The purpose of the Department of Medicine at the University of North Carolina is to align research and education with outstanding patient care, and to transform clinical medicine into patient-centered care, delivered with the highest standards of quality, compassion and cost-consciousness, and based on an infrastructure that nimbly adjusts to an ever-changing landscape.
Dr. Shakira Grant was born in Barbados and says she knew around the age of 11 or 12, when her grandfather was diagnosed with lung cancer, that she would become an oncologist. She also says UNC felt like home when she visited, and it was the “ease of conversation, welcoming smiles, and the collegial atmosphere” that helped her know UNC was the place to be.
Dr. Khalid Aldaas grew up in California and graduated with a degree in biochemistry at the University of California at Riverside where he also attended medical school. He says he’s always been passionate about soccer, having played competitively since childhood. Dr. Aldaas is also fluent in Spanish and Arabic.
“A biosimilar is similarly effective and similarly safe, and one switch between the originator and biosimilar is shown to be safe and similarly effective.”
“The most common question I get is, 'What’s going to happen to me and how long will it take to get better?' A related question is, 'Why did this happen to me?' I think that’s not an uncommon question for any autoimmune disease. We don’t have great answers.”
“Initially, we ask people to strictly avoid red meat—beef, pork, lamb, this would include venison, bison, buffalo—anything essentially that has hooves and walks on four legs, we ask them to avoid.”
“I would say don’t just look in your circle. It’s easy to look at your group of friends and your family members, but…there are so many people who know you every day. You’d be surprised what they’re willing to do—to risk their bodies and injury to them. It leaves me with a feeling that I cannot even express with words.”
