P R I S C I L L A . K E H O E

The following feature story appeared in the campus publication MOSAIC in November, 1995.

Priscilla Kehoe

The power of observation

Why do infants cry and what makes them stop? How is a fetus affected by prenatal drugs? What happens developmentally if an animal is stressed early on in its life, and how does that affect future behavior? Professor Priscilla Kehoe will never run out of questions. A former intensive-care nurse and a self-described workaholic, Kehoe is director of Trinity's Neuroscience Program. Widely published, active in psychobiology and neuroscince professional organizations, Kehoe has received a number of major grants to support her work. In the classroom and in the lab, she combines an intensely inquisitive mind with personal warmth and energy.

As a nurse in the 1970s, she became very interested in why certain drugs had certain effects but found that no one had any satisfactory answers. "I drive people crazy with my questions," she says, "particularly my husband." With characteristic determination, the mother of two children decided to go back to school and discover the answers herself. Although she briefly considered medical school, she realized that research and teaching were the best way "to use my creative powers."

When she joined Trinity's Psychology Department in 1985, her graduate and postgraduate work at Johns Hopkins University prepared her to design and equip Trinity's psychobiology lab, for which she received a grant from the National Science Foundation. At Trinity, Kehoe found there were already students interested in her interdisciplinary field, some of whom were constructing independent majors. In 1989, she worked with colleagues in psychology, biology, chemistry, engineering, and philosophy to develop the Neuroscience Program as a formal major. Now, only a handful of years later, many students choose Trinity because they've heard of the program, and last year there were 19 majors. Philosophy professor Dan Lloyd, who was acting director of the Neuroscience Program during some of the early years, credits Kehoe with much of the success of the program. "No other liberal arts college has such a sophisticated and developed neuroscience program," he says. "Not even close. And it wouldn't have happened without her."

In Kehoe's psychobiology lab, students are urged to grapple with the issue of animals' rights. Kehoe herself engages in "frequent soul-searching" about the issue. In her lab, pain and suffering are limited as much as possible, and the clinical usefulness of a study must be very compelling.

In one study, newborn rats are separated from their mother for an hour every day for a week. Later they are observed as they respond to a drug or environmental stressor. When "challenged" in this way, these animals behave differently from the control group. But what Kehoe really wants to know is whether their "exaggerated response" is a good or a bad thing. Is it a sign of deviance or perhaps a way of coping that will help the animal in some other situation? And how will animals from this paradigm fare on learning and memory tests or on problem-solving tasks?

Kehoe's students also do in vivo microdialysis. This involves anesthetizing the rat and surgically placing a probe in its brain. Later, the probe enables researchers to take samples of the neurochemicals that the brain is producing while the animal is walking around and responding to stimuli. Through a process of liquid chromatography, the solution is analyzed, enabling researchers to link neurochemical response-the production of dopamine, for example-with behavior.

In other studies, the animals are analyzed in the physics lab for electrophysiology studies. One of Kehoe's students is collaborating with a Canadian scientist to analyze rats' vocalizations using a spectrograph. These types of research opportunities provide Trinity's undergraduates with unprecedented technical experience as well as theoretical knowledge. Many of the dozens of papers Kehoe has presented and published list Trinity undergraduates as co-authors and collaborators. Kehoe says this experience is why Trinity's neuroscience majors have little difficulty landing excellent jobs with drug companies or on significant research projects, or gaining acceptance into top-notch graduate and medical schools.

One explanation for graduates' successes may be simply the power of the example Kehoe sets. Laura Triano '97, a junior who has taken courses with Kehoe and worked for her in the lab both during the school year and in the summer, says, "For me she reinforced the idea that hard work really does pay off." Triano says that another quality that makes Kehoe a great teacher is that she listens and helps students hone in on what really interests them. In this way, says Triano, "she helps you to help yourself."

As a head nurse, Kehoe would call student nurses over to a patient and have them observe him or her for ten minutes. "What do you see?" she would prompt them, making them notice every behavioral and physiological aspect to teach the skills of observation. She points out that this kind of teaching is not a whole lot different from what she does with her students today, and it is crucial to good research.

Professor Dina Anselmi, a friend and colleague in the psychology department, says that among Kehoe's strengths are her 110-percent commitment to her students and a sense of humor that complements her drive to learn. Most important, says Anselmi, is that "she has an intellectual curiosity that gets transmitted to her students."

Says Kehoe, "The best way to learn is to teach. Really good students make you work hard."

- Mosaic Staff

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