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Catherine H. Poholek, MD, PhD

  • Instructor of Pediatrics

Catherine Poholek, MD, PhD is currently an Instructor of Pediatrics in the Division of Rheumatology and an early career physician scientist. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame, and received a Master of Science degree in Teaching at Pace University. Poholek went on to earn her MD and PhD in Immunology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she studied the role of interleukin-21 in intestinal health and disease. 

Poholek completed her Pediatrics Residency at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh as part of the Pediatric Scientist Development Program and remained at CHP to complete a fellowship in Pediatric Rheumatology. During her fellowship she was awarded a position on the University of Pittsburgh’s Autoimmunity and Immunopathology T32 training grant to perform research under the mentorship of Mandy McGeachy, PhD. Her research culminated in a publication in the Journal of Experimental Medicine showing that the transcription factor STAT3 alters immunometabolism and antigen response of Th17 cells during autoimmunity. She went on to investigate the role of IL-17 signaling on lymph node stromal cells during the immune response in intestinal inflammation. 

Poholek is the proud recipient of a position on the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Scholars/NIH K12 grant, which supports her current research under the mentorship of Alison Kohan, PhD. Ongoing research interests focus on investigating the underlying etiologies of pediatric autoimmune disease to improve treatment options. Poholek’s current work centers on the role of lipid metabolism and a cholesterol-binding protein called apolipoprotein E in lymph node stromal cells during the immune response. 

Professional and Scientific Society Memberships

The Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA)

The American College of Rheumatology (ACR)

The American Association of Immunologists (AAI)

The American Heart Association Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology (ATVB)

Education & Training

  • BS, Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, 2005
  • MS, Teaching, Pace University, 2007
  • PhD, Immunology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2014
  • MD, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2016
  • Residency in Pediatrics, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, 2016-2019
  • Fellowship in Pediatric Rheumatology, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, 2019-2022

Selected Publications

 

Stoll ML, Amin D, Powell KK, Poholek CH, Strait RH, Aban I, Beukelman T, Young D, Cron RQ, Waite PD. Risk factors for intraarticular heterotopic bone formation in the temporomandibular joint in juvenile idiopathic arthritis.  J Rheumatol. 2018 Aug;45(9):1301-1307. PubMed PMID: 29764966. 


Poholek CH, Dulson SJ, Zajac AJ, Harrington LE. IL-21 Controls ILC3 Cytokine Production and Promotes a Protective Phenotype in a Mouse Model of Colitis. Immunohorizons. 2019 June 1;3(6):194-202. PubMed PMID: 31356165. 


Mir GH, Raphael I, Revu S, Poholek CH, Avery L, Hawse WF, Kane LP, McGeachy MJ. The Alzheimer’s disease-associated protein BACE1 modulates T cell activation and Th17 function. J Immunol. 2019 Aug 1;203(3):665-675. PMID: 31209103 


Poholek CH, Raphael I, Wu D, Revu SK, Rittenhouse N, Uche U, Majumder S, Kane LP, Poholek AC, McGeachy MJ. Non-canonical STAT3 activity sustains pathogenic Th17 proliferation and cytokine response to antigen. J Exp Med. 2020 July 22;217(10): e20191761. PMID: 32697822. 

  • Article featured in JEM Cytokines Collection 2020, October 2020 
  • Article featured in news article “UPMC Researchers Publish Work on How STAT3 Maintains the Th17 Effector Phenotype” on upmcphysicianresources.com (August 5, 2020). 

Wu D, Poholek CH, Majumder S, Liu Q, Revu SK, Mohib K, Rothstein DM, McGeachy MJ. IL-17-dependent fibroblastic reticular cell training boosts tissue protective mucosal immunity through IL-10-producing B cells. Sci Immunol. 2021 Dec 17;6(66):eaao3669. doi: 10.1126/sciimmunol.aao3669. Epub 2021 Dec 17. PMID: 34919443; PMCID: PMC8818277.

BOOK CHAPTER

Daniel Glaser, Catherine H. Poholek, Elaine Cassidy. “Rheumatology.” Zitelli and Davis' Atlas of Pediatric Physical Diagnosis (8thEdition), edited by Basil Zitelli, et al., Elsevier, 2021, pp. 237-275. 

Full Publication List via NIH PubMed »

Research Grants

Current: 

K12 HD052892-14, NICHD: Dermody, Terence S (PI)                                                         07/01/22 - present 

Molecular Basis of Pediatric Disease 

Role: Trainee 

 

Completed: 

TL1 TR000167-05, NCATS: Kimberly, Robert P. (PI)                                                           07/01/12 – 06/30/13 

UAB Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) T32 (TL1) 

Role: Trainee 

T32 5T32AI089443-10, NIH/NIAID:  Shlomchik (PI)                                                             07/01/20 – 06/30/22 

Autoimmunity and Immunopathology Training Program 

Role: Trainee