Alumni
Profiles of Success
Constance Pachucki
Chief, Section of Infection Control
Edward Hines, Jr. Hospital
B.S. Biology 1972, Purdue
Constance Pachucki entered the biology program at Purdue with her sights set
on becoming a doctor, a career which would allow her to work with people and
apply the science she so much enjoyed. "Biology is an exciting and wonderful
field," she proclaims . " It not only describes how we live, reproduce
and grow, but it can be applied to develop drugs, diagnostics, treat illness,
improve the quality of plants that provide food…" Her degree from
Purdue successfully provided her with the foundation needed for understanding
medical concepts, and after earning her bachelors she entered the University
of Illinois School of Medicine.
Constance began her medical career as an intern at Northwestern University, Evanston Hospital, and then began work as an epidemiologist in the Section of Communicable Diseases at the New Jersey State Department of Health. After completing a residency in Internal Medicine at Evanston Hospital, Constance returned to the University of Illinois as an Assistant in Medicine/Trainee in Infectious Diseases. Today she continues her work in this area through her role as Chief of the Section of Infection Control at VA Hines Hospital, where she is also on staff as a physician.
"Infection control is charged with detecting and preventing hospital-acquired infections," explains Constance. "As Chief of Infection Control, I direct the efforts of the practitioners, set goals, troubleshoot with administration, and direct the efforts of infection control." Working to control infections is a hospital-wide effort that involves the coordination of many practitioners who look for wound infections, pneumonias, blood borne infections, and other infections which occur due to hospitalization. This information is recorded and given to Constance. "The number of infections, the locations of the infections, the kind of infections and the organism which causes the infections are defined . . . With this information we develop plans to prevent infections," she says.
In addition to being Chief of Infection Control, Constance is a primary care physician for internal medicine, taking care of patients with diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, and heart disease. "I am the equivalent to a pediatrician for adults," she says. She further serves as a consultant on infectious diseases for other doctors.
Constance is an active participant in research, as well, and has been involved in several studies that work to prevent infectious diseases. In a shingles prevention study, she is testing a variant of the chicken pox vaccine on adults over 60 in the hopes of preventing shingles. Over 38,000 patients are enrolled in the study nationally. She is also involved in a number of tuberculosis clinical trials and has assisted in the development of a rapid diagnostic test to detect influenza. Finally, she is involved in a study that will look at the usefulness of using three drugs rather than four to five to treat HIV. "These regimens will be used in patients who have failed most of the available regimens," she explains. "These are the most difficult patients to treat."
"Before you enter medicine think about why you want to be a doctor, what kind of life style you want," Constance advises students considering a career in medicine. "Talk to physicians in training and physicians in practice to get an idea of what their day is like. Think about what you like to do and see if that is what they do." She also recommends getting involved in research. "This lets you see different ways of using biology, gives you a chance to become an expert, and provides you with contacts."
The experience that proved the most beneficial to her during her undergraduate years, however, was the relationship she developed with faculty. "The mentoring relationship that I had with my honors research advisor, who was Dr. Michael Forman, was very important. This relationship let me see professors as people, provided me with moral support and guidance…The more faculty that you know and can talk to, the better you will be".
According to Constance, biology offers a bright future to its graduates. "The field continues to expand. More and more of our world is being described in terms of molecules and genes," she says. "I never lose my wonder at learning about how living creatures work. Biology never stops answering these questions."