How Can Sickle Cell Disease Education Improve Health Outcomes?
More Programs and Publications Featuring Dr. Alexander Glaros
In this program:
Sickle cell disease expert Dr. Alexander Glaros from Children’s Hospital of Michigan shares about his journey and motivation from majoring in English literature and creative writing to becoming a physician helping people with sickle cell disease in this Heart Behind the White Coat (HBWC) program. Watch as he explains why sickle cell disease education and research are so important to achieve health equity for underserved patients.
Read Transcript
Interviewer:
Thank you so much for being our first Heart Behind the White Coat feature. When did you know that you wanted to practice medicine? Tell me about your academic journey.
Dr. Alexander Glaros:
Sure, so I was a little bit different than a lot of people. You hear about a lot of doctors who, they knew from a very young age, they had an experience in the hospital, they broke their arm, or they were sick and they kind of just sort of gravitated towards medicine right from the start, I took kind of a meandering path, actually, in college, I actually majored in English Literature and Creative Writing, and I had a focus in political science and I actually – I just kind of did the pre-requisites along the way, because I knew maybe there was a chance, I'd want to do medicine, and kind of the overarching theme was that I wanted to sort of make a difference and have as much impact as I could in the world. Whether that was via journalism or some kind of public health policy work or what have you, but eventually, I kind of came to the conclusion that I could do – if I were to do medicine, I could make a big impact for individuals, and then I could in a more global aspect, kind of focus on those public health issues and do a little writing kind of just to get people to think about, you know, perspectives that are different from their own, and think about my patients and the patients I take care of. So that's kind of how I got to where I am.
Interviewer:
Wow, that's very interesting. My mom has had the biggest impact on my life so far. Who has had the biggest impact on your career?
Dr. Alexander Glaros:
I guess it would be – I’d have to say a couple of people because if I don't say, my mom and my dad like you said, I would feel bad and I would probably get in trouble, and they obviously pushed me to get to where I am. My wife also pushed me to stretch myself a little bit and trying to fulfill my full potential by becoming a doctor, my wife was my girlfriend in college, and she I didn't mention, but she's one of the ones that I said, I think you have the most impact as a physician, but then once I got to where I am in my fellowship learning to be a hematologist, I had a specific mentor, Dr. Zaidi, he's very active on Twitter @drzsicklecell. I actually just came across an email he sent me three years ago, and I was doing a research project with him looking at sickle cell and pain, and I sent him a protocol to do the research project, and he sent me back an email and he said, I have big plans for you.
He kind of sort of driven me ever since then to get involved with sickle cell and learn more about it, and so I don't think I would be doing sickle cell without him, and I don't think I would be doing medicine without my parents or my wife, so those are kind of the big people for me.
Interviewer:
Why do you have such a strong interest in sickle cell disease?
Dr. Alexander Glaros:
I always wanted to, ever since I was young, leave the world a little bit better than I was when I entered it, and part of that, I think, is going where the challenges are greatest and where the need is greatest than I think for sickle cell, unfortunately, it's been a neglected disease for a long, long time, really dating back to when it was first described in the early 1900s, but we went almost 100 years without even having a medication that specifically targeted sickle cell.
Interviewer:
What's your motivation to continue the work you do?
Dr. Alexander Glaros:
I've met a lot of patients since I've started in the field of hematology, and I've heard a lot of stories about just the way they struggle with sickle cell disease because either their teachers don't understand it, they have pain, they have sometimes problems learning things quickly because you know, there can be an effect on the brain due to sickle cell disease, and I think always – my motivation is to boost those people up because I know that having met them, they have great potential and they can really go far in life, it's just they need a little boost in the right direction, they need a little support and really they need a little advocacy so that's sort of my motivation is I don't think anyone should be left behind just because they're misunderstood.
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