surgeons do the surgery, and then we understand they can be both an active
How is transplant medicine
different than other subspecialties? it is hard. It means you don’t have
In transplant medicine, you can’t older. I’m enjoying my empty nest
take care of you for the rest of your life.”
isolate yourself to just a single
system. You have to take a holistic
approach and incorporate infectious
disease,
general
medicine,
dermatology — you have to do
everything. It’s a broad approach,
yet it’s incredibly specialized at the
mother and a full-time physician, but
much of a personal life until you get
now, except that I just filled it all with
work. My husban d and I are trying to
figure out how to get that balance
back. The only time I really relax is
when we go to the beach in Mexico
about four times a year.
do store-bought.
Now that they’re young adults, I’ve
asked them if they feel like they were
shortchanged. And they said no.
They said they were really proud of
me. That was nice to hear. I get more
validation from my kids than I do
from society.
What excites you about this trial
you’re leading?
I’ve been fighting to list hepatitis C
same time. It’s the perfect blend of Do you specifically seek out other
women to hire? patients as donors for over a year. I
care. You find the best person for the job. Of the nine [people on my team], for the American Transplant
What advice do you have for other
women in your field? three of them are women. I actually Be prepared to always feel guilty. have a sort of United Nations going. Out of nine of us there are probably
academic challenge and patient
You are always going to feel like
you’re not measuring up or doing
enough. You’re going to feel guilty at
seven different countries, ethnicities
and religions represented.
work about not getting things done Tell readers a little bit about your
family.
you’re home, you’re going to feel 21, 23, 29 and 33. I couldn’t do carpool
paperwork. Once you can accept three soccer teams and two hockey
at home and for your kids. When
guilty that you’re behind in your
that that’s the norm, then the big
weight is off your shoulders.
It’s impor tant that women
I have five kids, and they’re ages 19,
or be a room mom, but I managed
teams. I ran Boy Scouts and Girl
Scouts. I was home at 11 o’clock
making cookies because we couldn’t
was part of the national work group
Congress — and I represented
cardiology, heart transplants — by
stating that we should use these
donors. We should obviously do it in
a thoughtful, scientific way, but we
should use these donors.
The challenge here is that the
hepatitis C drugs are only approved
for chronic hepatitis. The drug isn’t
indicated for transplant recipients.
And, therefore, insurance often will
not cover it. We have the drugs
donated by the company that makes
them, but we’re still trying to raise
funds for the cost of running the trial.
Dr. Shelley Hall with the
cardiac tranplant team
17