23rd Annual Sue Kim Hanson Lecture – Sharon Chinthrajah, MD (Hybrid)

Every year, The BUSM community convenes to celebrate the life of Sue Kim Hanson, an extraordinary BU Ph.D. student who died tragically with her husband and daughter on September 11, 2001. Sue was born in Los Angeles, California. She spent her early childhood in Korea, returning to Los Angeles at age 6. In 1989 she received a B.A. degree in biology and psychology from the University of California, Berkley. After graduation she worked for Cetus Corporation and was involved with early development of gene amplification by polymerase chain reaction. She moved to Boston and earned a M.A. in medical sciences from Boston University School of Medicine in 1992. After graduation, she joined the laboratory of Dr. Hardy Kornfeld in the Pulmonary Center at BUSM. While in the Kornfeld laboratory, she concurrently entered the Ph.D. program in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (immunology track) at BUSM. Sue’s thesis project was an investigation of the role of interleukin-16 in immunity.

On September 11, 2001, Sue was traveling to Los Angeles with her husband, Peter Hanson (BU School of Management ’94) and their two-year-old daughter, Christine Lee, on United Airlines flight 175, the second plane that struck the World Trade Center. Sue was scheduled to defend her dissertation in November of 2001. Her degree was awarded posthumously by unanimous vote of her thesis committee.

The BU community celebrates Sue’s joy for life and passion for discovery by inviting some of the most exciting scientists studying immunology and pulmonary biology to the BU School of Medicine for a lecture in her honor.

This year, the lecture will be given by Sharon Chinthrajah, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine and of Pediatrics, Stanford University: "Breakthroughs in Food Allergy."