Katie Coleman, a software engineer, joins the show to share her inspiring story of being diagnosed with a rare stage 4 kidney cancer at the end of 2020 and her journey through survivorship to the present day. Katie highlights the anxiety and guilt she experienced when moving through urgent care and the ER during the height of the pandemic, the struggles of not having family allowed in the room during her visits with oncologists or visits at home, the occurrences that led to eventual surgical removal, and what led to the decision to share her story on social media. Katie also built herself an app to keep track of her own medical records and made a career change to further build software to help other patients. You won’t want to miss this truly inspiring, incredible story.
Dr. Simrit Parmar, founder of Cellenkos, joins the show to discuss her journey from the lab to the biotech startup world, detailing the inspiration behind launching her company, the challenges of securing funding, and the resilience required to overcome rejections. She shares insights into Cellenkos’ lead product, its progress toward market approval, and the rigorous
Carol Rausch—a healthcare professional, cancer researcher, and former patient with lymphoma—shares how her journey from researcher to patient transformed her understanding of medical language. She discusses the impact of word choice on patients, why certain battle and war metaphors can be harmful, and how language used in clinical settings differs from what resonates with those
Drs. David Braun and Toni Choueiri join to discuss a groundbreaking Nature study on a personalized neoantigen vaccine for adjuvant renal cell carcinoma. They explore the inspiration behind the trial, how the vaccine was developed and administered, and its safety profile. The conversation also covers patient outcomes after 3-4 years, including immune responses and disease
