Episode 12

Episode 12 features Dr. Nick Vitanza who was part of the first interview that I hosted with Jace Ward. He was Mithil's first doctor and now serves on the Board of the Mithil Prasad Foundation and is a close friend to our family.

Dr. Nicholas Vitanza is a pediatric neuro-oncologist at Seattle Children’s Hospital and laboratory researcher at The Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research at Seattle Children’s Research Institute. In clinic, he cares for children with central nervous system tumors and, in the lab, he focuses on understanding the epigenetic aberrations of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) and its molecular vulnerabilities with the hope of improving outcomes for affected children. He also assists in the development of immunotherapy clinical trials for children with brain and spinal tumors.

Episode 11

Unfortunately, an important part of the DIPG/ DMG journey is grief. Many families have faced it, many will but hopefully one day it will no longer be a part of these children’s DIPG story. However, until that day comes, I think it is very important to talk about grief openly and honestly.

Episode 11 serves as a tribute to Jace Ward, the inspiration behind this podcast series, a dear friend, courageous DIPG warrior, and outstanding human being, who passed on July 3rd, 2021. This podcast cherishes the unique friendship I had while having an open and honest conversation about grief

Episode 10

Episode 10 features Yury and Nethan who were my brother’s best friends. They had been friends since they were all very young and never left Mithil’s side through his battle with DIPG. We always talk about the family of the child that passes from DIPG but I thought it would also be interesting to hear another version of this story. When you are so young, losing a best friends is unimaginable and seems completely impossible. In episode 10, we hear Nathan and Yury talk about their fond memories of Mithil and the lasting impact of Mithil’s passing.

Episode 9

Episode 9 features Dr. Jessica Foster from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Foster’s current research focuses on immunotherapy for pediatric solid and brain tumors. Specifically she is investigating chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for neuroblastoma, high-grade gliomas, medulloblastomas, diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas, and other brain tumors. The goals of her research are to develop pre-clinical CAR T cells for translation into clinical trials to help these devastating tumors.

Even though I was recently just introduced to Dr. Foster, our conversation left me inspired, educated on the topic of CAR- T cells, and filled with hope for the future of DIPG research. Listen to her talk about CAR- T cells, upcoming research, and her path to becoming a doctor!

Episode 8

On Episode 8 of Hear the Rare, we have Cassie Kline, a dedicated physician attending working at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. You can find more information about Dr. Kline here! She shares with us her journey to medicine and the DIPG world as well as some things she is excited for as a researcher!

I met Cassie in Zurich during a conference in August of 2019. She has since inspired me to want to work harder in my pursuit of my medical career. Her story really resonates with me as I also lost my brother when I was in school. She is a doctor who truly cares about her patients and it shines through in all her work and interviews.

Listen to her speak about her experiences below!

Episode 7

After a short hiatus, we are back! Episode number 7 of Hear the Rare and the first of the new year is with Shannon Raber. Shannon is a nurse practitioner at UCSF. Read more about her here.

Shannon was also Mithil’s nurse practitioner at UCSF and our family has become close friends with her. She made our journey a little more bearable and often cracked up over silly jokes with Mithil. Thank you shannon for everything you have done for us and the numerous other families.

Listen to her talk about her experiences as a nurse practitioner working with DIPG/ DMG patients!

Episode 6

Episode 6 features Jill Morin, mother of DIPG warrior Luke Morin. She is the founder of Luke’s Posse which raises funds for DIPG research at Children’s Hospital Colorado. In this episode, listen to Jill talk about Luke’s story, the beginning of Luke’s Posse, and hear her share some advice for families dealing with a new DIPG diagnosis.

In addition, here is more information about the Fall Fest 5K mentioned in the podcast! Check it out with this link as well!

Episode 5

Episode 5 features Amanda Haddock who is the president of Dragon Master Foundation. Amanda was named a White House Champion of Change for Precision Medicine because of her work with Dragon Master Foundation. Amanda serves as the Foundation Liaison for the Children’s Brain Tumor Tissue Consortium Scientific Committee and an advisor to the Duke Glioblastoma Drug Discovery Group. She has also been in working groups for the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot, the Gabriella Miller Kid's First Data Resource Center, and the National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB) Data Science Working Group.

Listen to her talk about her son David, forming Dragon Master, DMG and research, and the importance of biopsies and tissue donations in Episode 5!!

Episode 4

Episode 4 features Lisa Ward, Jace Ward’s mom. We talked to Jace in episode 1 to get to know him and his journey more. Now, you can also listen to Lisa’s story about dealing with Jace’s diagnosis, being an advocate, and the ONC 201 extended access program they are very excited about.

To learn more about and contact Lisa, visit their Facebook Page: Jace Ward- #Tough2gether

To learn more about ONC 201, visit the Oncoceutics website!

Episode 3

Episode 3 features Dr. Gupta, the chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. He joins us today to talk about his experience as a neurosurgeon, his research with DIPG/ DMG, and biopsies.

More information about Dr. Gupta can be found here! Please let us know if you have any questions for Dr. Gupta and we can also get you connected!