Keith Stewart, MBChB, MBA

(Author’s note: The other biggest losers appearing herein will remain nameless and will owe me a nice dinner for sparing them, but more on that later ...) It comes with the territory in academic hematology: Early career aspirations to have an impact gradually get noticed, and when the first speaking invitations arrive, they are both [...]

We have new leadership at my institution, who, in an act of inspiration (or accidental greatness), have declared that bringing joy back to the practice of medicine is a worthy administrative goal. Now, in this respect, I am a generally happy person, despite a youth inflicted by daily rain in my native Scotland, a worrisome [...]

Much has been written in ASH Clinical News about the Orwellian nature of modern clinical trials, and for good reason: Almost all our readers have some experience with clinical research – it’s what we do. Consequently, I hope my story will resonate. To protect the innocent, the names and dates of the events herein have [...]

Patient zero is an active and charming older widow, measuring approximately 4’11 and weighing in at 90 pounds, who wisely moved to the dry deserts of Arizona from the East Coast with a rather indolent, but persistent, extramedullary myeloma in tow. At our first appointment, she announced that we would begin each meeting with a [...]

It was circa 1999. I can picture the patient vividly: A mustachioed, unfailingly polite – but exhausted – middle-aged man holding a white tissue to his bleeding nose. A Ugandan immigrant, he was dependent on platelet and red blood cell transfusions, and his myeloma progressed following conventional chemotherapy and autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation, as well [...]

The daily circus of recent world events has left me wondering whether it is truly plausible that I share a genome with the other half of the population, or whether my alienation could be explained by a heavy burden of Neanderthal DNA or excessive cilantro hypersensitivity (it’s a thing – look it up). To explore [...]

Here, Dr. Stewart gives his take on whether cytotoxic chemotherapy should be declared a thing of the past. As ward rounds ended last Saturday, a slow-brew blend of my own clinical experience and what I have seen as reproducibly disappointing outcomes coalesced in my strong desire to speed the delivery of cytotoxic chemotherapy to the waste heap of [...]

I am truly curious as to why doctors in training choose a career in hematology, particularly malignant hematology. My ASH Clinical News editorial colleague, David Steensma, MD, said he was hooked after witnessing the beauty of an eosinophil under a microscope as a first-year medical student. For me, it was my fascination at the seemingly [...]

It seems that my last “Editor’s Corner” column (“These Are a Few of My Least Favorite Things …,”) resonated with many of my fellow hematologists. I’ve convinced myself that the only people who ignored it entirely were those oncologists who were too busy refreshing their wardrobes at Neiman Marcus to read it and likely others too [...]

Although not validated by CLIA-certified genomics testing, I believe that I am certifiably of Scottish descent and, therein, probably have the genome of a marauding Viking crossed with some scrofulous ancient Highland crone. Thus, despite years of mellowing in gentle Canada and sun-accelerated aging in the Arizona desert, I remain congenitally disposed to the autonomic [...]