What's next, Dr. Wollman?
Since September 2024, Dr. Lila Wollman has been an assistant professor in the University of Oregon’s Department of Human Physiology. Her broad research interests include studying how the brain adapts and changes during development, aging, and disease. Specifically, she researches how quitting nicotine changes the brain pathways that control breathing, especially the body’s automatic response to low oxygen. Normally, when oxygen levels drop, your brain signals your body to breathe faster and deeper. Her research investigates how nicotine withdrawal affects the brain’s ability to trigger this response. Her early professional career as a physical therapist has strongly shaped her identity as a scientist and her research, which tackles the prominent public health concern of nicotine addiction.
While Dr. Wollman was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Arizona, she was already familiar with Tucson and the university from her time as a PhD student in the Physiology Department. After practicing as a physical therapist for four years, Dr. Wollman made one of the most important decisions of her career by joining the Physiology Department as a PhD student in Dr. Ralph Fregosi’s lab. As a graduate student, she learned how to be adaptable and develop new skills that pushed her outside of her comfort zone. Then, as a postdoc, she spent a year and a half in Dr. David Fuller’s lab at the University of Florida before returning to Tucson to conduct her postdoctoral research under Dr. Fregosi’s mentorship. As a postdoc, she gained the ability to generate highly creative scientific ideas of her own and subsequently became an assistant research professor at the University of Arizona. Dr. Wollman credits her two postdoctoral mentors, Dr. Fregosi and Dr. Fuller, for their unparalleled guidance in her professional development, noting that they continue to mentor her and support her today. “One of the most important things they do really well is finding and creating opportunities for their trainees,” she emphasized.
Now, having reached the goal of becoming an independent researcher that she shared in her 2021 interview as a postdoc, Dr. Wollman has utilized her clinical background and the wisdom gained from her postdoc mentors to propel her research and shape her own mentorship style. Supporting patients in the ICU as a physical therapist for four years motivates her to ensure her research is as translational as possible. One of the reasons she was drawn to the faculty position in Eugene was the University of Oregon’s diverse opportunities for collaboration with other faculty members, including in human subjects research. Inspired by the way her mentors “cared about their trainees as people and not just employees and scientists,” Dr. Wollman strives to do the same for her lab members. She places a strong emphasis on tailoring each trainee’s experience in her lab to their individual learning style and personal goals. In addition, she has fostered a lab culture of respect and open communication by guiding her students through challenges and reminding them that they will persevere together.
The two pieces of advice Dr. Wollman has for future postdocs are to “have good mentors in your life” and not be afraid to reach out to potential new mentors. Last but not least, she emphasizes that “it is more important to love what you are doing and show up and work hard every day, than compare yourself to others.”
Outside the lab, Dr. Wollman enjoys exercising, lifting weights, and rock climbing, and has recently ventured into gardening and DIY projects after moving into her new home.