A Father-Daughter Pair Takes On Cancer

Penn seems to be rife with accomplished researcher-families. Witness Virginia Lee and John Trojanowski, a married couple who are among the world’s most influential researchers on Alzheimer’s disease. Jean Bennett and Albert Maguire, another married pair, are pioneering gene therapy treatments to restore sight in the blind with CHOP‘s Katherine High. And recently, Kristin Galetta, a Penn post-baccalaureate student, co-authored a study in the journal Neurology with her father, neuro-ophthalmologist Dr. Steven Galetta, demonstrating that a simple sideline test could accurately detect concussions during sporting events.

To this illustrious group, we can now add the two Doctors Rook: Dr. Alain Rook is a professor of Dermatology at Penn Medicine. Dr. Katie Rook (pictured above with a canine patient), a veterinary resident in dermatology at Penn Vet, is starting a pilot study in her father’s lab, investigating the immune system’s signaling mechanisms in cutaneous lymphoma. Their story is profiled in the latest issue of Penn Medicinemagazine.

You can read the full story of the two Dr. Rooks in the Penn Medicine magazine article embedded below. download the article PDF.