My name is Tom Loughran. I'm a physician scientist and I'm a professor of medicine here at UVA. We have a very organized team to take care of patients with a rare disease called
LGL leukemia. It stands for large granular lymphocyte leukemia. I discovered this illness when I was back as a fellow in Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. LGL leukemia is rare. We estimate probably maybe a thousand new patients every year are getting diagnosed with this illness in the United States. Because of that even physicians in my field of hematology/oncology are not all that familiar with how to make a diagnosis. Patients do come from all around the world to see me. And so we have really focused a lot, both in the clinic and the laboratory, on this one illness. We have, for example, established the internationally recognized criteria to how to make a diagnosis of LGL leukemia. We've advanced the field in the laboratory of trying to figure out the biology of the illness and what the pathogenesis is and what are the problems that patients might have which have led to really the major clinical treatment recommendations that really the major clinical treatment recommendations that came out of our research. It's always a great idea for a patient who thinks they may have that illness to come here and visit with our team. Basically, it's a very state-of-the-art comprehensive evaluation of their illness. It's very reassuring to the patient and there is very much personal attention to the patient paid throughout their visit.