Serving as event facilitator, Manish Suneja, MD, Internal Medicine Residency Program Director and Vice Chair for Education, guided participants through a program highlighting the landmark discoveries and collaborative spirit that have defined Welsh’s career. Following opening remarks, attendees viewed the documentary Breath by Breath: Living with Cystic Fibrosis. The UI Health Care-produced documentary traces Welsh’s path from foundational discoveries in ion channel biology to innovations that have revolutionized the care and long-term outcomes of people with cystic fibrosis.
After the documentary, 2025-2026 Chief Resident Mackenzie Walhof, MD, took the podium to reflect on what Welsh’s leadership means to today’s residents.
“Knowing that you completed your Internal Medicine residency here makes this moment especially meaningful for all of us,” Walhof said. “You trained in the same hallways and stood where we stand now. Yet you went on to redefine the entire field. Your work has transformed a poorly understood disease into one with clear therapeutic targets. Beyond your discoveries, what inspires us most is the example you set: humility in your success, relentless curiosity in your work, and your willingness to mentor trainees and colleagues.”
“This was a dream-come-true project for me,” Baldursson said. “Eighteen years later, I’m standing in my small cystic fibrosis clinic in Reykjavik, actually feeling this impact. My patients are saying, ‘Thank you, I have a new life now.’ And all our patients who have received the CFTR modulators are echoing this sentence. Mike, they are all sending their deepest thanks to you.”
The celebration concluded with a Q&A session, giving residents the opportunity to hear Welsh reflect on the moments that shaped his career at the bedside and in the lab.
He urged residents not to fear asking questions, recalling how he pushed himself to overcome this insecurity. “If you start thinking, ‘What does this mean? How can we go further?’—that’s curiosity,” he said. “And it will take you far.”
He also stressed the importance of allowing trainees to develop their own scientific endeavors. “Let people chase the problems they want to work on,” Welsh said. “They’ll work the hardest, read the most, think the most. And the mentor gets to go along for the ride.”
The final question of the session focused on his remarkable mentorship record and the culture he fostered at UI Health Care. Welsh offered no “magic recipe,” but pointed to a few guiding principles: give everyone permission to question, welcome being proven wrong, and share both the struggle and joy of discovery.