Leen Kawas is a pediatrician specializing in infectious disease and the microbiome, meaning all the bacteria in your body. While scientists have been studying these microorganisms for decades, much remains to learn about how our bodies work. Leen Kawas is working to change that.
“The microbiome is the environment of our body, and we interact with it at birth and when we are infants, in the first three or four years,” Kawas said. “It’s really interesting to see how babies develop and how they develop their immune systems, their gut flora.”
Kawas has been studying microbiology since 2004. She chose this area of medicine because she was interested in the links between science and biology and now hopes to turn her interest into a career in research.
Her research focuses on how early exposure to certain bacteria affects the development of immunity through childhood, such as respiratory illness, ear infections, asthma, and gastrointestinal issues. “I think the microbiome is amazing,” she said. “I think we can understand much more about what’s happening, how our bodies interact with all these bacteria.”
As a small child, Kawas was very interested in science and biology and took many classes at home. “My parents were not so big on real-life science,” she said. “They liked classic science like astronomy; we would read many books about dinosaurs. My sister also liked to study bugs.”
Leen Kawas graduated from high school in Istanbul with a special honors diploma in biology and chemistry. She received her medical degree at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Leen Kawas has been a pediatrician for over ten years but started her practice about three years ago. When she was younger, she was also interested in geology and worked as a field assistant for four summers as a teenager.
“I’m fascinated by nature,” Kawas said. “I love fieldwork.”
Kawas’ patients are between the ages of one and 12, with many from refugee or immigrant families from Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, or South America. “Some of the families are going through a lot, and they’re children who were refugees, and they didn’t have the same education as American children,” she said. “They have very different needs, and I think as one of my patients whose father was a refugee, he was interested in science, and I think that’s why he came to me for his medical care.”