ASH Clinical News ACN_4.8_Final_digital | Page 21

UP FRONT
everything to me. … I’m so grate-
ful to be in this field.
Though I also joke that in my
next life I’m going to come back
as a yoga teacher because I rely
on it to manage my stress and to
take care of myself.
What accomplishment are
you most proud of?
My greatest accomplishment is
becoming what I dreamed of
since I was a little girl – particu-
larly because I’m not a person
who was “destined” for medicine
or comes from generations of
doctors.
I’m proud of how I accom-
plished my goal, too: I was a
gymnast when I was younger,
and instead of setting my sights
on becoming an Olympic athlete,
I used gymnastics as a stepping
stone to reach my career goals.
My family moved from Illinois to
Arizona so I could continue my
gymnastics training and I earned
a full scholarship to Utah State
University because of gymnastics.
Participating in gymnastics all
those years gave me many of the
tools that I needed to succeed in
medicine, particularly discipline.
Last year, I was named
“Woman of the Year” by the
Arizona chapter of the Leukemia
& Lymphoma Society (LLS) after
winning a 10-week fundraising
competition. Each candidate ran
a campaign to raise money for
blood cancer research, and the
person who raised the most won
and could allocate those funds to
a research portfolio of his or her
choice. Given my personal his-
tory with leukemia, I realized the
importance of that work. We had
a fantastic team, including many
of my colleagues at Mayo Clinic,
that raised $140,000 – a new re-
cord for the organization.
Unbeknownst to me, winning
also meant that an image of my
face was plastered on a huge
billboard over one of the largest
freeways in Arizona. Over the
next several months, I was bom-
barded with phone calls, emails,
and snapshots of the billboard!
LLS even made me a replica that
I keep in my office to commemo-
rate the experience.
Have you seen any big
changes in the field of
hematology since you
started your career?
Immunotherapy has infiltrated
all areas of oncology, particularly
in my specialty, where chimeric
antigen receptor T-cell therapy has
ASHClinicalNews.org
been very exciting. Looking at the
progress in hematology and oncol-
ogy research through the lens of
my own personal experiences, I
am also excited about the greater
awareness and focus on the lives
of patients. We want our patients
to live long, healthy lives, and it
seems like we are now focusing
on how to take care of them in the
long term. We’re elucidating the
value of patient-reported clinical
trials outcomes, finding ways to
improve quality of life, and ad-
dressing survivorship needs.
What do you do for fun
outside of work?
I am honored to serve on
the board of the Dear Jack
Foundation, which address the
shortfalls in treatment, support,
“There’s no better feeling
than laughing so hard
that your face hurts. That
doesn’t happen often
enough.”
FACTOR REPLACEMENT MIRRORS
THE PROTECTION WITHIN
For your patients with Hemophilia A,
Factor treatment has a long histor y of results. 1
It temporarily replaces what’s missing and is regulated
by the natural hemostatic process to form a proper clot. 2-5
Brought to you by Shire, dedicated to pursuing
advancements in hemophilia for more than 60 years.
Explore an established treatment option
in hemophilia
References: 1. Franchini M, Mannucci PM. The history of hemophilia. Semin Thromb Hemost. 2014;40:571-576. 2. Peyvandi F, Garagiola I, Young G. The past and future
of haemophilia: diagnosis, treatments, and its complications. Lancet. 2016;388:187-197. 3. Lenting PJ, van Mourik JA, Mertens K. The life cycle of coagulation factor VIII in
view of its structure and function. Blood. 1998;92(11):3983-3996. 4. Antovic A, Mikovic D, Elezovic I, Zabczyk M, Hutenby K, Antovic JP. Improvement of fibrin clot structure
after factor VIII injection in haemophilia A patients treated on demand. Thromb Haemost. 2013;111(4):656-661. 5. Hvas AM, Sørensen HT, Norengaard L, Christiansen K,
Ingerslev J, Sørensen B. Tranexamic acid combined with recombinant factor VIII increases clot resistance to accelerated fibrinolysis in severe hemophilia A. J Thromb Haemost.
2007;5:2408-2414.
©2017 Shire US Inc., Lexington, MA 02421.
All rights reserved. 1-800-828-2088.
SHIRE and the Shire Logo are registered trademarks of
Shire Pharmaceutical Holdings Ireland Limited or its affiliates.
S31962 05/17