CAROL MENU

open letter 
biography 
contact 

Carol D. Guzé, Ph. D.
Biography

The calling to be a teacher probably has some genetic basis. My mother was a teacher, I am a teacher, and two of my children are teachers. Our pedigree would look something like this:

It looks like the pattern of an autosomal dominant trait (see the genetics lectures for an explanation of inheritance patterns).

In 1967 I joined the faculty at the new California State University Dominguez Hills as a professor of Biology. Before I took that position, I had taught at Brandeis University and the University of Massachusetts in Boston. When I was a graduate student working on my Ph.D., I was a teaching assistant at University of California Berkeley for several years and during my undergraduate years at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, I was a teaching assistant in a non major's physics course. As a small child I would lure my little friends into my "library" and then "teach" them. So, you see, like most talents my future in teaching expressed itself early.

In the middle of my junior year as an undergraduate, I changed my major from mathematics to biology. I had started an introductory biology course which I took only because my boyfriend (who disliked science) had to take it, and he needed my help. Little did I know I would fall in love with biology….and strangely enough, it was because of the lectures on biochemistry. A summer at Woods Hole Marine Biology Lab just before entering graduate school removed any doubts about my fascination in biology in general.

At UC Berkeley I started out in genetics but switched to cell biology. My thesis was about protein and RNA synthesis in dividing cells and was one of the first to show that messenger RNA had a longer half life in eukaryotic cells than it had in prokaryotic cells. My postdoctoral studies were in cell biology, microbiology, and later in medical genetics.

Although my teaching was focused mostly on cell biology and later human genetics, I always enjoyed teaching non majors biology. This is because of a desire not only to share my enthusiasm for biology but to help others appreciate its relevance in their lives (and perhaps spark the interest of a few good students to change their major).

Despite my "label" as a cell biologist, my previous passion for genetics persisted. The abundance of lectures at UCLA continued to attract me especially those in human genetics and molecular genetics. With the explosion of knowledge in genetics and the rapid growth of the fledging field of human genetics, I hopped on the band wagon. At last I could meld my two major interests....cell biology and genetics. I took a sabbatical leave in the Pediatric Genetics Unit at Harbor UCLA in Torrance and upon returning to campus, began the first Human Cytogenetic Technology training program in the United States.

A temporary diversion was an eight year stint as a member of the CSUDH central administration in academic affairs. During the time I was the Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Graduate Studies. One of my responsibilities during that time was directing the conversion of the CSUDH campus from quarters to semesters.

When I returned to teaching, I decided to sit for the American Board of Medical Genetics examinations for the Ph.D. Medical Geneticist certification. To be eligible for the examination I was required to be in a post doctoral training program for two years. Therefore, I became a fellow in the UCLA Intercampus Medical Genetics Training Program for PhDs and MDs. At that time I was on a (second) sabbatical leave in Pediatric Genetics at Harbor UCLA Medical Center. After attending the program lectures for two years, collecting 150 cases, and completing a research project (Family studies of infantile visceral myopathy: A congenital myopathic pseudo-obstruction. C Guzé, P. Hyman V. Payne. American Journal of Medical Genetics 82:114-122, 1999.), I was eligible to sit for the Ph.D. Medical Geneticist examination. It was difficult and had a lot of mathematics but I still had an aptitude for math so it worked to my advantage.

After learning that I had passed the Ph.D. Medical Geneticist examination, I was uncertain what I would do with the new title since I was already a full professor and loved my job and my students. I soon found the answer when a friend who was an M.D. Clinical Geneticist at King Drew Medical Center lost her genetic counselor. We agreed that I would continue teaching and work part time until she found a replacement. We worked so well together that I continued in that position at KDMC as their Medical Geneticist and genetic counselor for 14 years. During that time I also taught lectures in human genetics to the residents, medical school students, and attending doctors. Many of our CSUDH graduate and undergraduate students have worked with me in the Genetics Unit at the hospital. Several of these students have been co-authors on scientific journal publications and poster presentations.

In the fall semester of 2001, I partially retired from CSUDH where I continued to teach Human Genetics, non majors General Biology, and an occasional Graduate Seminar in Medical Genetics. I continued as the Associate Director of the Genetics Unit in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at our teaching hospital (King Drew Medical Center). I did prenatal counseling, coordinated the monthly Pediatric Genetic Clinic and did consults in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit), the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit), and the Special Care Nursery. We also had adult referrals from a variety of clinics such as dermatology, cardiology, neurology, etc. I organized the Genetics Review once a month for the residents and attendings. We had many interesting cases and some of them were prepared for publication and poster presentations at the American Society of Human Genetics meetings and Clinical Genetics. We also published papers in the American Journal of Medical Genetics and Genetics in Medicine.

At the end of the 2006 spring semester I retired from the biology department at the university and the genetics unit at the hospital.

My wish for each of you is that you find a career that is as satisfying for you as mine has been for me.