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Dr. Elisabet Manasanch and Tiffany Richards, NP
Tiffany Richards [TR]: What brought you into myeloma?
Elisabet Manasanch [EM]: I was very curious when I was little. I always wanted to know the “why” to things, how we come to life and how we live and how cells work. And then on top of that, my dad passed away from cancer. He was 35, and I was 6 years old when that happened. So I always had an interest then in cancer. So I think that my interest in cancer, coupled with the interest in biology, in also making things better for people, that really made me want to go into oncology.
I went to the University of Barcelona to medical school. After I graduated, I decided to come to the U.S. to do my residency and fellowship because I really liked the way that patients were treated in the United States. I thought the patients were very independent, that they were able to make their own decisions, that there was a lot of good communication between the physician and the patient.
And I really like that part. And so I did my residency, and then when I was doing my fellowship, I came into contact with Dr. Ola Landgren, who is not only an amazing person, but also a superb physician and researcher. I started working with him, so he really is the reason why I went into multiple myeloma.
TR: Yeah, I think part of the reason why I’ve stayed in myeloma is the mentorship that I received, too, when I first started. Understanding that there’s an art that goes into it and knowing your patient and that the longer you’re taking care of a patient, that care gets better because you get to understand that each patient is their own unique person.
EM: So, so many things have happened in multiple myeloma over the past almost 15 years that you’ve been at MD Anderson. Can you tell me about any differences that you see from back then to nowadays?
TR: One of the main differences is we used much higher doses of steroids when I first came. And so definitely that’s been a change in the last 15 years. And certainly decreasing the dose of the steroids has helped manage the side effects.1 So I think the disease and the treatment options have greatly expanded since I’ve been there.2 Even though it’s not a curable disease, the patients are living so much longer, and so you get to know them because you’re seeing them every month, month after month.2 There’s so many times during the day where I’m like, “Oh my gosh, you’ve been coming here since like, 2002.” And it’s really remarkable.
EM: It’s just such a life-changing experience, having cancer, and then multiple myeloma is a little bit different because you’re never done, you always have to keep coming back, right? Even though we cannot see the myeloma anymore, it’s not completely gone.2 I think it would be nice to change that in the future, if we can just do a fixed number of months of treatment and then cure some people, that would be great. I think that we’re headed there, but I don’t know how long it will take — hopefully not too long.
Sources:
1.IMF. Understanding Dexmethasoneand Other Steroids. Available at: https://www.myeloma.org/sites/default/files/resource/u-dexamethasone.pdf. Accessed on: 6/18/19.
2.Jakubowiak A. Management strategies for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma: current clinical perspectives. Semin in Hematol. 2012, 49 (Suppl 1):S16-S32
