A Career Committed to Research, and Life-Long Friendship Guide Cancer Patient’s Success
A Career Committed to Research, and Life-Long Friendship Guide Cancer Patient’s Success
Over the last 35 years, Kathy Kulka has dedicated her career to medical research. She began by working in a laboratory that concentrated on understanding the pathology behind HIV/AIDS – today, she is the lab manager for Dr. Charles Rinaldo’s HIV lab at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health in the department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology.
She oversees the daily operations and conducts experiments in a busy HIV research lab.
“Laboratory research helps people, even if the route from lab to the public isn’t always direct,” Kulka said. “I’ve remained in this career because I’ve been able to see how research develops and makes an impact over time.”
A clinical trial changed my treatment plan. And my survival.
While she understands the importance of health research, like so many women, Kathy’s days were jam-packed. When she turned 40, her cousin and best friend, Denise Wickline, knew Kathy wouldn’t schedule her first mammogram on her own, so she started scheduling their screenings together.
“Kathy and I grew up across the street from one another. I’ve known her all my life, and I didn’t think she’d prioritize her mammogram, so I thought we could team up. We started going together every February,” Wickline said.
Thirteen years into routine screening, when she was 53 years old, Kulka received a call. Her mammogram showed a discrepancy, and she needed to undergo a breast biopsy.
“I’d undergone biopsies a couple of times in the past, so I wasn’t too concerned,” Kulka said. “Everything had always turned out fine before.”
This time, though, was different. Kathy had stage 2 breast cancer.
“I wasn’t so much scared as I was overwhelmed,” said Kulka. “I figured I would either come out of this okay, or I’d be reunited with my mom and dad. But I knew I couldn’t do this on my own.”
Denise stepped in. As a long-time employee of Magee-Womens Research Institute & Foundation, she understood the important role support people play during cancer treatment and recovery. She attended all of Kathy’s appointments, including the very first one with Shannon Puhalla, M.D., an oncologist with UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital.
“Denise asked all the questions I didn’t know to ask,” Kathy said. “I was still absorbing my situation.”
At the time of Kathy’s diagnosis, Dr. Puhalla was overseeing a clinical trial studying whether an CDK 4/6 inhibitor called Palbociclib, when combined with an aromatase inhibitor, could be an effective pre-surgery treatment for shrinking breast cancer tumors.
“Kathy had estrogen receptor positive breast cancer initially, and at the time Magee had a clinical trial exploring Palbociclib in lieu of chemotherapy to reduce tumor size,” said Dr. Puhalla. “Because chemotherapy was the current standard of care for this treatment plan, Kathy had to be comfortable if she was randomized to a different option. Her tumors were slow-growing, and our Magee team was comfortable with her participation in the trial.”
“I understand how important clinical trial research is,” Kulka said. “I knew that I had the best possible doctors at Magee, so of course I agreed.”
The goal of the clinical trial was to see if this aromatase inhibitor could shrink breast cancer tumors better than endocrine therapy alone. The results of the trial have been published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology showed that as a whole, tumors did not shrink more, but the growth rate of the cancers stopped more.
“Kathy’s tumor didn’t shrink as well as we had hoped with this treatment,” Dr. Puhalla said. “We had a chance to study her cancer in more detail, which led us to learn that her tumor was more weakly estrogen positive at the time of surgery. Thanks to her participation, we learned something new “
Kathy’s contribution to research didn’t stop there. She also agreed to donate her tumor tissue to Magee-Womens Research Institute so researchers could study her disease more fully.
“Kathy participated in every way she could to help us better understand her breast cancer. When patients participate in clinical trials, they are directly contributing to research that improves outcomes – I can’t emphasize enough how critical this participation can be,” said Dr. Puhalla.
Today, Kathy is four years cancer-free. She credits her team at Magee, which includes surgeon Dr. Priscilla McAuliffe and Dr. Puhalla, and the support of her best friend, Denise, with getting through treatment as well as she did.
“Sometimes, I run into people on the street, and they ask me how I’m doing in this very concerned tone, and I forget, for a minute, that I had cancer and that’s what they are asking about. I feel incredibly blessed, to be where I am today.”