We received this heartfelt letter from Hayley and felt that it is an ideal representation of the reasons why we decided to establish this award.
Comments about Dr. Chatfield from the 2020 Award recipients
“As I have attempted to adjust to new doctors, I have come to realize there is not a single one as great as her. She listened to me, helped me and always put my worries above the “medical diagnosis.” I wish I could express how much she has changed my perspective on life and the amount of gratitude I have for her. Me and my family miss her and want to say thank you. Thank you for allowing me to have her as a doctor and for considering me for this scholarship.”
“Most of my experience with Dr. Chatfield is from when I was much younger, so I don’t have super clear memories of her. Some of the things I do remember though is that she always seemed to put the patient/me first. Even as a younger kid, I could tell that she really did want me to be able to succeed in life. And to do that, she made sure that my treatments and lifestyle choices were optimal for that plan. This made me feel cared for and gave me a strong medical foundation. Thanks in part to Dr. Chatfield, I know what it takes to take care of myself, and I have the motivation to do it.”
“At my first meeting with Dr Chatfield, she helped establish my goals for schooling. She looked directly at me and said, “You must do you very best to get a good education! Use your time to study hard and figure out a career where you can provide for yourself and have insurance. You will need to work for a large corporation so they will cover your health care. You will not need to be worried about your care if you do that.”
I have worked hard to follow that advice. I pushed myself to complete AP Calculus and AP physics while in high school. I know I will have more math ahead of me, but I’ve worked to give myself a solid foundation to build from in college.
During our visits Dr. Chatfield remembered the things I was interested in. She talked easily with me, which was unique since I didn’t come into the clinic as often as some of her other patients. Dr. Chatfield was aggressive at looking for solutions to the symptoms I was feeling, but also compassionate for my needs. She knew when to press for testing and when it could wait for a bit. Dr. Chatfield is the one who connected me with the allergy clinic when I was losing so much body mass. Her connection led us to find my Eosinophilic Esophagitis. That discovery and treatment turned around my overall health. I still have digestive issues and need to be careful if I get a cold, but my CFTR is no longer a looming cloud of uncertainty. I’ve been given the tools from the CF Clinic at Primary Children’s to face adulthood with confidence. Thank you Dr. Chatfield and team.”
Announcing the 2020 Barbara Chatfield Award Recipients!
Hayley Porter
BYU-Idaho
Hayley was inspired to pursue higher education by the people around her. Watching them do the things they love inspired Hayley to find the career that makes everyday worth living for. Her ultimate goal is to fill her days with something she love to do. Growing up being told she might not make it as long as everybody else, Hayley decided to race towards the things she loves and to treasure them.
Erik Goodwin
Utah State University
Erik feels that there's no limit to what he can learn and accomplish intellectually. Because of this, Erik was motivated to seek further education. He always enjoyed learning and discovering how to apply knowledge to real-world applications. Erik feels like he still has a ton of potential left untapped, and a higher education would be the way to maximize it. For a career, Erik is interested in two options. He would like to focus on Aerospace Engineering since he is absolutely fascinated with the cosmos and would love to be able to apply his intrinsic math ability to innovations in space. A second option is computer science because he loves the way computer logic works. Artificial intelligence seems absolutely groundbreaking, and Erik would also want to be at the forefront of this technological field. Ideally, he is going to try and combine these two fields or he hopes that college will give him new insights to help narrow down which of these he’d like to do.
Matthew Morris
BYU-Idaho
Matthew aspires to be an aerospace engineer. He aims to do some of his lower level classes at BYU-Idaho then transfer to Utah State University as they are the only school in the area that currently has contracts with NASA, Boeing, and SpaceX for undergraduates. Matthew would like to be at SpaceX, Rocket Lab, or Blue Origin working on the rockets for space travel, or possibly helping with efforts for further exploration of Mars. He is fascinated with flight and physical mechanics.
The magical trident targeting CF
The FDA approved Trikafta on October 21, 2019, calling it a “new breakthrough therapy for cystic fibrosis”. Wow — I’ll always remember the time when Barb burst into tears as she read about the approval of Orkambi on her iPhone while we were on a plane to Hawaii in July 2015. So as I said in my speech at the Taste of Utah this year: “If she were still alive Barb would literally have cried tears of joy to hear about the FDA approval of Trikafta.”
Dr. Francis Collins, who played in critical role in identifying the CFTR gene, contributed an editorial to the New England Journal of Medicine detailing the journey leading up to the development of Trikafta. It is a great read. Some excerpts that hit home for me:
The diary entry of an 8-year-old girl with cystic fibrosis indicates that Aug. 25, 1989, was an important day for her. That was the day the research teams at the University of Michigan and the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, announced the discovery of the cystic fibrosis gene and the most common mutation, a three-base deletion that results in a missing phenylalanine in codon 508 (denoted the Phe508del CFTR mutation).
I was a first year faculty member at the University of Colorado and Barb was in the middle of her training to become a pediatric pulmonologist on the day of that announcement. We were giddy with excitement; gene therapy will cure this disease in 7…at most 10 years. Or so we thought - gene therapy for a cure continues to be maddeningly elusive. But until gene therapy is a reality, how about trying to nudge the abnormal CFTR protein to work like it’s supposed to work:
We hoped that the gene discovery would someday lead to effective treatments for children and adults with cystic fibrosis, but we knew that would be a long road. Now, 30 years later, that time has come. The results of a pair of phase 3 clinical trials in the Journal and in a simultaneous publication in the Lancet document impressive benefits from triple-drug therapy for persons with cystic fibrosis and at least one copy of the Phe508del CFTR mutation, who represent approximately 90% of persons affected by this life-shortening autosomal recessive disease.
Chillzzz…and cure by gene therapy is still a pressing goal:
This should be a cause for major celebration. Yet we must not abandon the patients with cystic fibrosis who have null mutations and will not have a response to these drugs. Even beyond that, the “best day ever” for all of us traveling down this long road together will be the day when the more than 70,000 persons with cystic fibrosis worldwide do not need to take drug therapy at all and there finally is a permanent cure for cystic fibrosis that works for everyone. Although the challenges are substantial, one can imagine such an ultimate approach involving in vivo somatic-cell gene editing of airway epithelial cells.
We’re fortunate that many very smart and dedicated people continue to work towards a cure for all those affected with CF. Dr. Collins closed the editorial with this heartfelt statement:
Shortly after our identification of CFTR, I wrote a song entitled “Dare to Dream.” The lyrics expressed hope that the gene discovery would lead to effective treatments for cystic fibrosis — that someday we would see “all our brothers and sisters breathing free.” It is profoundly gratifying to see that this dream is coming true.
Wait - Dr. Collins not only is the head of NIH, co-discoverer of the CF gene, led the Human Genome Project, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and National Medal of Science…he’s also a Singer-Songwriter?! Yup - here’s the proof:
Postscript: Hopefully I won’t be thrown in jail for violation of the DRM music copyright law by posting this video. Just in case though, you may want to contribute to the “Get Derek Out of Jail Fund”
Congratulations Kathleen!
Kathleen was one of only two honorees chosen from a national field of highly qualified nominees to receive the prestigious Mary M. Kontos Care Champion Award at the 2019 North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference in Nashville TN. Here is what the CF Foundation says about the award and Kathleen on their website:
The Kontos Award, created in 2014, recognizes the contributions of nonphysician members of a care team who demonstrate a passion for excellence and commitment to care of individuals with cystic fibrosis.
Kathleen Richards
Respiratory therapist and pulmonary function lab supervisor at the Intermountain Cystic Fibrosis Center, University of Utah
For 25 years, Richards has long been involved in quality improvement. She participated in the first CF Foundation Learning and Leadership Collaborative in 2003-2004 and was a member of the CF pediatric benchmarking team in 2006. Richards helped develop the CF Foundation's Respiratory Therapy Mentoring Program, writing the Respiratory Therapy 101 document and serving as the facilitator for four years. In addition, she has served on the North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference (NACFC) Planning Committee since 2016. She also oversees the respiratory care for approximately 320 pediatric patients, including respiratory training for families of newly diagnosed children with CF.
“She puts my daughter's uncertainty and fears at ease the second she walks through the door at clinic. Managing CF is tough, and she empowers us and helps us navigate through our ever-changing emotions and struggles.” -- Parent of a pediatric patient with CF
Congratulations Kathleen! Barb would be so proud of her amazing friend and colleague!
Best buddies
Since1995 when Barb started at the University of Utah
Research Poster Apron
Fashioned for Kathleen by Barb
Comments about Barb from the 2019 applicants
The recipients of the 2019 Barbara Chatfield Award for Academic Achievement will be announced at the Taste of Utah on October 26, 2019. Their names and a short biography are available on the previous blog post. Barb was the CF doctor for several of the recipients for many years. As evidenced by some of their memories shared below, Barb played a vital part in their lives. Dr. Chatfield would be so proud of their achievements!
“There are times I meet someone who knew Dr. Chatfield. Usually it is a former patient of hers. I always say the same thing about her as my doctor. There was no doctor that has been tougher or harder on me. I usually left my appointments with her, feeling exhausted and overwhelmed with all that I needed to be doing better. The other thing I always say about her, is that I would want nothing less when it comes to my doctor who is working to improve my health and my quality of life!!! Dr. Chatfield was brilliant and knew the latest and the best CF treatment procedures. While I wish I never had to encounter having such a disease, I am grateful that she was a part of it. I attribute my good health, which has lead to great life accomplishments, very much to Dr. Chatfield.”
“I knew Dr. Chatfield, well, rather she knew me since I was 1 year old. She would always be straight forward about what was best for my health, and was a passionate and kind, hard working woman. She even would give me books her daughters didn’t want so I could read more. I miss her dearly, she was an amazing person.”
“Over the last couple months I have missed her and thought “I wish she was here to see how much I’ve accomplished and the friends I’ve made because of having CF” but I know she is still so proud of everyone and we all love and miss her!”
“Dr. Chatfield was a very close friend of my family. She knew me since I was a baby and watched me grow up. She was always my favorite doctor to see in the clinic and helped me and my family through some very difficult times. ”
“I cannot tell you how much this award helps me and my family at this time. It is very special to me that it has Dr. Chatfield’s name attached to it. She did so much for me and helped me be healthy enough to follow my dreams.
Thank you!”
We are pleased to announce the 2019 Barbara Chatfield Award Recipients!
Here are the 2019 recipients of the Barbara Chatfield Award for Academic Achievement. Dr. Chatfield would be so proud of each of them and their amazing accomplishments to further their education!
Alexandra McCune: American Musical and Dramatic Academy NYC
Alexandra graduated from the Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts. She feels that furthering her education beyond high school will open many doors for her as well as make her a more rounded person. She is happiest when performing and that is why she chose to attend a performance arts college in New York City. She would ultimately like to be on the theatre stage as much as possible in the future. Alexandra feels that the opportunity to perform is what inspires her the most to do everything she can to stay healthy.
Isabella Wardle: Utah Valley University
Isabella graduated from the Salt Lake School for Performing Arts. Isabella aspires to obtain a bachelor’s degree in art and design, so she could do what she loves and have a job that provides good health insurance benefits. She enjoys sketching and illustration, and may pursue a career in animation. Isabella reports that so far she has straight A’s, has a part time job, and is still able to pay attention to her health by taking care of her cystic fibrosis. She says “I’ve come very far, and it’s been hard, but I’ve made it to college, just you wait to see what the next four years will bring to the table of opportunity. I can’t wait.”
Katie McAllister: Salt Lake Community College
Katie has always loved going to school. She graduated from Stansbury High School and was on the volleyball team as a setter and libero. She received the student recognition award for her school district and graduated with a CTE pathways award in nursing assistance. She aspires to earn a college degree in order to have a good job to support a family, and eventually help people in the manner that she had been cared for by her clinic team. She would like to have a career in the medical field and is planning on becoming a dietician. Katie would also like to help with Cystic Fibrosis research in the future
Lydia Lundell: LDS Business College
Lydia graduated from Salem Hills High School. She feels that it is important to have a college degree in order to be able to support herself with a career that could be performed in a variety of locations - home, hospital bed, anywhere. She would like to obtain a degree in Cyber Security and feels that with the growing world of technology, such a degree would guarantee her a job.
Taylor King: University of Utah
Taylor graduated from Pine View High School and for as long as she can remember, she has been inspired to seek further education beyond high school. She feels that college provides an opportunity to have the chance to live on her own, find her true self, and learn more about herself and the world around her in the process. She is currently working towards a Bachelor’s degree in marketing and hopes to work in the marketing field for 10 to 20 years. Once she has gained experience in the field, she intends to go back to school to get a teaching certificate to become a high school business teacher. She aspires to help young students find their passions and be able to assist them along the way. Taylor is excited to see what the future holds, and she’s grateful to have chosen a university that that will help her get there.
William Johnson: University of Utah
William graduated from West High School and has always wanted to further his knowledge through attending college. His goal for a career is to either own a business that he has built from the ground up or rise up through the ranks of an existing business using the skills and knowledge that he learned in college.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF THESE AMAZING STUDENTS!
Words About Dr. Chatfield
The recipients of the 2018 Barbara Chatfield Award for Academic Excellence will be announced at the Taste of Utah on November 3, 2018. Their names and a short biography also are available on the previous post on this blog. The awardees were carefully chosen based on their admirable achievements in pursuing their academic dreams. Applicants were also given an option to contribute their thoughts about Barb; these were not considered as part of the selection process. As evidenced by their touching words below, Barb played an important role in their lives. Dr. Chatfield would be so proud of their achievements!
“Ever since I was two years old and first diagnosed Dr. Chatfield has always been a major part of my life and my success as a teenager and individual. Dr.Chatfield was the one who told me that I could be anybody that I wanted to be, and that CF would not control my life. She was and will always be someone I can look back and know she always believed in me. Because of her faith in my future, my parents and I created a life beyond CF. She always said that I would be like a normal person, just a little more high maintenance. I have been able to accomplish being active since the beginning of my diagnosis, starting out as a dancer, an AYSO soccer player, a tumbler, a gymnast, a ninth grade cheerleader for my junior high, and returning to dance and being a leader for my high school drill team. Cystic Fibrosis has not restricted me from any of my passions, and if anything has pushed to do better. Dr. Chatfield’s words have allowed me to focus on how healthy I must remain, which is why throughout my fifteen years of being diagnosed I have only missed two therapy sessions in my life. She inspires me to be an example to others with CF, by having my parents talk to other CF parents, and inviting me to participate in being part of the new CF DVD to share with others how I go about my day-to-day life. She also has inspired me to be an example to those without CF and to embrace who I am, by allowing others to see my day-to-day routine, from taking my pills to doing my therapy sessions twice a day, and building a strong support group of friends who accept me for who I am. I will always be grateful of her wanting to know me as an individual and not just as a patient, she is somebody who will always be a part of my life, as I achieve my goals of being successful in my career, because she believed in me and my BRIGHT future. She is and will always be a strong influence in my life, and she is and will always be greatly missed.
”
“Dr. Chatfield was my doctor for as long as I can remember and she made it a place to remember. She was always there for me and helped see things from my perspective. She is a huge part of my family. The hole that she left will never be filled.”
“At the age of eight I found out that I had Cystic Fibrosis. I didn’t understand what it was or why I suddenly had to go to appointments at primary children’s hospital. I don’t remember much of my first few years dealing with the disease, because it wasn’t until I was 13 that it had gotten worse and I now needed more treatments and medicines. But I do remember Dr. Chatfield. Each appointment I sat in a room where it felt like a million different people were walking in and out, making me fill out forms with big words, and saying things I never really understood. I never could remember any of their names or their purpose but I always remembered Dr. Chatfield. I knew every appointment I could look forward to a familiar face. Although some days I worried and dreaded her arrival, because it often seemed she always had bad news for me, but despite that she always displayed a sense of Hope. I also really appreciated her because she was real, and she was real and honest with me even at a young age. All the other doctors treated me as if I was a baby that was perfectly fine, but she showed me I wasn’t and because of her I was tough in accepting the disease I had. It was hard when one day she was no longer apart of my visits, but by this time I had grown and her strength and hope had stuck, so I felt okay. I felt okay to continue on with the life I had been given. I will always appreciate the care she provided for me and my younger brother, who also has CF.
”
“Dr. Chatfield has been in my life since the day I was diagnosed. I am as healthy as I am today due to her guidance throughout my life. She is greatly missed among our family.”
“Dr. Chatfield played a huge role in my life. As long as I can remember, I have been going to the CF clinic. When my family moved to Utah when I was one, she was obviously a huge help to me but more importantly, she was a strength to my parents in a hard and confusing time. She was such a light in the CF community and we knew we had someone who cared, someone who loved us, and someone who would never stop advocating for us.”
We are pleased to announce the 2018 Award Recipients!
Emily Andres
Utah State University
Emily graduated from Viewmont High School and is attending Utah State University. She loves to learn and be pushed at an accelerated pace. Emily feels that higher education is important to help you become a life long learner. Her ultimate career goal is to be a genetic counselor, which blends her love for psychology and medicine. She loves that this field provides for challenging research, a deep understanding of biology, and especially the important role of comforting patients.
Karlie Brown
Weber State University
Karlie graduated from Roy High School and is attending Weber State University. Her goal is to receive a Masters in Business Administration and minor in Dance and Fashion. With a business degree, she hopes to own a dance studio or enter into the world of fashion and grow as a person and entrepreneur. She feels that a degree in Business Administration will give her the skills to market herself, as well as teach her how to become a successful business owner and how to work well with large corporations.
George Liam Christensen
Utah Valley University
George graduated from Coronado High School and is attending Utah Valley University. He has been inspired by his parents to further his education beyond high school. George feels that acquiring a higher education will be a crucial step in gaining independence and security as an adult. He hopes to establish a career in an area such as Architectural Design, which would give him an opportunity to think creatively while staying independent, stable, and secure.
Hayley Porter
Brigham Young University Idaho
Hayley graduated from Preston High School and is attending Brigham Young University Idaho. She was inspired to seek further education so that she could support herself and her family. Her ultimate goal for a career is one that would allow her to effectively manage work and family commitments.
Cassidy Riggs
Brigham Young University Provo
Cassidy graduated from Orem High School and is attending Brigham Young University Provo. She has always set goals for herself to achieve and going to college has been a goal of hers for a long time. Cassidy’s passion for dancing has felt like a miracle to her, because CF has not stopped her from doing what she loves. She is currently a member of the BYU Cougarettes, the university’s nationally recognized Collegiate Dance team. Cassidy hopes to use her experiences and education to teach and inspire others.
Barb's speech at the 2015 Taste of Utah
At the 2015 Taste of Utah, the Utah Idaho Chapter of the CF Foundation showed a video in honor of Barb’s dedication to fight against cystic fibrosis, which can be viewed here. What follows is the speech that Barb gave after the video was shown. Her words are just as relevant today, as it was on November 21, 2015:
