From preemie to premed: former NICU baby all grown up, ready for career in medicine
Dr. Charles Palmer, left, a neonatologist at Penn State Children’s Hospital, and Tiffany Seibert look at baby photos of Tiffany when she born prematurely 21 years ago.
By Lisa Maresca
One recent August morning on the seventh floor of Penn State Children’s Hospital, Tiffany Seibert shares an embrace with Dr. Charles Palmer, 21 years after they first met.
“Things have changed,” said Palmer. “You look amazing!”
“Thanks to you,” replied Tiffany.
Tiffany, a young woman with curly hair and an infectious smile, returned to the Penn State Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) with her parents, Annette and David, for the first time since being discharged more than two decades ago.
September 18, 2018 at 10:00 am pennstatemedicine Leave a comment
A career for the ages: Eyster revolutionizes understanding of HIV and hepatitis C
Dr. Elaine Eyster’s work revolutionized the world’s understanding of the natural history of HIV infection in individuals with hemophilia.
By Katherine Brind’Amour
It’s not every day you meet someone who changed the way the world understood the development of HIV and hepatitis C or any other infectious disease. But that is precisely the accomplishment of Dr. Elaine Eyster, distinguished professor of medicine and pathology at Penn State College of Medicine and the 2018 recipient of Penn State Alumni Association’s Honorary Alumni Award.
“In the early 1980s, it became apparent to us that our patients with hemophilia were coming down with unexpected infections,” says Dr. James Ballard, professor of medicine, pathology and humanities at the College of Medicine, who was hired as a hematology fellow by Eyster in 1975 and has worked with her ever since. “Although we didn’t know at the time what it was, we suspected something pretty bad was happening.”
By a stroke of either serendipity or genius, Eyster had stored plasma from her hemophilia patients for years, and as co-founder and long-time director of the Hemophilia Center of Central Pennsylvania, she and fellow clinician-researchers were able to use those samples to research the epidemiology of the emerging infection: HIV.
“She was at the right place at the right time with the right ideas, and that is something that doesn’t happen very often,” says Ballard.
Bringing ‘Stigma People’ into focus
“If you’ve been that way for so long, you don’t know you’re that way,” said Dan DiFava Jr. about suffering from depression for most of his life. “A fish doesn’t know he’s wet. He’s been in water his whole life.”
By Carolyn Kimmel
For 30 years, Dan DiFava Jr. wore depression like a lead blanket that at times became too heavy to carry.
“You don’t really want to die, but it’s so heavy, and you just don’t want to carry it anymore,” said the Penn State Health Environmental Health Services employee who has attempted suicide five times. “People don’t understand, so they stay away, and then you feel like no one can even help you.”
- Watch a video about Dan and his photo exhibit featuring people who have been affected by the tragedy of suicide.
DiFava traces his depression to childhood taunts about his small stature—always at least six inches shorter than his peers due to a growth hormone deficiency—and an unstable home life. Low self-esteem and loneliness were his constant companions.
When his last suicide attempt finally led to the medical help and therapy he needed, DiFava found inspiration for living in a surprising place—behind the lens of a camera.
September 4, 2018 at 12:08 pm pennstatemedicine Leave a comment
Exchanging perspectives: international students see U.S. health care in new light
Global Health Exchange Program students listen to Dr. Loren Robinson, Pennsylvania Deputy Secretary for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, during a meeting at the state Capitol.
By Carolyn Kimmel
As a first-year medical student in Taiwan, Sandra Tsai is learning firsthand about American health care and insurance coverage through Penn State College of Medicine’s Global Health Exchange Program (GHEP)—and realizing her preconceptions don’t always match with reality.
“The most impressive thing I learned about America is that the insurance system is so complicated and the cost of medical care is so high,” she said.
Tsai and nine other international students from Taipei Medical University, China Medical University and the University of West Indies-Cave Hill in Barbados came to the Hershey campus in July to gain a global perspective on an array of public health-related issues.
August 28, 2018 at 10:00 am pennstatemedicine Leave a comment
Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic marks 80 years of improving children’s lives
Dr. Donald Mackay, center, discusses follow-up care with the parents of a newborn patient.
By Kyle Hardner
As a medical student, Dr. Cathy Henry knew she wanted to be a pediatrician. Then she did a rotation with pediatric plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr. Donald Mackay at the Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic.
“It was life-changing,” Henry said. “The clinic just felt special. They really took care of patients the way we wish we could in every aspect of medicine. I knew then I had to become a pediatric plastic surgeon.”
Today, Henry is part of the pediatric surgery team at Penn State Children’s Hospital that performs cleft lip, palate, and other craniofacial procedures for the clinic’s patients. All follow-up is then done at the clinic, where the three surgeons with a combined 47 years of experience—Mackay, Henry and Dr. Thomas Samson —interact with patients, families, and a multidisciplinary team that has been improving children’s lives for eight decades.
August 21, 2018 at 10:11 am pennstatemedicine Leave a comment
Make-believe that comforts and cheers at Penn State Children’s Hospital
From left, Molly Carney as Belle, Maddie Goss as Sleeping Beauty and Liz Profeta as Elsa share a laugh with 11-year-old Tymere Patterson of Harrisburg during the group’s visit to Penn State Children’s Hospital.
By Carolyn Kimmel
As the minutes ticked closer to his surgery, 11-year-old Tymere Patterson got more and more anxious—which made his parents more and more anxious—until suddenly Sleeping Beauty, Belle and Elsa swept into his room in all their princess glory.
“The timing was perfect,” said Tymere’s mother, Tara Patterson, who with husband Terry Patterson was trying to ease her son’s fear before surgery for an inguinal hernia at Penn State Children’s Hospital. “I don’t think it really hit him about what was going to happen until we were actually in that room, and then he was very nervous—until the princesses showed up.”
The distraction of their visit—even though they were princesses and not Superman—was enough to put a smile on Tymere’s face and help him forget about the butterflies in his stomach.
“They really lightened the mood for all of us,” his mother said. “As a parent, you never want to see your child in the hospital, much less upset about being there. After the princesses left, we were still laughing, and Tymere didn’t talk about being nervous anymore.”
The princesses were actually Penn State College of Medicine students who volunteer with BraveCubs, an organization that brings well-loved characters to life for young patients at the Children’s Hospital. The name honors the bravery of the pediatric patients and is also a nod to the Penn State Nittany Lion.
August 14, 2018 at 12:21 pm pennstatemedicine Leave a comment
In their shoes: pediatric cancer survivors grown up and working “For the Kids”
Cole Horne, a former Four Diamonds child, cleans a patient bed at Hershey Medical Center.
By Carolyn Kimmel
Cole Horne knows that being diagnosed with Burkett’s Lymphoma at age 6 was a life-changing moment, but his memories are not of the large tumor that had to be removed or the five months of chemotherapy that followed; he remembers the fun.
Yes, the fun.
“When you are in Penn State Children’s Hospital, you don’t even feel like you’re in the hospital. There’s music therapy, pet therapy, bingo,” said Horne, now 20 and cancer-free for 13 years. “Then I began participating in THON when I was 7 until I was 13, and that took my mind off what was going on. Everyone is so happy, and they’re there celebrating you.”
Today this childhood cancer survivor is back at Penn State Health, this time as an employee, drawn back because of the excellent support he and his family received from the staff and Four Diamonds.
- Watch a video about Cole.
August 7, 2018 at 10:00 am pennstatemedicine Leave a comment
