Meet 2022 Young Investigator Draft research grant recipient Dr. Michael Gonzalez

The Young Investigator Draft presented by CSL Behring is the result of Uplifting Athletes’ ongoing commitment to shine a spotlight on the critical need for rare disease research and to honor emerging researchers who are making an impact.

Young Investigator: Dr. Michael Gonzalez

Young Investigator Institution: University of Pennsylvania

Draft Pick Presenter: JD Bertrand, Linebacker, University of Notre Dame

Dr. Gonzalez’s education: The native of Southern California didn’t initially pursue a career in medical science, he was a Graduate Student Intern with the National Fish and Wildlife forensic laboratory while pursuing his Master’s Degree in Forensic Biology from Fresno State University. At Washington State, while pursuing and earning his PhD in 2015, Dr. Gonzalez discovered his passion for research tied to medicine. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) from 2016-2018 and was a full-time Bioinformation Scientist at CHOP until August 2021. An adjunct professor at LaSalle University, Dr. Gonzalez is currently the Associate Director of Basic and Translational Research at the Center for Cytokine Storm Treatment and Laboratory (CSTL) at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Gonzalez’s research focus: Castleman disease is a rare and deadly condition involving hyperactivation of the immune system that leads to potentially life-threatening dysfunction of the liver, kidneys, and bone marrow. Though progress has been made to understand the mechanisms involved in Castleman disease and to identify promising new treatment approaches, more work is needed to better understand what is happening within CD patients’ immune systems. Dr. Gonzalez’s experiences and skills as a computational biologist make him well positioned to unlock unknowns. Dr. Gonzalez will utilize cutting-edge technologies to better understand what various specific immune cell populations in different parts of organs (like the lymph nodes) are doing. Understanding what they’re doing wrong will help to identify treatments to overcome these defects.

Why are you choosing to research rare diseases?

DR. GONZALEZ: Just by virtue of being a rare disease, they are historically underfunded and they don’t get the attention they deserve. At the end of the day what drives me is helping people. And I chose to focus almost entirely on rare diseases because not a lot of scientists are looking into the corners for these rare diseases.

What inspired your passion for helping others, where do you think that was harvested?

DR. GONZALEZ: I’m going to lean on my parents here - my Dad, Michael Gonzalez, and my Mom, Carrie Griggs. I would have to give the being selfless and helping other people aspect to my parents’ influence growing up. I saw in my parents a lot of selfless characteristics that I emulate and direct them into medical biology.

Did you ever consider doing anything else growing up?

DR. GONZALEZ: Not really, but I’ve had a pretty interesting path through science. My father is a retired Sheriff’s Deputy, so I had law enforcement influence growing up. Before I even considered research and medicine, I had my sights set on forensic biology. I think that was the law enforcement growing up. As I continued doing my Masters and doing research required for that, I became increasingly interested in every little detail I would put under the microscope … the immunology of that was fascinating to me. Was able to marry the two, research and medicine, at Washington State to get my PhD.

What are some of your passions away from work?

DR. GONZALEZ: I enjoy working out, lifting weights and I guess you could say anything with a competitive component to it will catch my interest. My dog Bailey, she’s a basset hound mix, we spend a good bit of time together. I really enjoy teaching, too. It might be tied to me not having a lot of direction when I got to college. I was of the mindset I’m going to do this all by myself and know what I need to do. I would have loved somebody to have helped me and guided me through that. That’s why I love to teach and be involved and do that for others. People took a chance on me, so I’m giving back to try and do that for others. 

What Castleman Disease Collaborative Network said about Dr. Gonzalez: “Mike is a competitor. He does Spartan races and other competitive events like that. He brings that same fervor to his work where he’s not going to take no for an answer and he’s really laser focused on finding these answers for patients. His work is really interesting because he uses novel technology that gets insights that years ago we couldn’t get to as a scientific community. These insights are at that genetic and cellular level and he looks really deeply at these architectures of Castleman Disease that are really important to finding new treatments for patients.” – Mary Zuccato, Executive Director Castleman Disease Collaborative Network

Dr. Gonzalez was nominated for a 2022 Uplifting Athletes’ Young Investigator Draft research grant on behalf of the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network (CDCN). The Castleman Disease Collaborative Network (CDCN) is a global initiative dedicated to accelerating research and treatment for Castleman disease (CD) to improve survival for all patients with CD. We work to achieve this by facilitating collaboration among the global research community, mobilizing resources, strategically investing in high-impact research, and supporting patients and their loved ones. CD describes a group of inflammatory disorders that vary from a single enlarged lymph node to life-threatening multiple organ failure. CD is diagnosed in approximately 4,300 to 5,200 patients of all ages each year in the United States. The CDCN is a leading force in the rare disease community with the creation of the Collaborative Network Approach and experience with drug repurposing, in partnership with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.