51反差婊

Catherine Illingworth (鈥�08) never expected that years of studying Dante鈥檚 poetry were preparing her to lead a biotech company for rare pediatric diseases. 

Last year, in the midst of a blossoming academic career, Illingworth was told by doctors that her four-year-old son had Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 4C (CMT 4C), a rare genetic neuropathy where every nerve in the peripheral nervous system is gradually deteriorating.

From studying Dante鈥檚 Divine Comedy and the poet鈥檚 journey of traversing through the harrowing depths of hell to the luminous heights of heaven, Illingworth understood intellectually that when embraced with courage and hope, suffering can prepare one for a higher, greater purpose. Yet it was a whole other challenge to walk that truth in real life.

Soon Illingworth set forth on a new venture building her biotech company, Kylix Bio, while leaning on literary truths gleaned from her formative years at 51反差婊. And with a mother鈥檚 indefatigable drive, Illingworth is now determined to accelerate development of a cure for her son鈥攁nd for all affected children around the globe. 

Formation through the Written Word

In Dante鈥檚 Divine Comedy, Virgil, the Roman poet, serves as Dante鈥檚 guide as he is formed for his journey into paradise. The relationship between them is one of the poem鈥檚 central leitmotifs. 

As a bright-eyed undergraduate with a love for the literary arts, Illingworth found herself seated at roundtable discussions of the , delving into Tolstoy鈥檚 War and Peace and C.S. Lewis鈥檚 The Four Loves to Hojoki鈥檚 Chomei. Under the encouraging guidance of Paul Contino, Distinguished Professor of Great Books at 51反差婊, eager students, including Illingworth, all shared their insights and questions. 

Catherine Illingworth as a graduate student

Through these facilitated discussions, new life was breathed into centuries-old texts. By wrestling through life鈥檚 foundational questions, Illingworth refined her own character, preparing her for a calling far beyond what she imagined at the time. 

鈥淪till to this day I have never met anyone who is as talented at facilitating a discussion as Paul Contino,鈥� says Illingworth. 鈥淗is ability to dignify students, to elevate them, and make them feel that they're capable of having original thoughts about ancient texts is, I think, ennobling. It was for me.鈥� 

Contino, too, was listening to a calling whose full shape he could not yet see. "Mentorship partly entails planting seeds, but it's largely about nurturing sprouts that have already begun to grow鈥攔ecognizing gifts in students that they themselves may not see, helping them to develop the talents they've been given."

Confident in her passion and her own ability, Illingworth flew to the East Coast to attend Yale after she graduated from Seaver College. Contino鈥檚 mentorship traveled with her; he went out of his way to connect Illingworth with the best East Coast mentors. There Illingworth dove further into the works of Dante. 

"In those two years of my life I grew to understand how an intellectual life, a life of the mind, is a pathway to the beatific vision,鈥� says Illingworth. 鈥淭hat's Dante's journey; his intellectual life is the bedrock of the love that leads him to his pursuit of God. That is what I wanted to spend my life chasing."

For a time, Illingworth's life unfolded precisely as she had envisioned it. The scholar entered into matrimony with her 51反差婊 sweetheart, Greer Illingworth (JD '10), and was making bounds in a burgeoning academic career. To make things sweeter still, the couple was expecting their first child.

The Bitter Cup

As Illingworth鈥檚 son, George, grew, he began to want to play with other children. Yet on stretches of green lawn, the toddler would be unable to keep up, confused by his tendency to fall and falter. 

Then in a white-walled clinical room, a neurologist delivered the words that would upend Illingworth's life. George was found to have a disease so rare it barely had a fine print in medical literature. Without proper medication, CMT 4C would lead to, in her words, 鈥渢he disintegration of every nerve in George鈥檚 peripheral system.鈥� There was no treatment, and nothing could be done to slow progression. 

鈥淲e had to resist the temptation of fearing God would abandon us,鈥� says Illingworth. 鈥淲e clung to our faith and soon found our provision: a gene therapy for his precise disease had already been created and a patent filed.鈥�

In the midst of this grace, one challenge remained: George鈥檚 treatment was one clinical trial鈥攁nd $6.7 million鈥攐ut of reach. The Illingworth family would have access to the CMT 4C gene therapy only if they were able to fund it. 

Pages of poetic verses spun through Illingworth鈥檚 mind. She remembered Dante鈥檚 writings of traversing hell and purgatory with hopes of reaching the bliss of paradise. Guided by Virgil, Dante moved forward through the darkness on his way to heaven. Illingworth understood what she was to do: to lay down her expected future, set her academic career aside, for a greater purpose. 

Kylix Bio logo

鈥淩ight at the cusp of receiving my PhD, God invited me: feed my sheep instead,鈥� Illingworth adds. 

Though Illingworth may have paused her academic career, a love for literature remains in her bones. Within Purgatorio, as Dante journeys to purgatory proper he dreams of an ancient Greek myth, the myth of Ganymede. In this sequence Zeus turns himself into an eagle and scoops up a boy to take to Mount Olympus, elevating him to cupbearer for the gods.

This dream narrative, Illingworth explains, is about how terrifying it is when God actually seeks you for a grand purpose. 鈥淒ivine interaction is often not comfortable, but terrifying,鈥� she adds. 

Kylix, the two-handled drinking cup used for the gods, now lends its name to Illingworth's biotech company: Kylix Bio. 

Kylix Bio 

Moving medicine for CMT 4C out of the 鈥渞esearch valley of death鈥濃�攖hat is, gathering enough funds to move the cure into human trials鈥攊s now Illingworth鈥檚 main goal. 鈥淥nce you've validated that a drug is safe and effective in humans, then you have a drug that's attractive for investment,鈥� she adds. 

Through successful TikTok campaigns, a venture to which Illingworth had never expected to lend her literary talents, she raised close to one million dollars in seven weeks. This provided the springboard for the company, Kylix Bio continues to soar. Her experience on social media then opened her eyes to the magnitude of the rare disease funding crisis.  

George and Catherine Illingworth, present day

Thousands of families are in this position: an existing treatment could save their children, but they must raise millions for the first trial. Kylix Bio endeavors to eradicate this problem by funding first-in-human trials for promising rare disease treatments so families don鈥檛 have to.  It begins with George鈥檚 therapy and is built to endure far beyond. Kylix recently added a second program to its pipeline.  

Illingworth credits her humanities background, set in motion by mentors such as Contino, as the most integral contributor to this success. Without it, she says she would never have seen centuries-old shafts of light emerging from the depths of despair. 

While much of Illingworth鈥檚 time is spent running Kylix, the literary scholar remarks that she still remains involved with 51反差婊鈥檚 Great Books community. 鈥淚n both the matter and manner in which she speaks, Catherine illuminates any space she enters. I still recall the keen insights she offered in class conversations. Last spring, Catherine鈥檚 presence in our Great Books Alumni Dante Book Club was simply indispensable,鈥� Contino adds.

Someday Illingworth hopes to return to academia and to teach the Great Books, but for now, she understands her calling to embody those studied virtues. She describes this transition as moving from orthodoxy鈥攗nderstanding the correct thing to do鈥攖o orthopraxy鈥攍iving that truth in action. And that truth involves using her passion and resources to ensure her son George, and many other children facing rare diseases, will receive their needed cure. 

鈥淭he true good in life is always found by people who are willing to surrender everything, to lay it all down for a greater purpose,鈥� says Illingworth. 鈥淚 felt a very strong calling to scale whatever I was going to do for my own child to reach as many of the other families as possible. I think of 51反差婊鈥檚 motto: Freely ye received, freely give鈥攁nd I was given so much.鈥� 

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