'I believe we can do better'
In the Jimmy Fund Clinic, Kimberly Stegmaier, MD, checks on patient Hailey Giguere, 8.
Even before I became a medical student, I was fascinated by cancer biology. It captures my attention and my imagination. While it's an intense field of medicine, it is a joy working with kids and their families. At Dana-Farber, I focus on treating several different types of cancer in children and — in the lab — on finding therapies for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and other rare diseases.
As a physician both here and at Children's Hospital Boston, a good day is attending a high school National Honor Society induction ceremony for a former patient who is doing well and planning to attend college. Or, when the infant I treated with a 5 percent chance of surviving starts his or her first day of elementary school.
When I can't help cure them, I feel a devastating sense of personal loss. They are my inspiration as a researcher and clinician. I believe we can do better, and I continue to labor in the lab to find compounds to stop the disease. It's slow going, but I'm striving to give all my patients as full and long a life as possible.
— Kimberly Stegmaier, MD
