Today is a bittersweet day for me as I announce that I am now on faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital as an Instructor in Pediatrics, Medical Genetics and Metabolism working as a Clinical Pediatric Biochemical Geneticist (all while continuing my research at Boston Children’s and Beth Israel). Years of work and dedication have lead me to to this moment and privileged opportunity to be on faculty at the same institution where I was walked around as a baby by my mother and father who were Fellows and Chief Residents, to take care of some of the most complex and challenging patients in the world, all while facilitating my translational research goals understanding how the host-microbiome-glycome axis affects my patients with Inborn Errors of Metabolism.
But I am entering this job in a uniquely tumultuous time where the institutional attacks on rare disease research beacons such as the NIH and Harvard, rare disease disability care and healthcare institutions like SSDI and Medicaid and even HHS Newborn Screening Guidelines Committees are under existential attack. The fear across my colleagues and patients is palpable and frankly well deserved. But let me assure you all. We will not let this stop the good works we aspire to achieve on behalf of our families and patients. We will not let shamefully naive and misguided forces trample on decades of work on our selfless fight on our war on rare disease. My rare disease clinic and lab at MGH, BCH will always remain open regardless of the forces which may try to block it. The Doctor is Always In at the Pomerantz Clinic & Lab and will always be in as long as Inborn Errors of Metabolism exist or as long as I am alive!
On December 4th 2021, I met Emily for the first time on a date at the New England Aquarium with dinner at Nico’s Ristorante. Little did I know that Emily would end up being my best friend and the person with whom I want to spend the rest of my life. My proposal on June 15th 2024 was an surprise homage to our first date at the aquarium (courtesy of some trickery assisted by her sister Rachel 😊) followed by a surprise party at Nico’s where our family and best friends were there to greet Emily. Planning this over the past five months has been exhausting but more than worth it! I look forward to spending my life & growing alongside you Emily 🥰
Fishing with Emily’s Family in North Folk! Porgies, Weakfish and Bluefish to keep to eat! Sand Sharks, Toadfish, Sea Robins and Sea Bass for catch and release! Good day had by all!
Yesterday was the last official day of my clinical training, having finished up my Medical Biochemical Genetics Fellowship at Harvard/ Boston Children’s Hospital! You might think after 4 years of college studying Neuroscience and Music, 6 years of medical school and predoctoral research and 5 years of residency and fellowship in Pediatrics, Medical Genetics and Biochemical Genetics, that I would finally stop training as a super-specialized triple boarded doctor.
Well, the training never ends! I will be doing a post doctoral fellowship for the next two to three years jointly between Boston Children’s and Beth Israel Hospitals in the labs of Seth Rakoff-Nahoum (a human gut microbiome expert) and Richard Cummings (a glycomics expert) to explore the role of glycosylation in human gut microbiome dynamics in inborn errors of metabolism, with an emphasis on congenital disorders of glycosylation. More simply, I’m going to be exploring the role of how our gut bacteria breaks down sugars, fats and proteins to exacerbate complications in the rare diseases for which I am passionate and more longitudinally how this can influence “normal” human metabolism and neurodevelopment. This is all part of my ambitious quest to become a physician scientist where hopefully my work can help identify and ideally treat rare genetic disorders of metabolism (and potentially more common disorders such as diabetes, colon cancer, inflammatory bowel disease) by recognizing novel gut microbiome biomarkers and redesigning the human gut microbiome as an adjunct to gene therapy.
I won’t lie and say that I’m both extremely excited as well as quite anxious about pursuing this vision as this is admittedly a pretty radical concept to believe that we can identify and treat rare metabolic diseases by understanding our gut bacteria. Im joining a couple particularly high powered labs and it’s been quite a while since I’ve been in a basic science lab (about 6 years ago to be exact). But I’m extremely humbled and grateful for the clinical and research mentors in my life, including and especially my parents, for helping me in this quest. Here’s to long slog to try to change medicine for the better!
A little late to this but it’s been an incredible journey training at Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Pediatrics and Medical Genetics! Having left Michigan a couple days ago, I’ve grown wistful for the unbelievable opportunity to care for some of the sickest & complex children in the world all while trying to learn more about who I am as a person! While I can’t speak enough about the attendings and co-residents who inspired me in my vision to care for children with inborn errors of metabolism, the people who standout most to me are the people that probably don’t get heralded as much such as our genetic counselors, nurses and dieticians! You all have helped me become a better doctor & aspiring metabolic geneticist, but a better man for it and I’m proud to call you my colleagues and friends!
I also wanna send a special shout-out to my interns both on the pediatrics side and the pediatric- medical genetics side! Ali Hourani Melissa Hannish Reeba Thomas Alyssa Greenwell Tom Zahari Lavina Desai Ishita Datta Batoul Baidoun Ayoub as well as Mike Finkel & Mari T. Asato! I’m so proud of you guys and what you showed to me over the past year working with you! You are all exceptional examples of what it means to be resident doctors and future attendings. I’m glad that I could have played even but a small part in your growth and training! Remember, “Everything is fixable unless it isn’t!” 🤣. A simple mantra that will serve you well the further you go in your career and life. Onward and upward to Boston!
Tony Fauci supervised my vaccination ensuring that my Pfizer Covid Vaccine was just as valid as the Moderna Vaccine he received earlier today!
But seriously, very exciting time for all of us now! I’m particularly enthused about not just what mRNA vaccine technology means for COVID, but the profound upside it has for currently unvaccinatable diseases like MRSA, RSV, HSV and more!
I grew up with a world leading virologist as a father and I have currently spent years in clinical training in pediatrics & medical genetics and basic science medical research studying molecular & genetic mechanisms of known causes of autism and neurologic dysfunction. With this background speak with full confidence and authority that this is in the best interest of everyone to get vaccinated to stop the worst infectious epidemic in over 100 years! Be smart and stay safe!
