Johanna Calderon: From Harvard University to UM

At 37, Johanna Calderon boasts an impeccable academic record: a PhD completed in three years, two postdoctoral fellowships, and aProfessor the prestigious Harvard University. All of this is punctuated by several awards (including the L’Oréal-UNESCO Award and the prestigious Medicine Prize from the Chancellery of the Universities of Paris) and a list of publications that spans three pages of her CV. Her latest achievement: the young researcher has just been awarded a Chair of Excellence at the University of Montpellier, effective January 2021.

The starting point for this transatlantic career is Johanna Calderon’s curiosity about children’s cognitive abilities. Her PhD in pediatric neuropsychology at Necker Hospital focuses on the effects of open-heart surgery on the development of young children. She sought to identify the effects of reduced oxygenation of the brain—caused by heart conditions and surgical procedures—on neurocognitive development. She conducted this research first on cohorts of 3-year-olds, then on 8-year-olds.

A public health issue

Johanna Calderon laid the groundwork for this field during her thesis and postdoctoral research in public health at Inserm. “My work helped describe the neurological development profile of children born with heart defects. “I identified a list of very specific disorders that were rarely detected because the children generally have normal intelligence,” explains the researcher. In particular, she provides evidence of autism spectrum disorders, as well as other behavioral and attention disorders.

Straddling two disciplines—neurology and psychology—her work combines assessments of children’s neurological development with standardized psychological tests. A primarily quantitative Anglo-Saxon neurodevelopmental approach. Her specialty in congenital heart disease is at the forefront in the United States. Building on her initial research findings, she crossed the Atlantic in 2015. First, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital, followed by a position in neuropsychology and psychiatry at Harvard University.

“Rejoining the French research community”

While his work contributes to basic research, he is particularly committed to translating scientific knowledge into clinical practice to improve screening, diagnosis, and patient care. This final goal is the culmination of his work: improving patients’ quality of life, now that their survival is largely assured. This is a global public health issue, given that 1% of children are born with heart conditions.

Johanna Calderon will now continue her research in France, as she has been awardedan “attractiveness chair” funded by the MUSE project, which covers the costs of her position as well as that of a postdoctoral researcher. Two scientists who will be assisted by a laboratory technician thanks to support from the Montpellier University Hospital, and who will thus help develop “the neuro-cardiac research track from a life-span perspective, from the fetus to the adult, which is a pioneering initiative in our country,” she notes.

And Montpellier is the perfect hub. Projects are already underway with two teams based in Montpellier: that of Alain Lacampagne, deputy directorand future director of the PhyMedExplaboratory (UM, Inserm, CNRS, Montpellier University Hospital), and that of Pascal Amedro, head of the pediatrics department at the Montpellier University Hospital. Regarding her return, the young woman also makes no secret of her delight at being reunited with her family. She adds that the city in Languedoc is a place where she can easily imagine living.

Speaking about the program that has enabled her to return to France, Johanna Calderon praises it as “an attractive opportunity to re-enter the French research community.” While the American system provides access to substantial resources, securing funding requires a great deal of effort, with no guarantee that research projects will continue. She concludes: “The prospect of a future tenured position at a French research institution allows me to plan my research for the long term, throughout the patients’ lifetimes.”

Johanna Calderon, Ph.D.

Doctor of Psychology 

Major awards, honors, and grants: 

• 2019–2021 – OFD Faculty Career Development Grant (Principal Investigator)
• 2016–2019 – United States Department of Defense Grant (co-principal investigator)
• 2016–2019 – Thrasher Research Fund Early Career Grant in Children’s Health and Development
• 2016 – International Neuropsychological Society (INS) Research Award
• 2015 – Christian Nezelof Award – IMAGINE in Pediatrics
• 2014 – L’Oréal-UNESCO Postdoctoral Fellowship for Women in Science
• 2014 – Thesis Award from the Chancellery of the Universities of Paris, Aguirre Basualdo/Robin Prize in Medicine
• 2010 – ARCFA Research Award in Pediatric Cardiology (€18,000)