Laura Gibson’s 31-year career at West Virginia University has spanned various roles including mentor, science researcher and top-level administrator. However, none of those were what she ever anticipated when she stepped foot on the campus as a first-generation undergraduate student, nor what some told her she could accomplish at the same institution where she earned her Ph.D.
The senior associate vice president for research and graduate education at WVU Health Sciences and associate dean for research at the School of Medicine, Gibson is set to retire July 1.
“The University and Health Sciences Center have been so good to me. Both have been consistently generous and supportive and have provided me amazing opportunities,” Gibson said. “I have always had the luxury of doing what I loved and what was most interesting to me across all the stages of my career.”
Gibson, who grew up in the Cheat Lake area, initially wanted to become a teacher and share her longtime interest in all things science. After earning her degree in secondary education, she taught briefly at Morgantown High School but felt immediately like she needed to be more directly connected to the science and inquiry.
“I wanted to dig into the science part of it more than I was going to be able to in the classroom,” Gibson said. “I was always a science geek and was intrigued by genetics even in elementary school.”
That longing was enough to bring Gibson back to her alma mater to pursue her Ph.D. in genetics and developmental biology and complete her postdoctoral work at the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center. It was the beginning of what she describes as her life at WVU coming full circle and an academic research career that didn’t follow the typical path.
“During my Ph.D. training more than one person told me, ‘you will unlikely be able to get a job here because it’s not traditional to train and then work at the same place in academics,’ ” Gibson said. “They weren’t being negative; they were just being honest based on how careers in science typically evolve. I always felt like it would be OK and it would work out even if not quite obvious how that would happen in the beginning.”
It did work, largely in part because Dr. Bill Neal, then-chair of pediatrics, hired Gibson as an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics. At the same time, she was also an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.
“Dr. Neal was very forward thinking in terms of believing clinicians and basic scientists should coexist in the same departments to do your best work together,” Gibson said. “I was so fortunate that he hired me into my first faculty position.”
That’s when Gibson’s love for teaching and research came together with the opportunity to train undergraduate and graduate students.
“From the day I started my own lab, one of my favorite parts was mentoring,” Gibson said. “The science itself is always intriguing because it’s like a puzzle when you’re trying to answer questions that matter, but the mentoring was my favorite. I like that kind of interaction and watching people really come into their own. It’s so fun to see others thrive.”
Gibson’s diligence and expertise paid off when she was elevated to top positions in her field — first to vice chair for research in the Department of Pediatrics then to deputy director at WVU Cancer Institute Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center before taking on her current role.
Her honors are plentiful. Gibson is the first Alexander B. Osborn Distinguished Professor in Hematological Malignancies Research at the WVU School of Medicine, was awarded a Robert C. Byrd Professorship, received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research and was twice selected for the Department of Pediatrics Outstanding Research Award. In addition, she was named a fellow in the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program for Women at Drexel University College of Medicine.
On top of her administrative duties, Gibson continued teaching and kept her lab open with a focus on leukemic cell response to therapy.
Her grants kept coming as well. She has served as principal investigator on awards totaling more than $30 million and as co-principal investigator, core director or faculty mentor on grant-funded projects totaling more than $95 million, including currently active initiatives.
Gibson said building teams is one of her passions and seeing how they thrive is something she has enjoyed most during her career.
“I’m a scientist at heart. That’s my training and I have a real love for it,” Gibson said. “Over time it’s evolved from loving to be at the bench to enjoying seeing other people ask, and design an approach to answer, meaningful questions. At this stage of my career, being the principal investigator of a grant or senior author on a manuscript is not the goal anymore. It’s to enable someone else to meet their professional goals and to contribute in broader ways to the priorities of the institution. When you see a junior investigator get their first big grant, that’s the best, or an institutional grant that you know is going to support several people — that’s much more meaningful than your own single PI efforts.”
Teamwork came into play for Gibson, Chancellor and Executive Dean for WVU Health Sciences Dr. Clay Marsh and more than 40 scientists and clinical colleagues from across campus who formed the Health Sciences COVID-19 Scientific Task Force. Their work helped thousands of West Virginians and put a spotlight on the University serving its land-grant mission.
“Those two years out of 31 years of being at WVU highlighted the talent and the character of the faculty and staff at Health Sciences,” Gibson said. “It was such a challenging time for everyone, but it was also a time that the work we did together was truly purpose driven and I think will be one of the most meaningful when I look back. I wouldn’t want to do it twice, but it was a special time in terms of a community at Health Sciences.”
Ironically, Gibson’s first lab was the one used for transition during COVID-19 as teams of scientists and their clinical colleagues developed testing as just one step in the WVU response. She says that’s just one of several instances where she sees her early years at WVU reflecting back as her career winds down.
“(WVU President) Gordon (Gee) signed my undergrad diploma and of course he continues to lead WVU as I retire,” Gibson said. “The technician that was on our research team for over 25 years, Debbie Piktel, is going back to our original lab space to work where the COVID-19 testing was developed to finish out her career. So, it does feel as if many things have gone full circle in a terrific way.”
