Regis Today | Winter 2023 | Be Bold, Be Courageous

 

STORY BY KRISTEN WALSH

PORTRAIT BY KATHLEEN DOOHER

 

When Courtney Horvath '06, PhD, DABT, became head of global strategy, planning & operations for Translational Medicine at Novartis in 2019, life was good. She was reaching new heights in her career as a toxicologist, leading a team of global associates, and serving as the key leader of strategic projects and operations for a group that works across all stages of drug development. But a year later on March 24, 2020, when her 8-year-old son Colby was diagnosed with lymphoma, toxicology took on a whole new meaning—and so did her life.Hear the words your child has cancer is something no parent ever wants to hear.

“Hearing the words ‘Your child has cancer’ is something no parent ever wants to hear,” says Horvath, who also has a daughter, Avery, age 12. “At first, I was in pure shock. Colby’s diagnosis was totally unexpected. He was a seemingly perfect and healthy kid, aside from a small lump under his ear lobe. We really had no choice but to immediately jump into action mode, making sure we had the best possible plan and advocating for him. Our focus was really on Colby’s health and trying to keep Avery’s life as normal as possible, with all of this unfolding at the start of the COVID- 19 pandemic.”

As Horvath and her husband, Ryan, listened to the sobering details of their son’s two-and-a-half-year treatment plan—which included nine months of intense treatment with at least 10 different chemotherapies followed by 18 months of maintenance— motherhood and career collided. Horvath’s mind swirled with thoughts of how Colby would react to each medication.

But amid the stress, they held onto the good news: a positive prognosis of an over 90% cure rate.

“We were lucky to be able to have ‘cure’ as a goal; for some children the best-case scenario is only to prolong life or set up palliative care,” Horvath says.

Treatment began less than 24 hours after Colby’s diagnosis, starting with weekly infusions and lumbar punctures. For the next 795 days, Horvath’s Sunday nights would be spent filling pill boxes with the week’s medication. Most Saturday mornings, Colby started his day with a course of 12 pills. “Can you imagine sorting medicines that require you to wear medical gloves for handling and then asking your 8-year-old child to swallow it? It’s unfathomable.”

 

FINDING INSPIRATION 

It was just a few weeks into his treatment that Colby began having toxic side effects from the cancer drugs, including life-threatening allergic reactions, 106-degree fevers, neuropathy, muscle weakness, and head-to-toe body rashes. There were multiple trips to the emergency department.

Courtney and Cody“Every chemotherapy that Colby was administered was developed and approved for use in adults during the timeframe roughly spanning the Vietnam War,” says Horvath. “A lack of research funding is causing stunted innovation in advancement of pediatric oncology drugs. Is this the best we have to offer our children?”

She considers it ironic that she has spent her career committed to delivering safe medicines to patients, yet her son has endured incredibly toxic chemotherapy.

“Colby’s experience has instilled this incredible passion in me to raise awareness and advocacy about the challenges in childhood cancer and the lack of innovation and safe medicines that are available to patients,” Horvath says. “Pediatric oncology is an incredibly complex field and it’s not going to be solved with just one solution that I can enact myself. So we’re going to continue to spread awareness. I’m particularly interested in leveraging my network in the pharmaceutical and the research industry to help educate people who have a job to make a difference here.”

 

CHOREOGRAPHING A CAREER

Horvath grew up in Medford, Massachusetts. Her grandmother owned a dance studio; her mother was a professional ballerina—and Horvath seemed destined to follow their lead until rigorous training for Boston Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” caused an injury that forced her to hang up her ballet slippers. Her parents, particularly her father, “set clear expectations” for Horvath: enrolling in college. “When I was pursuing ballet, I often found myself frustrated when things I couldn’t control, like my height or body shape, impacted my success. When I started college, it was the first time in my life experiencing my hard work being directly correlated to my success.

Regis professor Billozur opened my eyes to a world that I didn't really know existed in terms of biology.“I remember touring the science building [at Regis] and being wowed by the labs and the opportunity I saw there,” says Horvath, who received the Presidential Scholarship and started off majoring in nursing until she took a biology course with Professor Michael Bilozur, PhD. “Professor Bilozur opened my eyes to a world that I didn’t really know existed in terms of biology: the ability to go off and get a PhD and have a career in science. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t attended Regis.”

But getting a doctorate meant garnering research experience, so during the summer of junior year and through senior year, Horvath did an internship at Genzyme. After graduating from Regis with a degree in biology, she was accepted into Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College and earned a PhD in toxicology in 2009—just three-and- a-half years later.

“I worked super hard during my PhD years, with a lot of focus on what aspects of my research were successful, limiting my time chasing down dead ends,” Horvath says. “I was lucky to have an amazing mentor and a project that had real impact in the world. I had my first ‘first author’ publication come out of the work I did during laboratory rotations, which is typically when you are only exploring what area you want to dedicate yourself to.”

Horvath also met her now husband at Dartmouth while he was in the MD/PhD program. “We consciously decided to start our family early, in part because it was important to me to be able to take time off after having a child and I was concerned about my ability to do that if I waited until after I really launched my career.”

After defending her thesis, she celebrated the birth of her first child, Avery. “I was able to take several months off and really focus on being a mom, which I loved. After my time off, I immediately started a post doc and we were incredibly lucky that my mom would travel from Boston to our home in Vermont and take care of Avery several days a week while we worked. This support was only amplified once we returned to Boston, and I’m certain we couldn’t make this all work without her.”

 

INROADS TO OPPORTUNITY

Horvath began her career in biopharma as a project toxicologist at Sanofi-Genzyme. In 2014 she moved to Novartis “to lead the preclinical safety evaluation of biotherapeutics across various therapeutics areas, modalities and all stages of development. This included the design and execution of regulatory safety studies and interactions with global health authorities, such as the FDA.”

Timothy MacLachlan, executive director at Novartis, who previously worked with Horvath at Genzyme when she was a student at Regis, had recruited her to his team at Novartis. “I began to lead a group in biologics toxicology, and I knew from working with Courtney at Genzyme—and knowing the work that she did in graduate school and then at Sanofi— that she was absolutely one of the best experts in biologics,” he recalls. “Beyond that, she works exceptionally hard, and the culture and personality she brings is exactly what I wanted in my group.”

After being promoted to a global leadership role in the Novartis Preclinical Safety (PCS) organization in 2016, a role that expanded that global role to all of Translational Medicine at Novartis, she became global head of strategy, operations and planning for Translational Medicine three years later. Her responsibilities range from driving forward-looking strategy to providing leadership and direction on all resource management, communications, and outsourcing.

“My advice for women looking to go into the science field is to be bold, be courageous, and trust your instincts,” Horvath says. “Your career doesn’t have to go in a straight line; you can take little winding roads off of that and ultimately take risks and end up in a really amazing opportunity.”

Horvath’s confidence doesn’t surprise her mother, Kathy Kozul. “At a very young age Courtney showed us that she was very determined, very self-sufficient, and there wasn’t anything she couldn’t accomplish. At the point she decided to leave ballet, she came to us and said, ‘I’ve loved my dance career but it’s just not enough for me anymore. I want to go back to school and see what the world has to offer.’ And that’s when she entered Regis.”

But her daughter remains humble. “It feels amazing to be considered a successful woman in STEM, but on a day-to-day, I don’t really consider myself that. I am just trying to do my best to have an impact on the world and be a great mom to my kids.” 

 

 

REGIS AND NOVARTIS PARTNERSHIP

Courtney Horvath ’06, PhD, DABT, helped initiate a partnership between Regis College and Novartis that began in January 2022 with a cohort of seven students enrolling in a two-year clinical research academy that includes hands-on learning with Novartis’ clinical research operations— including many functions that support studies ranging from neuroscience to cardiovascular disease to liver disease— as well as courses at Regis that will culminate in the fellows receiving a certificate in clinical research management.

“I suggested Regis College as a potential partner for this exciting program due to the alignment with Regis’ focus in the health sciences and the amazing diversity of the student population,” says Horvath.

The current cohort is a diverse pool of students, including career launchers as well as career changers—and all of them have little or no experience in the field.

“We are excited to have this unique partnership with a major biomedical company,” says Regis Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost Mary Erina Driscoll, PhD. “Through development of this program we recognized the highly structured work Novartis is doing can be used as active clinical credits in our courses.”

Novartis’ Senior Study Operations Manager Kristin Belmore, MS ’12, MBA, is a liaison for the Novartis and Regis partnership and brings a unique perspective as a Regis alumna of the clinical research and regulatory affairs master’s program—the same degree the current cohort is working toward as part of the academy.

“When I enrolled in the Regis program, I wasn’t coming from an undergraduate background in science,” says Belmore. “Once I got the master’s degree and certificate, that really opened doors for me. The students participating in this academy can end up with both of those elements on their resumes, and it will give them a great competitive advantage as they break into industry.”

Belmore also says the plan is to expand the Regis and Novartis partnership, and for now that includes a second cohort of students who will begin the program in September 2023.

“I see the students really connecting the dots between what they’re learning at Regis and how they can apply that to the trials they are working on here at Novartis,” says Belmore. “And it allows them to make connections with new individuals in the company as they search for answers, which serves as an advantageous networking opportunity for the students as well.”

#COLBYSTRONG

Horvath’s best is proving successful as she advocates for childhood cancer and patients like Colby. In 2021, she had the chance to share Colby’s story in front of Novartis’ CEO. “I immediately said yes, thinking I could not give up the opportunity for the largest research engine in the world to hear the realities of childhood cancer. Ultimately, the story took hold of our organization in ways I could not have imagined. Colby had the chance to come back and spend time with the president of our research organization and Novartis helped me navigate ways to share this in a more public way.”

In March 2022 Horvath shared a candid and inspirational reflection on navigating the pediatric oncology journey during her TEDx Talk “Surviving the Cure.” The positive response to their advocacy work, she says, inspired the #ColbyStrong research grant with The Pablove Foundation to help fight childhood cancer. “It’s almost hard to believe I have this amazing platform to advocate for better and safer treatments for all kids with cancer.”

The work ties back to the early part of Colby’s cancer journey. It wasn’t long after he was diagnosed, Horvath says, that she realized “how privileged” her family was.

“I know, this seems crazy to say, but Colby’s prognosis was positive (even though he had to suffer through nearly 800 days of chemo) and we were in a position where we didn’t have to worry about our jobs— Novartis gave me incredible flexibility—the cost of his care, how we would pay for the parking,” Horvath recalls. “As we started to meet other families, we gained a lot of perspective: Kids with much more challenging cancers to treat, parents who had to leave their jobs to care for their child, families who struggled to meet basic needs.”

The realization motivated them to start fundraising initiatives that would support families at the pediatric oncology clinic at Mass General Hospital for Children, including a toy drive: Operation Colby Claus.

 

FUTURE REIMAGINED

When asked how Colby is doing, Horvath smiles. “It’s been amazing to watch him. He’s 11 now and he has grown so much. If there was ever a time for this to happen, he was sort of in that sweet spot where he was old enough to vocalize what was going on in his body and he learned to advocate for himself. But he also wasn’t quite old enough to understand the gravity of the situation, so he very much took it all in stride.”

Colby finished treatment in 2022 after nearly 800 days, over 50 infusions of chemotherapy, and over 4,000 pills. In September 2022, he and his mom headed to Washington, D.C., to speak at CureFest for Childhood Cancer.

“I’m Colby, and when my parents first told me that I was diagnosed with cancer, it was hard to imagine that it would take so many years for me to get better—and it was even more difficult to learn that doctors would have to make me sicker than I already was, to make me better,” Colby said to a crowd at Freedom Plaza, mom standing by his side. “No one can change what I’ve been through, and many of us have, but we all can change the future for kids with cancer.”

 

Let It Shine Gala

Horvath with her family at the Let It Shine Gala 2022.Regis College held its Let It Shine Gala on October 27, 2022, raising more than $600,000 for scholarships that will help provide greater access to higher education for students, many of whom are first-generation.

The Shining Example Award was presented to Courtney Horvath ’06, PhD, DABT, for her contributions to science and her tireless advocacy of childhood cancer research. (Pictured left with her family at the gala.) Watch the video in honor of Courtney Horvath '06.

“My time at Regis was so formative in who I have become as a scientist, leader, and advocate,” said Horvath. “The faculty at Regis saw potential in me that I never saw in myself and gave me the foundation and confidence to pursue my PhD and, ultimately, a successful career in research.”

“When Regis students graduate, they go out and change the world for the better,” said President Antoinette M. Hays, PhD, RN, at the gala. “An investment in Regis means we have the opportunity to educate all the future Courtneys who will change the world."