Women Scientists in Action
Cherié Butts, Ph.D.
Cherié Butts, Ph.D., is a researcher and reviewer within the Division of Therapeutic Proteins (DTP) of the Office of Biotechnology Products in the Center for Drug Evaluation & Research (CDER) at the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) whose scientific interests include understanding how factors secreted in the tumor microenvironment modify immune cell activity and contribute to development of endocrine and other cancers. The DTP is comprised of microbiologists, immunologists, chemists, and biochemists who conduct research and review drug applications. It is managed by the Office of Biotechnology Products that establishes policies consistent with CDER, which performs an essential public health task of making sure safe and effective drugs are available to improve the health of people in the United States.
Dr. Butts was first introduced to biomedical research as a high school student at the North Side High School for Medical Professions in Fort Worth, Texas. She was among the first cohort to complete the prestigious program that introduced students selected from throughout the Fort Worth School District to what was necessary to be successful in various medical careers. The program featured a rigorous curriculum of mathematics, science, and other courses as well as rotations at the local hospital and medical school. It was during this program that Dr. Butts’ interest in biomedical research was piqued. After high school, she left Texas for college at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. As an undergraduate student, she fostered her interest in biomedical science by conducting clinical research in the Department of Gynecologic Specialties and basic science research in the Department of Hematology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Her clinical research examined the efficacy of different treatments for patients with various gynecologic conditions and diseases of the urogenital tract, including gynecologic cancers. Her laboratory research experience included studies using specimens from patients with fibrinogenemia - a condition characterized by elevated serum levels of fibrinogen, a globulin involved in blood coagulation - to identify mutations involved in development of this disease. Her efforts culminated in a publication and fueled her interest in biomedical research.
As an undergraduate, Dr. Butts became interested in immunology and deciphering how the human body is able to defend itself from internal and external pathogens. After obtaining her BA in Chemistry and Natural Sciences, Dr. Butts continued her training at Johns Hopkins in a master’s degree program with a focus on immunology. She also chose to start a family at this point in her career. Her research focused on genetic immunization of neonatal mice and led to a second publication. These experiences further fueled her passion for biomedical research and also shaped her area of interest – regulation and manipulation of the immune system in gynecologic cancers and other malignancies. Dr. Butts continued her training in a predoctoral program when she returned to her native Texas to study immune responses of epithelial ovarian cancer patients in the Department of Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center/University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Graduate School in Biomedical Sciences (GSBS). In addition to her focus on the immune system, she participated in the Reproductive Biology program at GSBS to gain a better understanding of steroid hormone biology. She postulated that steroid hormones could be modifying immune responses to limit anti-tumor immunity with gynecologic and other endocrine-related cancers.
After obtaining her PhD, she moved back to Maryland to study the role of steroid hormones on regulating immune responses as a postdoctoral fellow at the NIH National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in the laboratory of Dr. Esther M. Sternberg. Dr. Sternberg noted, “Even though that was not precisely the focus of my lab at the time, she made such a water-tight case for doing the research and was so clearly committed to it that we found a way to incorporate her project into the lab’s research directions. Cherié has clearly continued to flower and grow into an independent, rigorous researcher and through her continued systematic studies is making important contributions in this critical area at the intersection of immunology, endocrinology and women’s health research.” Under the tutelage of Dr. Sternberg, Dr. Butts enjoyed a highly successful fellowship experience and research career. This included over 15 peer-reviewed and invited publications, numerous travel awards and invitations to speak at international scientific meetings, receipt of the NIMH Tao-Chin Lin Wang Service Award, and her selection for the inaugural class of the Keystone Symposia on Cellular and Molecular Biology Fellows Program – a program that enables early-career scientists (senior postdoctoral fellows, assistant professors) who are committed to diversity in biomedical research to learn about the Keystone Symposia meeting development process. Dr. Butts also held two academic positions at the University of Maryland and Howard University to expose undergraduate students to biomedical research and encourage them to consider careers in science. After completing her postdoctoral fellowship, she transitioned to her current position at the FDA to continue her research and also learn about the process of regulating drugs and assessing their safety and efficacy in patients.
Dr. Butts’ current research focuses on the role of steroid hormones and other factors in regulating immunity during infection and carcinogenesis. This involves exploring steroid hormone effects on immune cell activity during the clearance of infectious agents and development of diseases, such as cancer. Because she believes it is important to understand regulation of the immune system under homeostatic conditions, her research also involves investigating immune responses at urogenital mucosal sites to gain insight into immunity in endocrine-sensitive environments. This work is innovative because it brings together the fields of immunology, endocrinology, and cancer biology, and Dr. Butts hopes her research will further biomedical research by deciphering mechanisms of steroid hormones and other tumor-associated factors on immune cell function to understand their role in cancer progression.
In addition to her research and regulatory work at the FDA, Dr. Butts has continued her relationship with NIH, including contributing to the second phase of the Office of Research on Women’s Health Science of Sex and Gender on-line course, which was developed for researchers, clinicians, and members of academia in an effort to gain a basic understanding of the major physiological differences between the sexes, influences these differences have on outcome of disease, and implications for policy, medical research, and health care. She also co-coordinates a journal club in the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases at the NIH National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases and serves on the Steering Committee for the NIH Intramural Program on Women’s Health (IPRWH). Of her former fellow, Dr. Sternberg concludes, “In sum, it was clear from very early on in her time in my lab that Cherié had all the makings of a future leader in science, and she is certainly living up to that prediction.”
Throughout her career, Dr. Butts has served as a mentor to students at the University of Texas, Howard University, University of Maryland, Keystone Symposia, NIH, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Medical Student Fellowship Program at NIH. Her commitment to mentorship is evidenced by her involvement in the NIH Speakers’ Bureau and speaking to elementary through high school students to encourage promising young women who aspire to scientific careers. “My background and experiences helped me develop a unique perspective, and I have been afforded opportunities that very few others have been offered. Being an African-American female and having worked under and interacted with some of the greatest minds in the world is a rather impressive accomplishment. Being able to assist and open doors for those behind (and beside) me is a much more satisfying achievement. It is my hope that budding young, female scientists will see what I’ve done and believe they can attain similar success or, more importantly, better.”
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