Dr. Linda Resar, is a Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine, where she
studies molecular mechanisms leading to cancer, blood diseases, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia and other coagulopathies.
How did you become interested in hematology versus other areas of medicine?
I first became interested in hematology during my pediatrics training at Hopkins as our institution serves a large community of children and young adults with sickle cell anemia and many other blood diseases. I found it rewarding to care for these patients who face many challenges and are in great need of excellent hematologic care. I fell in love with hematology because blood is essential for every organ in the body to function, and physicians caring for these patients must consider the effects of blood diseases on the entire body, making hematology a challenging but particularly rewarding field. Moreover, blood diseases such as MPN involve blood stem cells which are fascinating from a scientific perspective since these remarkable stem cells must generate 200 billion red cells each day for many decades. The opportunity to modulate stem cell function to improve outcomes for our MPN patients is particularly exciting.
What have been the highlights in your career, specifically in the area of MPNs?
My laboratory focuses on a gene, called HMGA1, which is important regulator for normal stem cell function and becomes abnormally activated in cancer. We recently discovered that HMGA1 plays a critical role in blood stem cell function in MPN, particularly when patients progress to more advanced disease. We are currently searching for approaches to modulate HMGA1 in blood stem cells as therapy to treat, or even better, to prevent, progression in MPN.
As a female in this area of medicine, what advice would you give women grappling with career choices in hematology and medical research?
Please do not ever let anyone convince you that you are not suited for medicine, hematology, or research. Unfortunately, women and others who are under-represented in medicine continue to confront unconscious bias, or even more blatant signals, that they do not belong since the field has been dominated by men. However, it is clear that diversity in medicine, not only benefits our patients, but also scientific discovery. Let any hurdles, failed experiments, and critiques serve to further ignite your passion for medicine, hematology, and research and work to foster the careers of other women in medicine, hematology, and MPN.
