Madhav Vissa, amateur procrasti-baker

Madhav Vissa, amateur procrasti-baker

by Madhav Vissa -

Hi Everyone,

My name is Madhav Vissa (you can call me Madhav, he/him) and I'm a recent fellowship graduate of the peds heme/onc program at UCSF BCH Oakland.  I just joined the faculty here as a clinical instructor with a focus in hematology, specifically hemoglobinopathies (sickle cell disease, thalassemia). I did my residency in both adult and pediatric medicine before fellowship so have a strong interest in caring for patients of all ages! During my fellowship, I worked on a translational study in which I collected blood samples from patients with sickle cell disease at baseline and again during acute sickle cell related acute illness (pain, acute chest syndrome, etc) to compare various biomarkers as well as to validate an assay I was working to develop in the lab. I have collected a bunch of data (both clinical and lab) and am eager to learn ways to interpret these data for clinical use. I'm really grateful to be part of a program with such a rich history in clinical research in Oakland and am overwhelmed by the amount of data available to me for use in discovery about both sickle cell disease and thalassemia. I really hope to gain some skills in designing clinical studies and interpreting data with the goal to contribute to the improvements  in care for children, adolescents and adults with hemoglobinopathies. I look forward to hearing what you are all working on! 


See you!

Madhav

Re: Madhav Vissa, amateur procrasti-baker

by Nita Mukand -
What is your favorite thing to procrasti-bake? Mine is banana bread.

Re: Madhav Vissa, amateur procrasti-baker

by Madhav Vissa -
I made what was described as more of a banana-infused chocolate chip loaf the other day :). I'm trying to get a consistent macaron technique but they come out looking edible 1 out of every 5ish times. Perhaps we can do some statistics on my odds of success!

Re: Madhav Vissa, amateur procrasti-baker

by Caressa Chen -
Hi Madhav, fellow procrasti-baker here! I went through a macaron obsession a few years back and swear by this tutorial: http://cakemerchant.com/2017/11/05/macaron-basics-part-2-french-method/

The two things that really made a difference were a) waiting for them to dry and develop a "skin" before baking and b) finding the perfect oven temp (especially if you have an oven with a big temperature variability).

Hope this helps!

Re: Madhav Vissa, amateur procrasti-baker

by Madhav Vissa -
Thanks!! I think it really is that I don't know my oven well enough yet. We need to become one with each other, I suppose. I've also found that oven rack positioning makes a difference (and have yet to optimize this).

Re: Madhav Vissa, amateur procrasti-baker

by Joseph Yeb -
What was your rationale in pursuing peds hem/onc as a discipline?

Re: Madhav Vissa, amateur procrasti-baker

by Madhav Vissa -
Hey Joseph! Long story short, I was like shocked to my core when I realized that my classmates weren't totally enamored by the hematology block in med school, I found it so interesting. Lots of exposure in med school and residency to kids and adults with sickle cell disease and I love that both heme and onc patients are general medicine patients for whom we get to think about the whole body from head to toe. For fellowship, I felt that a peds hematology training program (after an adult medicine residency) would give me the tools to start a clinical and research career in hemoglobinopathies for all ages. I specifically chose a fellowship program that had a lot of exposure to adult patients. Of course, lots of amazing mentors along the way that led me to where I am :) Happy to talk more about my path if you'd like. Do you have any idea what your clinical or research interests may be?