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Ishwaria Subbiah: I’ll never forget meeting Michael Davis

Photo from Ishwaria Subbiah/Twitter

Nov 7, 2023, 02:43

Ishwaria Subbiah: I’ll never forget meeting Michael Davis

Ishwaria Subbiah shared on Twitter:

“On this 1-yr anniversary of our SCRI-US Oncology research partnership, a story on our Why!

I’ll never forget meeting Michael Davis.

Him: Doc, wanna hear my Sarah Cannon story?

Me: Of course!

Him: I had sickle cell.

Me: Had? (He broke out a smile, not an everyday one — this smile was something more. I knew I was about to hear something special. Enter the anticipatory chills and goosebumps.)

Him: So, I’m living in Mississippi, with sickle cell. And it’s not going good.

Him: My mom kept calling place after place near us, trying to find a clinical trial that’ll take me.
But there was nothing.

Him: One day, I’m in a waiting room… I look around and see an NPR magazine out the corner of my eye.

Him: I picked it up, flipped it open and landed on a page. “Sarah Cannon Research Institute,” I remember thinking. “I wonder if they have a trial for me…”

“Naaah.” I set the magazine right back down.

Him: But, a minute later, my head was turning, looking back at it. And, Doc, for some reason, I picked it back up. “Maybe Sarah Cannon *does* have a trial for me.”

So, my mom called. She told them about me, gave them the info they needed. Three months later, I got the call — *the* call — that I’m in! SCRI had a spot for me on their sickle cell CRISPR trial.

Him: Doc, that moment! When that call came. The way my mom and I felt… I can’t even begin to describe it to you.

Him: Now, here I am, two years later.
Doc… I’m cured. (Chills all over, again)

Him (still smiling): I’m cured.
And I owe it to this place.

After something like that, you know I’m like ‘I gotta work here!’ Meet Mr. Michael Davis — our Sarah Cannon Docs IT support guru, my new friend, and the embodiment of our SCRI/USON mission. He is why we do what we do!

Happy 1st anniversary to the SCRI-The US Oncology Network Research partnership!”

Source: Ishwaria Subbiah/Twitter

Ishwaria Subbiah is the Executive Director for Cancer Care Equity and Professional Wellness at Sarah Cannon Research Institute (SCRI). In this role, Dr. Subbiah focuses on reducing cancer outcomes disparities and diversifying clinical trial participation within SCRI’s combined research network of over more than 1,300 physicians at over 250 locations in 24 states across the US. Dr. Subbiah is a globally recognized expert in geriatric oncology, symptom management, palliative care, and healthcare professional well-being. She previously was an associate professor in the Division of Cancer Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She is the Chair for the ASCO Women in Oncology working group and the ASCO State of Cancer Care in America initiative.