All of us face decisions in life that ultimately define our future. In Leonard Kohn’s 65 years, he has found himself at three such crossroads:

• Whether to switch his major to pre-med in 1959 when his Columbia College professors told him he wasn’t creative enough to be an architect.

• Whether to ask Miriam Bendor — an Israeli soldier he’d met on a bus while visiting her country as a student — to marry him.

• Whether to leave a prestigious 36-year research career at the National Institutes of Health this winter for a senior scientist position at Ohio University.

Kohn, happily married and an architect of the human body rather than buildings, predicts the outcome of his latest decision will be as immeasurably rewarding as his others. With Ohio University’s help, the veteran scientist plans to translate his years of research into drugs and technologies that could help millions of people suffering from autoimmune diseases such as lupus, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and Graves’ disease.

“This is a phenomenal opportunity for me to engage in converting basic science research into practical applications that can improve lives,” says Kohn, who this month begins a five-year position as a senior research scientist with Ohio University’s Edison Biotechnology Institute.

Kohn’s research delves into autoimmunity, or what happens when the human body’s immune system mistakenly recognizes its own proteins as foreign invaders and produces antibodies that attack healthy cells and tissues. About 50 million Americans — the majority of them women — suffer from some 80 autoimmune diseases, according to the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association.

Ohio University officials began courting Kohn for the research position more than a year ago. They were interested in his work in developing drugs to prevent the immune system from turning against itself as well as technologies that actually create autoimmune diseases to fight a specific virus or tumor in the body.

Although his special interest has been studying Graves’ disease, which affects the thyroid, his research can be applied to other autoimmune-related disorders. Kohn also is looking at developing diagnostic tools that will detect autoimmunity, as well as viruses such as AIDS and hepatitis, at an early stage.

In a unique move, Ohio University pooled funds from public and private sources to present Kohn a package he couldn’t refuse. His position is supported by a $900,000 grant from the state’s Technology Action Fund and a $1.97 million investment from the University, The Ohio University Foundation and private companies, including Diagnostic Hybrids Inc., an Athens biotechnology firm with which Kohn already had been working.

The money will support not only Kohn’s salary but space in Konneker Research Labs, equipment and an international research team of six post-doctoral fellows and a visiting scientist. Besides doing research, the medical doctor will teach and mentor graduate and undergraduate students and collaborate with the College of Osteopathic Medicine to conduct clinical trials based on his research.

“This is a pretty path-finding move for our institution,” says Vice President for Research John Bantle of efforts to attract Kohn. “By bringing him here, we expect to better compete for biotechnology grants and see more businesses come here as a result.”

The University will receive royalties from Kohn’s work as well as an elevated reputation that could attract more experienced researchers like him to campus, says David Wight, director of the Edison Biotechnology Institute. Kohn brings with him a for-profit company, Interthyr Corp., which will be based in the University’s Innovation Center and serve as a vehicle for commercializing his work.

“The institute is here to harness the innovation of faculty and use it to create economic development in the region and state,” Wight says. “Leonard Kohn’s addition will allow us to extend our efforts in technology innovation and commercialization — something at which Ohio University has been very successful.”

EBI, established in 1984 to focus on life sciences research, is one of the nation’s few university programs that includes technology commercialization as part of its mission. With 19 U.S. patents, the institute helps place Ohio University among the country’s top 10 universities in technology innovation.

Kohn joins a handful of other prominent research scientists at the institute working in gene therapy, traditional Chinese medicine, diabetes, growth hormone, obesity and other areas. Compared to the National Institutes of Health, a government agency of about 10,000 scientists, EBI is a close-knit family.

“The National Institutes of Health is immense, and you’re very spread out,” Kohn says. “It’s much more direct here, and I think that should be fun. I can look down the hall and theoretically barge into my colleague’s office and ask a question.”

That same intimate atmosphere carries over into the Athens community, a setting quite different from Bethesda, Md., where he lived for more than 30 years. But the change is welcome: Kohn grew up the son of a butcher in Easton, Pa., an industrial community of about 30,000 residents.

“It’s nice getting back to a small town,” he says. “Everything is exceeding my expectations and is more fulfilling than I had imagined.”

Melissa Rake is assistant editor of Ohio Today.