Double Agent? Triple Agent? The three lives of Dr. Arepally
This week I sat down for a chat with my mentor, Dr. Arepally. Not only is she an M.D specializing in hematology, Dr. Arepally is also the PI of her lab specializing in heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT - I will be abbreviating the disease from now on) research, and she's a mother of 2 young children. She received her degree in medicine from Vanderbilt University, did her residency at Emory, and went on to do a Hematology-Oncology fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. Despite the fact that she did a fellowship which included oncology training, Dr. Arepally no longer deals with patients with cancer. I asked her why she decided to just specialize in hematology, both in general, and instead of doing hematology-oncology. She explained to me that she finds diseases of the blood fascinating, and that she was really interested in both scientific knowledge and patient care. What she didn't enjoy about oncology was that fact that despite all the developments and new medication, patient survival rates were still too low for her. Her interest in HIT specifically came about from a mentor she studied under, and that was his focus. She first got into research because she considered her mentor to be a wonderful role model and she says, "[I] had no idea what I was doing; I just wanted to be around that guy." Dr. Arepally still works in conjunction with him and informs him of developments in her lab.
I asked Dr. Arepally what the most valuable lesson she has learned in her academic career, expecting an answer along the lines of studying hard, or reading, but she summed it up in one word rather nicely, "rigor." She explained to me how she is constantly reminded of the importance of being rigorous in everything, including oneself and on data. Even though she has felt like "throwing in the pipette," Dr. Arepally sticks with her research because she loves discovering and learning constantly, and challenging herself with writing grants, proposals, and papers. As a doctor, she says that she often gets complacent because she feels super-competent about dealing with the diseases she is faced with, and patient care. However, in research she is in a constant struggle to keep up with MDs, PhDs, MD/PhDs, which pushes her to keep up with developments and it just makes her job that much more interesting. She considers the worst part of her job to be the fact that she can't devote enough time to each of the different parts of her "jobs". If Dr. Arepally could, she would devote 70-80hrs a week to research, because that is how much she feels she would need to put in to do it well. However, she also explained the challenges she faces as a female professional in terms of dealing with the lab, her career, and her life at home. Having to be concerned with patient care, research, and her children is challenging.
I have a hunch that it was these factors that influenced Dr. Arepally's answer to my question regarding superpowers. . .If she could, she'd like to have the ability to function without sleep (or stop time), because this would allow her to both devote the time she wants to research and her family. In addition, she'd have time to indulge in her interests outside of research (cooking and reading). If Dr. Arepally had not gone into research, one would probably find her in a high school teaching either biology or chemistry. However, last time I checked, she was still PI of my lab in the Sands building :o).
