Too often, we focus so much on the destination that we overlook the beauty of the journey itself.
In our pursuit of the end goal, we miss all the lessons we can learn along the way.
The story of Wilfredo Garcia-Beltran, MD, PhD, reminds us that the journey itself holds some of the most valuable teaching moments.
Holding on to these is critical, because before you know it, you’ll blink and find yourself going from a chemistry student in college to the principal investigator of your own lab at Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT and Harvard.
Just a Kid from Puerto Rico
Dr. Garcia-Beltran was born and raised in Puerto Rico, a beautiful tropical island in the Caribbean.
He describes himself as a nerdy kid captivated by the world of science, never able to pass up the chance to use a microscope, and was raised by parents who were not scientists or doctors but nourished his passion for learning.
His fascination with science only grew with each biology and chemistry class he took. To him schoolwork wasn’t a chore, but an opportunity to dive deeper into the subjects he loved.
An idea began to resonate with him—perhaps he was meant to pursue a career in science.
A Calling to Science
When Dr. Garcia-Beltran started college in Puerto Rico, his perception of science evolved beyond a simple fascination as he gathered more hands-on experience.
More than an intellectual pursuit, he started to view it as an opportunity to change the face of medicine and maybe the world itself.
‘’I knew I wanted to pursue a career in science, but I was hesitant to pursue a career in medicine because the idea of someone’s life depending on me and making an error scared me," he says. "But when I was told that this fear was exactly what would make me a good doctor, I decided to pursue both.”
Garcia-Beltran was about halfway through college when he decided to pursue a dual MD/PhD program with an eye on a career in science and medicine. There aren’t many MD/PhD programs in Puerto Rico, and when he first mentioned the idea to his classmates and professors, they all tried to convince him it was a futile effort—advice that he took with a grain of salt.
“Everyone kept telling me, ‘Forget about that. That's way too competitive. Too difficult. These are very competitive programs in the United States, and you’re just a kid from Puerto Rico,’" Garcia-Beltran recalls. "Hearing that actually made me even more committed to take on the challenge and prove myself.”
With a dream in one hand and ambition in the other, Garcia-Beltran continued to excel academically in college and completed several summer internships in the United States, one at the University of Rochester and another at MIT.
“I knew I had to put myself out there, take those risks to go to new places, new cities," he says. "There was always some fear involved – but I benefited from so many incredible experiences in return.”
With good grades and a growing resume of research experience, he applied to MD/PhD programs in Puerto Rico and the continental United States.
His first rejection came from a program in Puerto Rico on a technicality—he had overlooked the need to take an additional course in social sciences as an undergraduate student. At that moment, he thought his science career and dream were over.
Destiny, however, had other plans.
Offers soon started coming in from highly competitive MD/PhD programs at Washington University in St. Louis Missouri, University of Rochester, Baylor College of Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern, and the cross-institutional Harvard/MIT MD/PhD program.
After great consideration, he accepted the Harvard/MIT offer and started his dream-come-true journey toward becoming a physician-scientist in 2010.
“It's a wonderful and amazing program at two prestigious institutions and I was thrilled to get the opportunity to develop my career in science and medicine," he says. "It was also a short, straight flight to Puerto Rico.”
A Start in Natural Killer Cell Biology
Garcia-Beltran arrived at Logan Airport with a heavy heart being so far from home, but his goal remained clear.
He vividly recalls the culture shock he experienced when starting his studies at Harvard/MIT. With English not being his first language, he had to adjust to many idioms and a completely different culture and social idiosyncrasies. It was almost like learning an entirely new language.
After his first two years of MD training at Harvard/MIT under the Health Science and Technology (HST) curriculum, he started his PhD in the Harvard Immunology Program.
“I remember the first day of my rotation. I was interviewing with Dr. Marcus Altfeld, a principal investigator at Harvard at the time," he recalls. (Dr. Altfeld is now in Germany at the Leibniz Institute of Virology).
Everyone had told me wonderful things about him as a mentor. I knew that for anyone pursuing a career in science, it's much more important to choose the right mentor than it is to choose the right project," he says. "After hearing many so good things, I decided I wanted to join his lab for at least a rotation and potentially for my entire PhD.”
Dr. Altfeld told Garcia-Beltran that the focus of his lab was natural killer (NK) cells—immune cells that can kill tumor cells or cells infected with a virus.
At the time, Dr. Garcia-Beltran didn't know the full role of NK cells in the body or what he was going to be doing with them in Altfeld's lab. But the position felt right nevertheless.
And right there, with a mix of excitement and fear of the unknown, he began a new journey looking at NK cells in the context of HIV infection.
Future into Focus: Fast Forward to Today
Fast forwarding to today, Garcia-Beltran has his own research laboratory at the Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT and Harvard and sees patients as a clinician in the Blood Bank Service at Mass General.
In his research lab, the team is looking at how NK cells recognize and destroy cells that are infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. They are also looking at the role of NK cells in targeting and eliminating various types of cancer.
Just recently, the team discovered that the SARS-CoV-2 virus avoids detection by NK cells by making certain molecules called ligands disappear from the surfaces of virus-infected cells. These molecules typically signal NK cells to find and destroy infected cells as part of the body's immune response.
That discovery in turn led to a promising new therapeutic approach.
“Once we identified that mechanism [of avoidance], a master’s student in my lab, Jordan Hartmann, proposed using an antibody being tested in preclinical studies for cancer that can enhance NK cell killing of cancer cells by preventing the shedding of these ligands," Garcia-Beltran explains. "He asked if I thought it could work for SARS-CoV-2. I thought it was a crazy and unprecedented idea, but I said, ‘Why not? Let's try it!’”
With the encouragement from Garcia-Beltran, Hartmann contacted a colleague from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute who had the antibody on hand and tested it against cells infected with SARS-CoV-2. In a study recently published in Cell, Hartmann, Garcia-Beltran and team demonstrated that with this antibody treatment, the the infected cells were once again able to express the ligands that alerted NK cells to kill them.
Garcia-Beltran hopes that in the long run, this therapeutic approach could be applicable and translated to humans.
“We're not anywhere near clinical trials at this point, but we are moving into animal models of SARS-CoV-2 infection," he says. "If we can prove that the antibody helps to clear infection and leads to less severe disease [in those models], then we can start thinking about moving into patients.”
A Physician-Scientist Living His Dream
Garcia-Beltran remarks he often “pinches himself” when he realizes he is living the dream he dreamed of when he was an undergraduate student.
Through perseverance, curiosity, and an unwavering commitment to science, his journey from a curious student to a pioneering physician-scientist reminds us that the most profound discoveries often come from facing and embracing the unknown.
In the end, it's not just about reaching the destination, but taking advantage of every moment along the way to positively impact the lives of others with the hope of a brighter future for all.
Hear more from Dr. Garcia Beltran in Behind the Manuscript, 10 minute conversations where Mass General Brigham scientists talk about their recently published work!
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