The Physician Who Cured Himself | David Fajgenbaum, MD

The Doctor's Art

As a medical student, former college quarterback David Fajgenbaum, MD was at the peak of his health and physique when he suddenly came down with a mysterious disease that, within weeks, led to multiple organ system failure. Dr. Fajgenbaum found himself on the brink of death over and over again in the intensive care unit, at one point receiving his last rites, with all of his doctors baffled about the cause of his illness. When the culprit was eventually found to be Castleman Disease, a rare disease entity that to this day defies categorization, he took matters into his own hands, researching and testing treatments on himself before finally discovering his own cure. Today, Dr. Fajgenbaum is not only the co-founder of the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network, but is leading efforts to discover therapies for other rare diseases. He is the author of the 2019 memoir Chasing My Cure. In this riveting conversation, Dr. Fajgenbaum shares his incredible, inspiring story to turn hope into action.

In this episode, you will hear about:

• How the loss of his mother to cancer led Dr. Fajgenbaum to pursue a career in medicine - 2:13
• The rapid deterioration from peak physical health to multiple organ system failure that struck Dr. Fajgenbaum - 6:04
• Dr. Fajgenbaum reflects on the terror of his unknown affliction and how he maintained resilience - 12:59
• How a brief remission gave Dr. Fajgenbaum an opportunity to turn passive hope into action - 21:47
• How a relapse led to a series of experimental treatments and a realization that his cure might already exist - 24:47
• How deep research and self-experimentation led to a breakthrough - 36:42
• Dr. Fajgenbaum’s nonprofit Every Cure and its mission to discover new uses of existing drugs - 42:02
• How Dr. Fajgenbaum feels when he cares for patients in similar plights to his own prior - 47:03
• What clinicians can do to comfort patients even when treatment options are limited - 51:37
• Advice to clinicians and students who are interested in medical research - 53:25
• Lessons on presence and compassion that Dr. Fajgenbaum has learned from having been both physician and patient - 56:32

You can follow Dr. Fajgenbaum on Twitter @DavidFajgenbaum.

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