriate differentiation of precursor stem cells. This was a massive breakthrough at the time and it gave Dr. Whittemore hope for the future of the field. Yet, the further he pursued stem cell research the quicker he realized that his work was not clinically translatable within the timeframe left in his career. Listen to our whole conversation to find out what Dr. Whittemore did next.

Looking back, looking forward

The benefit of having four decades of experience is the wisdom you can share with others. Dr. Whittemore has a great passion for education, having personally trained 40 post-doctoral students. He believes in fostering relationships with postdocs and graduate students that enable them to surpass their instructors. “You’re not always successful with all of them, but it’s a really important component and we’re not going to sustain our science without training the next generation.” And that’s really what it boils down to for Dr. Scott Whittemore: pushing the scientific ball forward as much as he can while setting the next generation up for success.