UP FRONT
Abigail Adams , MD , for the mandatory annual physical required to participate in high school sports , when she spontaneously said , “ I love my job .” It was a defining moment for me , because I knew that I wanted to love my job – whatever I ended up doing . At that point , I had never heard an adult say , unprompted , “ I love what I do .”
During that visit , I realized I wanted to be in a place where I was enjoying the moment so much that I shared it with a random stranger . The bottom line is to be passionate about what you ’ re doing , and , if you don ’ t love what you ’ re doing , you have the ability to change that .
Why did you decide to specialize in hematology ? At the University of Massachusetts ( UMass ) in Worcester , where I went to medical school , all students had 2 years of focused curricular work learning about medicine . Early in the curriculum , I took a pathology course taught by Guido Majno , MD – one of the most inspirational and gifted teachers I ’ ve ever had .
Dr . Majno would magically relate the pathogenesis of disease to life events . He didn ’ t just teach pathology , he taught the art of inquiry and encouraged exploration and intrigue . He taught this by sharing the way he pursued inquiry with other colleagues throughout his career . Often this began with a letter he wrote ( or a conversation he had with someone ), and then developed into a relationship of scientific discovery that unfolded into figuring out how to treat the disease . It was fantastic .
My class had approximately 100 students , and four students decided to do an extra year of pathology training after taking his class . I was one of them .
Between my second and third year of medical school , I worked as a pathology resident ( sort of like a medical apprenticeship in Oslerian terms ), doing the grunt work in the pathology labs : accessioning tumors , doing autopsies , presenting pathology results at tumor board conferences , and working side-by-side with pathologists . Because of this focused time in the pathology department , I gained firsthand experience in diagnosing and witnessing the effects of inflammation , infection , and carcinogenesis . I was encouraged to inquire , pursue , and explore to better understand pathogenesis of disease – this was the kind of physician I wanted to be for my patients .
During that year , I had an elective rotation in hematopathology and worked with Bruce Woda , MD , who was chief of the Division of Anatomic Pathology and vice chair in the department of pathology at UMass . This was the launching point of my interest in hematology / oncology .
How do you think hematology or medicine has changed since you started your career ? The information infrastructure and how we collaborate with one another has changed immensely . I remember making photograph negatives to organize my slides in the projector wheels for formal talks . We had to plan ahead , since it was not possible to make last-minute changes in presentations . Technology has launched us to a fantastic place where we can now easily update and finesse talks and distribute them immediately . Our research community is well positioned to collaborate more efficiently , and we are more interconnected than ever before . I believe that these changes are already affecting what we can do long-term – that possibility can ’ t be underestimated .
In a typical day , what is your rose , and what is your thorn ? I ’ m grateful for so many things in my life , including my family and my husband and my kids . At work , the rose is being part of a team and feeling like we can make a difference at the end of the day . I believe that if you work at a place you love , with people you respect , and where you have a team mission , then everything ’ s worth it .
For many of us in medicine , we do what we do because we affect peoples ’ lives – whether it ’ s helping patients or teaching fellows and residents . Being able to help others is certainly the best part of my job .
The thorns are the systems we need to overcome to complete that mission . There are so many places we can get stuck – and some days
“ Our conversations at home are dominated by SpongeBob or Minecraft or Super Mario Brothers . I am fortunate that my husband and I can navigate those topics as well as we can discuss hedgehog inhibitors .” are more painful than others – but those are also opportunities for learning . Sometimes the best way to deal with obstacles is to reframe them and surge ahead .
What do you and your family do in the off hours – if you have any ? My motto tends to be “ work hard and play hard ”– that ’ s just life . I ’ m excited about my work and equally excited about my hobbies and the time that I spend away from work . My husband , Craig Peacock , PhD , is from Perth , Australia , which is literally on the opposite side of the globe from our current home in Cleveland . He is an immunologist . We have two sons : Lachlan ( 7 years old ), and Finnegan ( 6 years old ).
In my off-hours , you can find me joking around with my children and playing practical jokes on my husband . I am an expert at Super Mario on the Wii and can beat all three of them in a donut-eating contest any day .
My other hobbies include swimming ( or boogie-boarding ) and running and hiking when I can steal some time away .
I am also a big fan of women ’ s college basketball . My sister and I try to go to the NCAA Women ’ s Final Four basketball tournament every year and root for UConn , which we have been doing for over 15 years . That ’ s time we try to protect , and I can ’ t wait until my kids are old enough to join us .
Basketball became an even bigger part of our lives when we moved to Cleveland about 3 years ago . Last year , we were headed to a baseball game at Progressive Field and walking by the “ Q ” when one of my boys recognized a photo of LeBron James . He turned to me and asked , “ Well , when are you going to play with his team ?” I didn ’ t have the heart to tell him that would be impossible !
Of course , it was delightful to get that peek into a 6-year-old ’ s brain : It never occurred to him that a woman couldn ’ t play on the Cavaliers , or that his mom couldn ’ t play with LeBron James . To kids , anything is possible . It ’ s a great mentality to have , and I love when my kids remind me of that .
Do you try to keep a separation between work and home , and is that difficult ? My husband and I have somehow managed to create a balance . Home is a safe place and can be a sanctuary for relaxing and being with family as well as ( when needed ) an environment for burning the midnight oil . It helps to have a sense of humor since I am not always able to keep everything in separate worlds . I sometimes need to make phone calls from home to complete all the work for my day . I feel fortunate to have a husband who is supportive and can help me find the missing sock in the clothes dryer or send me the PubMed citation for a paper directing me as to which PDX model might be best for the next leukemia xenograft .
Honestly , we don ’ t shy away from discussing our work around the dinner table or on long car rides . Typically , though , most of our conversations at home are dominated by SpongeBob or Minecraft or Super Mario Brothers . I am fortunate that my husband and I can navigate those topics as well as we can discuss hedgehog inhibitors .
If you could have a superpower , what would it be and why ? Obviously , the first one I would choose is the ability to cure cancer . But , for a more impractical power , I ’ d love to be able to slam dunk . My sister is much taller than I am , and I ’ ve been jealous of that my whole life . ●
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