Learn how UofL is fighting the good fight against COVID-19 in the Summer 2020 issue of , along with other examples of how the university is impacting lives here and beyond.

• Facing down infectious disease: Some UofL researchers have been preparing for a pandemic their entire careers.
• Commencement, interrupted: The Class of 2020 shares their graduation stories.
• Double vision: UofL’s long-running twin study is back after a 20-year hiatus.
• Furthering ‘franchise city’: A first-of-its-kind College of Business program trains future franchise owners.
• : UofL musicians are training the next generation of percussionists.

At UofL, the Cardinal family fought back.

As the COVID-19 pandemic inevitably made its way to our corner of the world, we feared and we grieved, but we adapted.

Our health care heroes mobilized, filling the front lines to care for patients. Our researchers went to the labs to study the disease and test treatments. Our students, faculty and staff switched to new ways of learning and living all while supporting their neighbors. Our university united with our city and our commonwealth to increase testing and seek solutions.

The world did change, and so did we. These are some of our stories of resiliency, innovation and care.

Coming together while apart

For Praneeth Goli ’20, the end of his undergraduate career was nothing like he expected. Like all UofL students, his college experience took a turn following spring break when COVID-19 brought the city to a standstill and his final classes moved online. The chemistry major quickly learned to adapt.

“While it was difficult to rearrange myself while having the same anxiety everyone had for this situation and our world, my experience in initiative building helped me in this situation,” he said. “I was able to really push past obstacles and make some impact.”

Not only did Goli finish his undergraduate years, but he and four other community advocates set up a coalition to help an at-risk population during the pandemic. The
Dream Team Senior Citizen Food Service has provided several thousand meals each week since March to senior citizens who are unable to leave their homes because of COVID-19.

“We’ve tried to help the best way we can,” Goli said. 

An avid volunteer, Goli knew that taking care of his community would take more than a government or institutional response. He knew volunteers on the ground were going to make the difference, and he knew UofL would be the place to find them. Goli was joined in his efforts by 40 UofL student volunteers. They also partnered with other local students and nonprofits.

Goli, who will spend the next year as a Harvard Medical School research scholar, sees service as a guiding force in his future. He is grateful his time at UofL immersed him in
a service culture.

“I firmly believe we’re all stronger together when we’re truly together. Some people ask, ‘Why would you spend time trying to solve problems that aren’t your own?’ But these are all of our collective problems,” he said. “If someone across the city is experiencing problems, it’s going to touch you in some way.”

Searching for solutions

Researchers around the world are moving swiftly to find the treatment that will stop COVID-19.

UofL is uniquely equipped and located to join in these efforts. Not only is the university home to top infectious disease researchers, but it is also one of only 14 labs in the country designated by the National Institutes of Health to research infectious agents. Having access to a Biosafety Level 3 lab means UofL researchers can safely work with live pathogens, including coronaviruses.

Their work has led to incredible discoveries, like that of Paula Bates, John Trent, Don Miller and Kenneth Palmer. The scientists developed and tested a synthetic DNA aptamer that could bind to specific targets and might stop novel coronavirus from replicating inside the body. Their work is being fast-tracked through development, including seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration to begin treating COVID-19 patients.

“Like many scientists, as soon as I heard about the new coronavirus, I wanted to help and started to think about how my area of research might intersect with coronavirus research efforts,” said Bates, a professor of medicine. “I am fortunate to be at UofL, which is one of the few places in the country where we have the facilities to do experiments using the SARS-CoV-2 virus.”

Palmer, the director of the Center for Predictive Medicine for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, is also investigating a second treatment, this one using tobacco to test therapeutic drugs. Working with partners at the National Cancer Institute and the University of Pittsburgh, Palmer is testing preventive protein compounds that could ultimately become a nasal spray useful in pre-exposure treatment of COVID-19.

Since the compound has shown promise in lab testing, the next step is to grow more of the protein compound, which is found in one of the university’s proprietary tobacco strains, and move it into human testing. Palmer is hopeful there could a drug by the end of the year.

“The unique quality about studying these compounds in Kentucky is that we can rapidly scale up production of tobacco plants to produce the large amounts of the agent we will need for human testing,” Palmer said. “As people already know, tobacco grows very well in Kentucky.”

Manufacturing more than materials

Graduate student Kate Schneidau knew she needed to do something.

“I was taught all my life if somebody needs help, you step up and help as much as you can without expecting anything, because it’s the right thing to do,” she said.

For Schneidau and her fellow students and colleagues working at UofL’s Additive Manufacturing Institute of Science and Technology (AMIST), that meant engineering a way to provide personal protective equipment and testing supplies at the height of the pandemic.

Representatives from multiple areas across the university, including the J.B. Speed School of Engineering, the School of Dentistry and the School of Medicine, turned to 3D printing to bolster medical supplies including face shields and swabs for testing kits.

Schneidau was the project manager for the face shields initiative, overseeing the initial scheduling of four other Speed School students to enable production of 55 shields per day. She also coordinated a grassroots community effort to aid in their project. Citizens around Louisville were able to create some components with home printers, and Schneidau organized ways for those pieces to be picked up and put into the production stream.

Her work during the pandemic bolstered her goal of building medical devices as a career.

“I want to make an impact to help people better their lives – to make sure they live their best life possible,” she said.

Meanwhile, students and faculty at the schools of dentistry, medicine and engineering joined forces to put together COVID-19 testing kits, including manufacturing 3D printed swabs.

Gerald “Jerry” T. Grant, interim assistant dean of advanced technologies and innovation at the School of Dentistry and associate director at AMIST, turned a 3D print lab that was usually used to print dental implants, crowns and prosthodontic jaw bones into a lab that could print 385 swabs per hour.

Working with business partners Envisiontech and NewPro3D, Grant’s team used a pliable resin material for the swabs.

“3D printing can provide a unique opportunity to address urgent needs – this is the reason I came to UofL to work with teams of engineers, physicians, dentists, artists and others to address situations much like we have now,” Grant said.

Once the swabs were completed, they were sent into clinical trials. As they waited for results of the trials, bioengineering students Sienna Shacklette and Clara Jones compiled testing kits using a limited number of commercially available swabs for immediate use throughout the state. In one week they assembled more than 700 kits. The 3D swabs swiftly passed clinical trials and were made available in May to UofL Health and Kentucky-based companies.

Protecting the heroes

On the front lines of COVID-19, UofL’s health care heroes fought to keep patients alive while risking themselves in the process.

To help keep these fighters safe, UofL’s Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute partnered with the state, the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council and three large Kentucky hospital systems on a groundbreaking initiative to test health care workers for COVID-19 and its antibodies.

Not only does the project test health care workers for the disease, but it determines how much immunity was generated by their exposure and provides plasma for treating sick patients.

The Co-Immunity Project provides a real-time picture of COVID-19 infections, identifying where the virus is, how strong it is and how it’s moving geographically. That information, available to scientists and researchers across the globe, could help prepare for a second wave of the virus.

The Co-Immunity Project is just one of the ways UofL provided increased testing capabilities to the city and the state during the pandemic. As the first wave of coronavirus swept through, UofL increased the number of tests processed up to 1,000 per day, providing those results within 24 hours.

“We have researchers who temporarily dropped all of their other duties to devote their time to the fight against COVID-19,” said Kevin Gardner, UofL’s executive vice president for research and innovation.

A survivor’s story

LaTranza Hicks’ ordeal started with a headache that just wouldn’t go away. By the time she got to UofL Hospital, she had lost her sense of taste and was so weak she could barely dress herself. She was diagnosed with COVID-19 and spent the next month on a ventilator in the intensive care unit. She opened her eyes to a new world, one where she had to learn to identify her nurses by their shoes because masks covered their faces.

Though she had survived the worst part, her treatment wasn’t over. Her team at UofL Hospital cheered her on as she made her “survivor’s walk,” leaving UofL Hospital on a gurney bound for UofL Health-Frazier Rehabilitation Institute.

Darryl Kaelin, medical director of UofL Health-Frazier Rehab, and his team were waiting in a newly created space exclusively for patients recovering from COVID-19.

“This is a devastating infection. It not only affects the lungs, but all the internal organs,” Kaelin said. “People are just wiped out. They really need time to build their strength back up, to build their endurance back up and it’s a very slow process.”

Like so many, the staff at UofL Health adapted to the “new normal” of COVID-19. As of early June, UofL Health treated 434 COVID-19 patients at its clinics and hospitals, in addition to identifying 169 patients at its drive-thru testing sites. The telehealth program was expanded to provide patient access to more than 675 providers. UofL Health-Frazier Rehab introduced a dedicated COVID-19 team of occupational therapists, physical therapists and psychologists; created a safe space for therapy; and limited COVID-19 patients to single rooms to limit the spread of the virus.

Hicks worked with her therapists to regain endurance and strength, specifically in her left leg; her foot was left numb as a result of the virus. Although her lungs were weak, she practiced walking to and from her room and the therapy gym and eventually was able to regain mobility by stepping over objects.

“I’m excited to see how Ms. Hicks does down the road and to get her life back,” Kaelin said. “We at Frazier Rehab and the University of Louisville are just proud to be a part of it.”

“I’m a survivor,” Hicks said. “I really am.”

While typical graduations elicit moments of deep reflection, the scurry to pivot to an online finish to the spring semester due to COVID-19 concerns added a new layer of pondering for the Class of 2020. UofL Magazine asked a few graduates to look back on their campus experiences and look forward to how the university has prepared them for their futures, launched during the pandemic’s unsettling times.

For communication graduate Keionna Bailey, who as a part of Generation Z says she is unfazed by digital technology, the switch to online instruction after spring break seemed natural, even advantageous, until the finality of the semester’s experiences sank into her psyche.

For Phillip Cupp, his UofL research and business experiences enabled him not only to achieve an MBA in entrepreneurship but also to launch a biotechnology startup with some classmates and to compete in a prestigious national competition for that venture this year.

Reagan Miller, who earned her undergraduate degree in political science, reached back into her freshman-year journal to share her initial excitement and reviewed some personal top campus highlights — from the raiseRED fundraising marathon to her selection as homecoming queen.

Hope pulls people through difficult times and makes us stronger, Donghang Zhang acknowledged, as he adjusted to seeing clients online and to dwindling in-person interactions with professors and fellow Kent School of Social Work students seeking the master of science in social work and working in the couple and family therapy program.

All candidly and eloquently shared in their own words their pride, challenges and hopes – the pluses and minuses in the face of an uncertain world. Here are their reflections.

Keionna Bailey

The mid-semester switch to online was more difficult for me emotionally rather than logistically. I am a part of Generation Z. Online communication and coursework came very naturally for me. So when it became the new normal, I felt right at home. Working remotely was advantageous because it allowed me to accomplish more in a shorter period of time.

However, your last semester of college is a different type of experience. Everything I did this year, this semester, was always going to be my last time experiencing it as a student. My last time walking through campus, my last time attending student events and my last time attending class. I wish I would have cherished my time and the atmosphere on campus more prior to spring break.

When commencement was [postponed], I was heartbroken. Even though my degree was still confirmed, it didn’t feel right without the ceremony. Everyone continued to ask me what it felt like to graduate college, and I could never formulate an answer because it didn’t feel like a monumental accomplishment, just an ordinary day in the year. Commencement was supposed to signify my beginning and my start in life, but with its [postponement] it felt like the end.

Graduating during the spring semester was obviously something I had looked forward to for years — walking across the stage, celebrating Derby season and enjoying the weather. I had a positive outlook for my life after graduation because everything was in place and going according to my four-year plan.

Graduation during a global pandemic, however, was not a part of that plan. I was someone who had spent all of college coordinating this moment and in the blink of an eye it was all changing. I had a job lined up and a new apartment awaiting me. I was ready. But with the world on pause, it was as if my plan was irrelevant in the larger scheme of life. It was driving me crazy that no one was certain of anything. It made preparation even harder, because no one knew what would happen next.

My biggest fear was entering a recession and losing my job. For a few weeks, that nightmare came true. I lost my job before I had even started. Welcome to adulthood, right? It was almost impossible to remain positive and grateful for anything when my life felt as though it was in shambles. It took me a while to get over the reality of it all and accept the situation for what it was.

Ironically enough, the day I was supposed to start the job I had lost, I received a call that they were hiring me back. In that moment, the ceremony didn’t matter anymore because I realized that my success was never going to be measured by a 10-second spotlight on a stage in the YUM! Center. Starting my career, doing what I loved with people who valued my input was my success. I only wish the rest of my graduating class the same prosperity.

Phillip Cupp

Reflection is a practice that many fail to do enough. We become so busy and inundated with the monotony or bombardment of life that taking a step back and reflecting on one’s experience can be transformative. When looking back at my journey over the past 20 months, I can honestly say that completing my MBA in entrepreneurship at the University of Louisville has positively altered the trajectory of my life.

From economics to corporate strategy classes, the curriculum was challenging, engaging and has given me a solid foundation to build upon for the rest of my career. About this time last year, many classmates and I took an unforgettable trip throughout China and Taiwan as a part of our global learning experience. Throughout the program, our cohort spent a great deal of time together and many of these friendships continue to grow even after graduation.

Beyond the classroom, this program has given me the opportunity to work at the UofL Office of Research and Innovation along with Louisville Entrepreneurship Acceleration Partnership (LEAP). Through this experience, I’ve had the privilege of assisting in the commercialization of novel patented technologies developed at the university and to work with such supportive staff at the Commercialization EPIcenter. I’ve also gotten to work with multiple entrepreneurs-in-residence, including Josh Nickols and Jeff Cummins, who have taken me under their wing and taught me real-world lessons about life as an entrepreneur and what’s necessary to build a successful, scalable business.

My classmates, Chiraag Bhimani and Ashley Krems, and I have even been able to form a biotechnology startup, RIZIN Technologies, utilizing a patented breath-detection technology developed at UofL to detect controlled substances. We are thrilled to have won funding for our venture at multiple MBA competitions. Through the guidance of [professors] Suzanne Bergmeister and Mary Topolsky, one of the most valuable skills I gained throughout these experiences is becoming a more effective and compelling communicator. COVID-19 has put somewhat of a damper on our momentum, but we continue to remain agile through these unprecedented times.

Recently, we were invited to compete in the Rice Business Plan Competition, which is one of the most prestigious graduate-level business plan competitions in the world, as it has more than 400 applicants. We will be competing against 41 other teams for awards and prizes valued at $1.5 million. Regardless of our performance at this competition, Ashley and Chiraag have taught me a great deal about diligence, loyalty and resilience throughout the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. I’m honored to work with them and consider them lifelong friends.

Abraham Lincoln stated, “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” Reflecting on the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I’m beyond grateful to have completed my MBA at the University of Louisville. I’m so thankful for the faculty, staff and mentors who have invested in me. The education, experience and friendships fostered throughout my time here are worth infinitely more than any dollar amount. From this foundation, I look forward to giving back and being a part of envisioning and creating a beautiful, vibrant future.

Reagan Miller

I see it all over yard signs, Facebook and text messages: “We support the graduating class of 2020!” With my graduation ceremony canceled and final days on campus cut short, I feel comforted each time a community member reaches out to me. However, rather than mourning the effects of COVID-19 on my senior year, I’m filled with gratitude for the most beautiful 3.5 years of my life — my days at the University of Louisville.

What makes my UofL journey so beautiful is not a record of perfect days. In fact, my first semester began with a change our administration, a budget shortfall and questions about our accreditation. These times were not glamorous, but they tell the story of UofL’s resilience.

As a Cardinal Ambassador, I watched my supervisor Tammy Lawson scream and shout at every football and basketball game, never wavering in her Cardinal spirit. On the Student Orientation Staff, my bosses Toree Parrish, Melissa Eversole and Shannon Beck welcomed incoming students with endless resources for academic support, financial support and campus involvement.

My professors committed every ounce of their energy to student success both in and out of the classroom, and I owe every academic achievement to Julie Bunck, Jasmine Farrier, V. Adams, Khaldoun Almousily and others.

My UofL pride reached its pinnacle during my junior year when I sat on the lawn of Grawemeyer Hall and watched the most powerful, unstoppable woman become inaugurated as our president: Neeli Bendapudi. She is the silver lining the UofL family has worked for so long to find, and she dedicates each day to making students feel valuable, capable and strong.

This time of social distancing allows me to reflect on my time as a student and I remember moments I wish I could have lived in forever: Cheering on the Cardinals when our campus hosted ESPN GameDay, sprinting into the arms of 100 empowering women on my first sorority bid day, celebrating with friends and family after being named the 2020-21 Homecoming Queen, running into a fellow Cardinal during my study abroad semester in Morocco and holding up raiseRED’s grand total of $690,921.70 for UofL’s Pediatric Oncology and Hematology Clinic. These incredible moments, and several others, far outweigh any disappointment of missing my final semester.

Even in the face of adversity, I never questioned that UofL was exactly where I needed to be. UofL has repeatedly persevered through obstacles and grown stronger, and I am confident its resilience will carry the Cardinal Family through this time of COVID-19 seamlessly. To wrap up my thoughts, I’ve included an excerpt from a journal that I kept during my freshman year of college:

“This first year at UofL has given me nothing but light. Each morning I wake up to adventures I could never predict with people I’ll never deserve. The fire I see in these people is unreal – it burns so ardently, so selflessly. Through them I have found courage, confidence, diligence and ambition.”

From my first day to my last, I’m proud to be a Louisville Cardinal!

Donghang Zhang

The spread of COVID-19 has brought uncertainties and challenges to people around the world. Fear floods the internet with much information that causes chaos, which makes us feel overwhelmed. I do not feel panic from anything that has changed since the virus outbreak. However, I was tired of the boring daily routine in my life — wake up, attend online classes and be limited at home to doing my assignments and research work. One of the challenges for me was recognizing that I slowly lost my motivation to complete my assignments. I felt difficultly concentrating on studying and lost interaction with other cohort classmates, clients and professors. I also realized that I was ending my study and practicum with no chances to say goodbye to my school experience and people with whom I worked. Due to the dwindling frequency of social participation, isolation and depression haunted me.

To adjust to challenges and difficulties, I made some changes to my life. First, I understand feeling anxious and depressed is normal. I practice meditation regularly and maintain a social connection with people. Second, I created a clean, warm spot to study that helps me stay focused. I pay attention to getting organized through planning my schedule and dealing with any problems in advance. For example, if I did not complete the assignment, I would contact my professor for an extension of the due date.

I do my own part and believe this unique time gives me a chance to take a breather. Without the treks to class and my practicum site, I take advantage of the downtime to read books and therapy videos that have been stored in my bookshelf and computers for a long time. I have spent much time inside, so I watch my diet and step outside around my neighborhood to relax and regain my focus — jogging and playing skateboard.

I also suggested creating a texting group for my cohort classmates so we could connect with and ask help or share information from each other despite self-quarantine at home and social distancing. I also sought ways of expanding social participation — continuing to see clients online and joining a Chinese psychological assistance hotline program as a volunteer. This year is tough for the Class of 2020. I appreciate my MSSW (master of science in social work) and CFT (couple and family therapy) program leaders who disseminated timely information and support. I feel touched that my CFT program faculty brought a cake and greeting card to each student’s house in person while maintaining a social distance.

I am proud to be a graduate in this Class of 2020 since I am welcomed and valued by people in the community! I believe the future is uncertain going forward, but hope pulls us through these difficult times. We are one world to fight together and become stronger.

#UOFLGRADS2020

The Class of 2020 will have a chance to participate in a formal in-person ceremony, delayed until December for a safer time to gather. In the meantime, their accomplishments were honored virtually on the original date, May 9, with a digital celebration at hereandbeyond2020.com.

The site includes stories and photos from our graduates, who showed off their own celebrations. Graduates could take a photo with the signature image of The Thinker statue through an augmented reality feature or create a customized Class of 2020 graphic so they could share their names via social media.

UofL representatives and local dignitaries sent special messages, and May 9 was officially proclaimed UofL Graduates 2020 Day in Louisville.

The Class of 2020 also learned the SGA would commission a campus mural commemorating them and that the area in front of the Belknap Academic Building would be renamed the 2020 Quad.

While it wasn’t the graduation they were expecting, our newest alumni still celebrated.

Every so often, the girls would take a cab downtown to UofL, where researchers would measure their height and weight and check their eye and hair color, comparing them to different swatches. The girls would sit in a room and play with colorful rings, puzzles, blocks and other toys.

“At least for me, when it was time to go, it was a treat,” Almont said. “We didn’t even realize it was a test — they were games.”

The “games” helped researchers collect information on the mental development, cognitive intelligence and behavior in the largest, longest-running longitudinal study of twins ever conducted. Before funding ran out, they studied roughly 1,100 twins from 1957 to 2000.

But now, after 20 years, the Louisville Twin Study lives again thanks to a new five year, $5.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. Deborah Winders Davis, a UofL researcher and director of the study, and colleagues at the University of Southern California are bringing the twins back to study them later in life.

Twins provide a sort of natural “control” test, Davis said, starting out with the same genetics and initial environment. But as they age and make choices — such as what they eat, whether and how they exercise and where they live — they start to diverge. Understanding that could give researchers insight into disease, cognition and other health issues.

“They share the same environment,” Davis said. “So, you can look at all kinds of outcomes over time and see how much of that was influenced by their biological makeup and how much of it was from their environment.”

Davis’ predecessors collected a treasure trove of data — many, many file cabinets’ worth — that now sit outside her office at the UofL Health Sciences Center. That data helped the researchers make the case this study should be revived.

The goal, she said, is to catalog a lifetime’s span of biological and cognitive health. The past data covers childhood, adolescence and, occasionally, early adulthood. With the study’s twins now in their 40s, 50s and 60s, the new research focuses on midlife health issues.

“The new study is looking at factors that are associated with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia,” Davis said. “And then also looking at how factors in your childhood … might be predictors of cognitive functioning in midlife.”

Returning to the study

In 2019, the researchers began calling twins back from all over the country. Davis said many were eager to return to UofL, where they remember coming as kids.

Patrick and David Moore were born on an Air Force base in Wichita, Kansas, and moved back to Louisville after their dad was discharged. They were enrolled in the Twin Study when they were just over a year old and came in for testing about once a year until their teens.

“We always looked forward to visiting because it started out with a ride in a Yellow Cab downtown,” David said. “What a treat. When we arrived, the staff was happy to see us and we seemed to be the stars.”

After receiving new funding, researchers are hoping to locate all of the originally studied
twins, including the Moores, sisters Julie McCain and Jenny Beckham, and Myles — who still
live in Louisville.

Of the twins researchers did locate, 40 came to UofL for in-person interviews and to be tested on their cognitive, memory, biometric and functional ability. For that test, the Moore brothers play the same puzzles and games they did as kids. They went to the same building, though the room had changed.

“It was nice to go back and hear updates on what they are doing 50 years later,” Patrick said.

The only thing missing, David said, was a bulletin board full of photos of all the twins. Each time the brothers came in for testing, he would look for the Moore brothers’ photo, the two of them identical were it not for the freckle on Patrick’s upper lip.

But as they grew, the Moores started to have small differences caused by their experiences, environment and other factors — one is now an inch or two taller and has more gray hair, though both now work in technology.

Like the Moore brothers, McCain and Beckham were always difficult to tell apart — so much so that one of their now- husbands once confused them. As adults, they’re less alike: one is more outgoing and one is taller. Beckham said those emerging differences, and figuring out what causes them when genetics is ruled out, are why the Twin Study research is important.

“I just think this is one of the only ways to study that,” Beckham said. “Because our genes are all so different, that when you have two people that have the same genes, you really can extract what caused something.”

There are a few types of twins. Identical twins are monozygotic, meaning they come from the same zygote. Fraternal twins are dizygotic, meaning they come from two separate zygotes and do not have the same genetics. All types of twins were included in the study. McCain and Beckham are identical and so are the Moore brothers. Sisters Almont and Myles are nearly identical — but not quite. When they were born, doctors factored their blood out to 32 degrees and discovered the sisters are “mirror identical.”

In these cases, according to Scientific American, twins often have opposite features and tendencies. For example, one sister is left-handed and one is right-handed. One’s an introvert and one’s an extrovert. One’s analytical and the other’s creative. One was an ice skater and cheerleader in high school and the other was more studious.

For Almont, who also was born with the muscle disorder Poland syndrome while her sister was not, the Louisville Twin Study also represents a unique opportunity to explore all different variations of “twinness.”

“It’s just the complexity of what it is to be human,” said Almont, who now works in intelligence in Washington, D.C. “It’s in studying twins and all these different iterations of twinness that you can come to that realization. Having us in the dataset shows that twinness is a lot more complicated than we thought before.”

All grown up

Myles and Almont grew up surrounded by identical twins. Within three generations on their mom’s side, there are five sets of twins — four identical sets of girls and one set of fraternal twins.

“They all went to the twin study,” said Myles, now an English as a Second Language teacher for Franklin County Public Schools. “I don’t remember a time we weren’t in the Twin Study. It made us feel like we were part of something important. If I can go back and be a lifetime participant, I’m happy to do so.”

Becoming a lifetime participant was crucial. Without the return of Myles and the other twins who were originally part of the study, it could have taken another 50 or so years before a new study could have reproduced the data the Louisville Twin Study has gathered.

The first midlife issue that researchers are examining is memory, particularly related to Alzheimer’s and dementia. In the revival pilot study conducted in 2019, researchers tested the participants’ biological age compared with their chronological age. Biological age measures the wear and tear on your body and mind, while chronological age is a direct measure of how long you’ve lived. For example, a person could be 50 chronologically but have a biological age of 30 due to diet, exercise or biological predisposition.

The researchers then compared each of these metrics with the twins’ cognitive function and cognitive development. The results, published in the journal Behavioral Genetics, showed no correlation between biological age and IQ, but there was a correlation between lower biological age and episodic memory. In other words, maintaining a lower biological age may be correlated with a better memory in older age. That information could help researchers discover new ways to prevent cognitive decline.

Now that the twins are back, the researchers plan to continue the study through the later phases of the life cycle.

“I honestly think of [this study] as a national treasure,” Almont said. “There’s no way you can replicate the body of research and data that has been collected. If they hadn’t done that, they couldn’t study these later life issues.”

About 20% of Louisville employees work for a franchised company. By comparison, only about 12% of employees in Cincinnati and Indianapolis do the same.

When you consider the corporations that call Louisville home, this ranking makes perfect sense. Yum! Brands (parent company of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut), Papa John’s, Texas Roadhouse, Long John Silver’s Inc., FranNet and Tumbleweed Tex Mex Grill & Margarita Bar all are headquartered here. Collectively these chains generated about $27 billion in sales in 2018, according to Technomic data.

UofL is leveraging its proximity to this robust industry. In fall 2019, the College of Business launched a fully online franchising certificate program aimed at both franchisees and large franchisors. Director Kathy Gosser believes UofL is the only school that offers a full, all inclusive certificate program focused specifically on the franchising industry.

That is intentional. When Todd Mooradian was named College of Business dean in 2016, he looked at industries where UofL could stand out because of the unique attributes of its hometown. He found his own Triple Crown: franchising, equine, distilling.

UofL added an online Distilled Spirits Business Certificate in April 2019, and its Equine Industry Program has been around since 1986. In addition to a sharpened focus on family business, a franchising program was a logical addition to the certificate portfolio.

“Louisville has been called the ‘franchise city’ and is the home of several global brands that distribute through franchise systems,” Mooradian said. “We are being very deliberate in building new initiatives strategically based on the university’s strengths and the city’s strengths, and we think franchising is a clear strength of Louisville.”

Gosser, a KFC retiree, joined UofL to lead the program. She is joined by Denise Cumberland, a College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development professor, and three other adjunct faculty members with experience from Aramark, Jamba Juice and Jackson Hewitt. The program, which expands beyond restaurant franchising, currently includes six courses ranging from franchising fundamentals to human resources infrastructure.

Another unique feature is curriculum input from the International Franchise Association (IFA) and other industry experts.

“When we were getting this started, it was important for us to get the IFA on board so we could learn from them what is needed and what they are hearing from their members,” Gosser said. “That way we knew the curriculum would be as relevant as it could be in order to establish [UofL] as a leader in franchise content. Our courses have earned credits toward the IFA’s Certified Franchise Executive designation.”

Connecting with the IFA, which represents over 1,400 franchise brands around the world, differentiates UofL’s program from anything else out there.

“Partnering with them – in fact, being their only partner in a program like this – is a distinctive honor and gives our graduates the prestige of both the IFA and the UofL College of Business,” Mooradian said. “Creating valuable offerings in underserved sectors of the market for business education is always going to be strategic. Doing it really well with worldclass experts and connecting with leading firms in the sector is differentiating for the university.”

Gosser and Mooradian both expect this program to evolve and would eventually like it to be an undergraduate track.

“We have plans to offer this content to other audiences and I hope it will be offered to our undergraduates soon,” Mooradian said.

The demand is certainly there – in Louisville and beyond. According to the IFA, franchising directly creates 7.6 million jobs and indirectly supports 13.3 million jobs.

These experts have equipped health care workers to deal with Ebola, SARS and other disease threats. They have developed programs to treat and prevent hepatitis and AIDS. They have studied the impact of pneumonia worldwide and conducted population surveillance of Group B Streptococcus and infectious diarrhea.

In January, UofL and Pfizer Inc. announced the designation of the UofL Division of Infectious Diseases as the first Center of Excellence in Pfizer’s global network for epidemiological research of vaccine-preventable diseases in adults. Pfizer selected UofL based on the division’s high-quality research, its international credibility and the well-established relationships the researchers have with hospitals and health care providers in the community.

Through this collaboration, UofL researchers study diseases in the adult Louisville population to estimate the public health impact vaccines may have. This informs the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and independent policymakers in setting vaccination policy for adults.

Two studies with Pfizer already were underway in January when researchers began bracing for a major new threat. News from China was revealing the quick spread and serious illness caused by a new coronavirus. Ramirez, chief of the division, and the rest of the team recognized it was very likely the virus, SARS-CoV-2, would spread to Louisville. UofL’s experts prepared to combat a disease they had never seen before.

In February, the division began working with Kenneth Palmer, director of the UofL Center for Predictive Medicine for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, to develop the ability to test for SARS-CoV-2, and to do surveillance of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, in all hospitals in the region.

The first case of COVID-19 was announced in Louisville March 9. The UofL labs worked nearly around the clock to perform diagnostic tests, process patient samples, notify hospitals of test results and gather information on infected patients to determine effective local policy and approaches. In addition, the Infectious Diseases Biorepository was expanded to include samples from COVID-19 patients.

“If we have an understanding of this illness in terms of where the cases are and how many cases we’re seeing among what types of patients, that gives us the epidemiology behind the illness so we can better understand risk factors and how we need to approach it from a preventive perspective,” Carrico said.

Over the next six weeks, more than 5,000 samples were tested at UofL, identifying 730 positive cases from 15 hospitals and 17 long-term care facilities throughout the Metro Louisville region. By identifying sooner who was infected, local hospitals were able to isolate earlier the patients and health care workers who had the virus, protecting others and preserving scarce personal protective equipment.

Area hospitals had acquired the ability to perform most of their own tests by mid-May, allowing Ramirez and the research team to focus on examining the COVID-19 data while also continuing work on the Pfizer studies examining bacteria that cause invasive disease, pneumonia, severe diarrhea and colitis.

“Louisville is one of the most sophisticated population-based sites for studying infectious diseases in adults that is managed by a team of world-renowned experts in infectious diseases,” said Luis Jodar, chief medical and scientific affairs officer for Pfizer Vaccines.

The UofL studies also benefit from the fact that the population of Jefferson County, Kentucky, closely reflects the United States as a whole in terms of racial and ethnic makeup, socioeconomic distribution and proportion of rural and urban residents. Information gathered about the Louisville population can be extrapolated to the United States.

“With this type of clinical research, we create new knowledge. This new knowledge advances medicine and will help not just one patient, but every patient with the disease in the world,” Ramirez said.

The COVID-19 clinical research data is promptly made available to researchers and health care workers around the world. Additional studies are planned to document the physical and mental impact the pandemic has on front-line health care workers.

Ramirez personally is feeling the impact of working around COVID-19. “In January we were having a happy life. In February, we started to be concerned and knew we needed to prepare. At the beginning of March, we had the first case in Louisville. Since then, we have had so many cases,” he said. “We had such an involvement — seven days a week. I lost total perspective of time.”

While the initial crush may have subsided, the pandemic is not over and neither are other diseases including those Pfizer currently is studying. So the division continues planning for the future.

Carrico, who directs the UofL Vaccine and International Travel Clinic, was a key organizer for the largest mass immunization ever held in the United States, administering more than 19,000 immunizations over a two-day period in 2009 for H1N1 influenza. She’s now working on a plan for COVID-19.

“We expect that a COVID-19 vaccine will be available in the near future and we are going to need to vaccinate nearly the entire population,” Carrico said. “We have the experience to do that and we will be ready.”

The lovable grade-school ensemble plays numerous events across the region. Social media videos of them covering rock classics have garnered millions of views, with the likes of Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page proudly sharing. They appeared on Ozzy Osbourne’s A&E Network Show “Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour” and HBO’s film special “The Leopards Take Manhattan: The Little Band That Roared.”

But if you ask artistic director Diane Downs what impact the group has had through the years since she founded it in 1993, those brushes with fame don’t top the list. Instead, she prioritizes the smaller, personal conquests kids have enjoyed because of their participation. As an example, she remembers a girl who overcame stage fright to play her first solo on a jazz arrangement.

“That’s a major triumph when stuff like that happens,” Downs said. “All the notoriety and accolades are a great reward for the kids who’ve worked hard. But sometimes it’s the little things that happen inside these kids — when they change, and their confidence level changes, when they meet people who don’t look like them and make friends and like them — that’s the triumph. And that’s why we do it.”

As the Leopards have evolved through the years, with many ups, downs and bumpy transitions, a constant has been their connection to UofL. By providing space, mentorship and a next step in youths’ educations, the university has formally and informally supported the group’s growth over time.

Along with Downs, who earned her Rank 1 teaching certificate at UofL, several of the group’s leaders have Cardinal connections. Carly Rodman, a rising junior political science major, is the lead arranger and ensemble director for the beginner Leopards. Rising senior Sam Universe previously was an assistant director for the expansion group Leopards Lite. Alumni Meg Samples ’10 and Aaron Klausing ’10 were directors and musical arrangers with the group before moving out of the city; they still volunteer with the Leopards when they return to town.

Currently, the nonprofit has around 60 students in grades 2-9 who play music on percussion instruments through a unique but simple system. They learn a part and then, through listening and teamwork, bring the parts together to make a whole song. Almost none of the students — who come from nearly 50 schools across 30 ZIP codes – has a musical background.

Calling campus home

The Leopards began when Downs was pilfering through the closet looking for bulletin board paper at King Elementary where she taught second grade. There Downs found little instruments. Having had some music training, she took them back to the kids and promised that if they did well in their classwork, they could put on a concert.

“We played a PTA meeting, a nursing home, the mall and then it absolutely exploded from there. I never had any kind of intention on what to do or a plan; it just happened,” Downs said.

Downs has a natural ear and was a music major before switching to education, so she could break down songs to teach her students. But, her early methods were time consuming. A jazz pedagogy class with Jerry Tolson, jazz professor at UofL’s School of Music, helped her process enormously.

“He taught me the way I learn, which is different than most people,” she said. “He was wonderful. I learned so much.”

Leopards eventually transitioned from being a school-based group to a 501(c)(3). The group had some drums but needed more instruments and practice space. Tolson worked it out so the young students could practice in the School of Music’s Bird Recital Hall and found a closet in the music building the Leopards could use for storage. Greg Byrne, percussion professor, let the Leopards use the music school’s instruments until they acquired their own.

Months passed, and the group grew, got more instruments and needed more space. They hopped around until they settled in a building on Spalding University’s campus. While they’re no longer physically at UofL, the university is still a positive influence on the Leopards. Tolson has remained a steadfast friend of the organization and helps whenever needed. For example, he acted as a consultant when the group landed its HBO special, helping figure out what the network should tape.

“The mission calls to me,” Tolson said. “The experience the kids have with music forms a lifelong connection. Also, they develop personal skills — skills for everything in life really — the ability to function in society in a positive way, and socially, they meet people from all over, from different races, economic backgrounds. It’s an experience that has lasting effects.”

Lasting impacts

Downs and Tolson have forged lifelong relationships with numerous participants who’ve gone on to enroll at UofL’s School of Music and other universities. A few former Leopards have even enjoyed star-studded careers with artists including Childish Gambino.

“A lot of them have become really good humans — teachers and police officers and doctors,” Downs said. “I hear from our alumni all the time. They come back and say, ‘I can’t believe I did that when I was a kid.’”

Many former Leopards stay engaged, like Rodman, the ensemble director. The 22-year-old undergrad went to her older brother’s practices in utero and then a baby stroller. She joined as soon as she could as a second grader, but after she aged out, she and her friends didn’t want to quit, so they started the Leopards’ steel drums group for middle schoolers.

“This has been part of my whole life. The mission and the positivity of the community is absolutely amazing,” Rodman said. “I’ve seen the impact it has on the community and the kids and the happiness that it brings to people.”

When it came time to choose a college, UofL was a natural fit.

“I really love Louisville, wanted to stay close to home and to the Leopards,” Rodman said. “I heard great things about UofL’s political science program, so I was excited to be a Cardinal.”

Rodman, who has also served on several national political campaigns, says she someday wants to run for office and work to improve her home state. Her UofL classwork and her time with the Leopards helped prepare her for that challenge and, in turn, she became a role model for the Leopards who follow.

Improving the community and enriching lives is what Downs always hoped for the Leopards.

“I tell the kids all the time, ‘Look around you; pay attention to what’s going on,’ ” Downs said. ‘You’re going to grow up and you’re going to be the leaders of the world one day.’ ”

UofL’s Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research partnered with Kentucky Advanced Materials Manufacturing (KAMM) to produce lab-grown diamonds at a pilot plant/demonstration facility in Louisville. The facility is meant to serve as the foundation of a billion-dollar worldwide effort to grow large diamond stones for a myriad of applications beyond just jewelry.

“We’ve always known the potential of diamond as a material,” said Hank Paxton, Conn Center research and development engineer. The center has conducted research on lab-grown diamonds since 1997 and has a large interest in advanced materials, such as diamonds, for industrial applications. Diamonds are prized for industrial applications including power devices and biosensors because of their superior hardness, thermal conductivity and electrical/ optical properties.

“KAMM came to us in about 2012 looking for people to grow large single stone diamonds,” said Mahendra Sunkara, chemical engineering professor and center director. “They now use it primarily for the gem industry, but in the next five years they’d like to transform their gem applications to industrial applications.”

KAMM, a subsidiary of global organization Da Vinci Holdings, is the first company to establish such capabilities in Kentucky and one of only a handful of global players in the highly advanced field. The group’s founder, Vikram M. Shah, sought out the Conn Center to be a U.S. partner in the pilot plant/demonstration facility, and the Louisville plant is already producing around 1,000 carats of diamond per month.

Shah is considering making the Louisville facility a permanent home for production once the pilot ends.

“We are exploring the USA to see where we can settle,” Shah said. “Our priority is Kentucky because of our great relationship with the Conn Center, but we are looking at various options.”

“Diamond is an advanced material with superlative properties making it the best choice for many technological applications, including those that enable connection of renewables to the grid,” Sunkara said. “The availability of diamond wafers can make innovation possible with next-generation renewable energy.”

“Irrigation is what we were hired for, but we also end up trimming bushes and picking up trash and leaves when they come down,” Eric said.

The brothers find ways to liven up their workdays by creating friendly competition, not only between each other but also with other grounds crew members.

“I try to make our [space] look better than everyone
else’s,” Brian said.

Knowing college was an opportunity to do something drastically different with her life than many relatives and peers had done, Trout Van Tatenhove took her grandmother’s advice. She applied to UofL and was accepted into the McConnell Scholars program. She was the first person in her family to attend college, a move that would prove to be pivotal to her future.

“The McConnell Center instilled in me a sense of confidence and decisiveness that whatever it was that I was going to do, I could do,” she said.

In addition to this confidence, she credits the relationships and extracurricular experiences as outstanding benefits of her time as a scholar. Currently serving as special legal counsel to the speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives, Trout Van Tatenhove decided it was time to give back to the program that made such an indelible impact on her.

Her $250,000 gift to the McConnell Center includes a scholarship for first-generation students that is named after her grandmother who valued education above all else. Her gift also will support the McConnell Center’s efforts to improve Kentucky’s civic education and allow first-generation students to gain the same experience she had as a student.

“I’m choosing to give back to the McConnell Center because I have a commitment and a belief in what this center does for both its students and the community,” Trout Van Tatenhove said.

Motivated by the center’s profound impact on her, Trout Van Tatenhove encourages others to give back. By donating, she says, alumni can provide opportunities for students who are determined to excel but face challenges in pursuing their education.

“None of us in life, wherever we are, achieved and arrived in that place without the help of others,” Trout Van Tatenhove said. “I am so grateful to be able to take the opportunities and blessings I have in my life and share those with the place that means so much to me but also has so much potential to share and inspire others.”