Front & Center: It’s all about the patient

Doug Weeks describe St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute as “a hidden gem.”

That could change.

“Our research program is starting to gain national – even international – attention,” said Weeks, who directs clinical research at St. Luke’s.

This week, the lower South Hill hospital will mark its 120th anniversary.

The original 15-bed medical facility opened Sept. 2, 1897, thanks to the efforts of three women who raised $900 and enlisted the help of fellow congregants at All Saints Episcopal Cathedral.

The average daily cost per patient then was $1.24.

The hospital was renamed St. Luke’s three years later, and in 1992, switched from acute care to medical rehabilitation.

Weeks joined the staff in 2004.

“My initial job was senior research investigator,” he said. “As the program expanded, they decided they needed a director of research, and my title changed.”

His duties include helping St. Luke’s medical staff write grant applications, design research methodologies, recruit and screen subjects, analyze data and disseminate the results.

During a recent interview, Weeks discussed colored-light therapy, parking privileges and tax returns.

S-R: Where were you raised?

Weeks: I’m an Air Force brat, so I grew up all over the United States. I attended five elementary schools, one junior high, and two high schools.

S-R: What was your first job?

Weeks: When I was 15, I worked as a line cook at a Herfy’s hamburger franchise in Sacramento. Then I figured out I could be a lifeguard and hang out at the pool all summer. During the winter, I worked at a Shakey’s Pizza Parlor. That was pretty satisfying because I like math, and a lot of math goes into how you proportion things on a pizza.

S-R: Did you have a favorite class or activity in high school?

Weeks: Anything to do with science. After class, I was involved with a science club, where we would do everything from animal dissections to chemistry experiments.

S-R: Was it mostly a guys’ club?

Weeks: It was almost exclusively male. But I have three daughters, and all of them are math smart. There is definitely a place in math and science today for females.

S-R: Did you have a particular career in mind back then?

Weeks: I always knew it would be something involving critical thinking. I considered architecture, but a year into college I discovered I liked numbers more than drafting and started moving toward science.

S-R: What college did you attend?

Weeks: I earned a bachelor’s degree in life and earth sciences at Texas A&M, thinking I was going to be a schoolteacher. But faculty encouraged me to immediately go on for a master’s degree, which I got in human neuroscience. Afterward, I took a job at UT San Antonio for four years before moving on to the University of Colorado for my Ph.D.

S-R: Then what?

Weeks: I got into academia, with faculty positions in Indiana and Montreal, came back to the University of Colorado, and ended up at Regis University, a Jesuit school in Denver.

S-R: Was there a particular moment or event that changed the direction of your life?

Weeks: A pivotal moment was the death of my father when he was 52. Before that, most of my research was with healthy populations. His death was an impetus for me to start thinking about patient populations. I knew I’d have to transition from academia to some institution that would allow me access to patients. Eventually, an opportunity at St. Luke’s arrived.

S-R: Did you have a mentor?

Weeks: Many. The one who sticks out was a Russian scientist I worked with in Montreal. He had a very gentle spirit. I was always amazed by how much impact he had on people without being pushy about it. I learned that when it comes to dealing with conflict in research, take a deep breath, think about possible solutions and seek cooperation, as opposed to butting heads.

S-R: Many of the people you work with are physicians.

Weeks: And therapists and nurses. All of the clinicians are involved in research.

S-R: But you’re not a physician. How receptive are they to your coaching?

Weeks: They know I’m not a clinician. My job is making sure they understand the research process – what we need to do so we can draw valid conclusions – and they’re very accepting of that.

S-R: Do you get to park in St. Luke’s “Physicians Only” covered parking lot alongside them?

Weeks: I actually do. (laugh) It’s one of the perks of the job.

S-R: How does St. Luke’s compare with other local rehabilitation providers?

Weeks: We’re the largest free-standing inpatient rehab facility in Eastern Washington. Our reach goes from the Canadian border all the way down to Oregon, and east to central Montana. We have an exclusive rehab program for chronic-pain patients in the L&I (Labor & Industries) system that’s structured to get people back to work. We also have a new, $85,000 virtual-reality simulator that allows a clinical evaluation of patients’ driving skills in a very safe environment.

S-R: Is there a busiest time of year?

Weeks: We do have seasonal fluctuations, mainly because of the high-risk activities people engage in – water sports or downhill skiing. Winter also results in brain injuries caused when older folks slip on ice and hit their head.

S-R: Describe the sort of research conducted at St. Luke’s.

Weeks: There are two broad categories: investigator-initiated research and industry-sponsored clinical trials. Our portfolio includes both types. A good example of investigator-initiated research is a study we’re doing involving patients with brain injuries. We’re exposing them to 25 minutes of colored light every morning – either blue or red – to influence the brain to stop producing melatonin early in the morning. We don’t want them to be sleepy during the day, because that affects therapy. We also want to turn around their sleep cycle so they sleep better at night. We’re trying to get the receptors in the eyes tuned to those colors to react. We were the first globally to look at the use of light therapy soon after a brain injury, so we’re leading the field.

S-R: What’s St. Luke’s annual research budget?

Weeks: Less than $500,000. When you get funding for research, it’s meant to pay for the services to collect the data. You don’t make a profit off of research. But if we can be a leader in contributing to the body of knowledge that defines rehabilitation medicine, that fulfills our goal.

S-R: What do you like most about your job?

Weeks: The gratification of seeing patients improve.

S-R: What do you like least?

Weeks: The inability to reach more patients. We’ve partially remedied that by having students from virtually every university in the region assist us with data collection. Some of them end up being co-authors on the resulting publications.

S-R: What has this job taught you about yourself?

Weeks: The importance of humility. Research is one of those things where you’re always having to demonstrate that you’re adding value to your organization.

S-R: Are there any common misperceptions about St. Luke’s?

Weeks: Because we’re a rehabilitation institute, people ask me what we do when someone falls off the wagon. I explain that we focus on medical rehabilitation, not substance-abuse rehabilitation.

S-R: You do treat patients with chronic pain. Given the current sense of urgency surrounding opiate addiction, could St. Luke’s play a larger role in addressing that problem?

Weeks: No doubt. What we do here – teaching patients techniques to manage pain and be functional without opiates – is a model that can be applied beyond the L&I workforce to people addicted to opiates.

S-R: What challenges lie ahead?

Weeks: Funding is always a challenge. While federal funding levels will likely stay about the same, we may see an uptick in industry-supported research. The business community seems to like the environment we’re in now.

S-R: How will the aging population affect research?

Weeks: People are surviving events they might not have a decade ago. A good example would be strokes. That means more opportunities to help people with disabilities.

S-R: What preparation would you recommend for a career in medical research?

Weeks: Undergraduates should get a good background in science and math – those go hand in hand. At the graduate level, you need to decide whether you want to be the researcher or the person who focuses on methodology and analyzing data.

S-R: What sort of person is best suited for your job?

Weeks: Someone who knows early on that they have an affinity for numbers.

S-R: So do you prepare your own tax returns?

Weeks: (laugh) No, I don’t. My degree is in applied math – statistics. I know very little about business math.

Writer Michael Guilfoil can be contacted at mguilfoil@comcast.net.