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STEMMED FROM
LIFE EXPERIENCE

Women with bleeding disorders find careers
in science because of their disorders

By Emily Roush-Bobolz, staff writer

W hen someone is diagnosed with a rare disorder, “My diagnosis fueled my interest in science,” she said. “I find
understanding the complexity of the disorder may be not knowing what’s going on stressful. I found with vWD, the
hard, but for those with a mind geared toward science, it can more I learned about how things worked the more comfortable
lead to a world of fascination. I became with my bleeding disorder. It got me interested on
a molecular level. I feel safer and more informed as a patient
There has been a push in the last decade or more to because I understand the science.”
encourage the nation’s youth, especially young women, to find
interest in and essentially pursue a career in science, technol- That personal experience with a
ogy, engineering and math, commonly known as STEM. bleeding disorder also sparked a
career interest in Alex Gamber, 28,
Women with a bleeding disorder are in a unique position to of Michigan. She was diagnosed
understand it on a deeper level, take their passion for STEM — with vWD at the age of 3 when she
if their mind bends that way — and experience lifelong ran face first into a door and broke
advancement fueled by that interest. a tooth. The profuse bleeding sent
her to a doctor, which led to the
“I’m really passionate about STEM and think it’s a field where diagnosis. Gamber didn’t embrace
the bleeding disorders community can really be involved,” said the bleeding disorders community
Megan Procario of Maryland, a Ph.D. student concentrating on right away, until she attended Camp
immunology and microbiology. Bold Eagle her second year of
college. She knew she wanted to
“I got the (science) bug become a doctor because of her
early,” said Procario, who experiences there.
was born with moderately
severe von Willebrand “I was 19 and struggling socially
Disease. She grew up in a
home where science was and going to camp was really one Alex Gamber of Michigan
always present — her father of those right moment, right time chose a career in
was a particle physicist. things,” she said. “I saw people medicine after an
who were at their best helping kids.
Even without scientists in Camp encourages people to go experience at Camp
the family, girls, and anyone Bold Eagle.
for that matter, can use what
they learn about bleeding beyond their limits despite hemophilia and that struck me.”
disorders to make a living in
STEM. Procario was finally Gamber is now halfway through medical school at Central
diagnosed at the age of Michigan University College of Medicine.
10, after multiple type
Ph.D. student Megan Procario misdiagnoses. “At camp, people think ‘can I really swim or shoot an arrow with
works in the laboratory hemophilia?’ If they can feel that empowerment, then I can
researching viruses which become a doctor,” she said.
affect kidney transplant patients

6 Dateline Federation | Summer 2018