An Unexpected Fight: A pediatric cancer podcast An Unexpected Fight

Nilay Shah, MD is a clinician-scientist and Associate Professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology/BMT at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. His primary clinical focus is on pediatric solid tumors, including neuroblastomas, tumors of the kidneys, and rare solid tumors of childhood. His research focuses on the molecular drivers of pediatric cancers and how new treatment approaches can be taken to better target those drivers. In this role, he works to identify new uses of currently available anticancer treatments, including drugs originally developed for use against cancers in adults.  He serves as Associate Director for Liver Tumor, Kidney Tumor, Germ Cell, and Neuroblastoma Targeted Therapies, and is currently the Sponsor and Study Principal Investigator the CaboMain trial, a Phase 2 study evaluating the efficacy of the oral anticancer agent cabozantinib as a maintenance therapy for ultra-high-risk solid tumors.

He also serves as co-director of the Cancer Genetics Program. This program serves to advance the use of genetic and genomic evaluations for the benefits of patients. In this role, he sees patients in the Cancer Predisposition Clinic for evaluation, surveillance, and management of patients with genetic alterations that predispose to cancer development. He also consults on patients for precision oncology, partnering with the Institute for Genomic Medicine to identify therapeutic approaches based on patient tumor and germline genomics.

Dr. Shah is a graduate of the Honors Program in Medical Education at Northwestern University, earning his medical degree in 2003. Dr. Shah completed a residency in General Pediatrics in 2006 at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, and a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Johns Hopkins University and the National Cancer Institute in 2011. He also was a Research Instructor at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., prior to his arrival at Nationwide Children's Hospital in 2013.

National Pediatric Cancer Foundation Website
nationalpcf.org
 
Personal emails to contact us:
kgoddard@nationalpcf.org
tmcconathy@nationalpcf.org
 
Health Navigator Form to Contact Kelly
https://nationalpcf.org/health-navigator/
 
Online toolkit - we would also be happy to mail you a copy if desired
https://nationalpcf.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Pediatric-Cancer-Toolkit-Your-Guide-National-Pediatric-Cancer-Foundation-2022.pdf

MilliesMiracle.Net
• 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗛𝗲𝗿 𝗠𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗹𝗲 – The children’s picture book 
• 𝐄𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀 𝐌𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞: 𝟐𝟏 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐅𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝 
• 𝐄𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐌𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞: 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬

Dr Takijah Heard is a Chicago native, born on the south side of Chicago. Dr Heard received her doctorate of medicine from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. She remained on the south side at UIC/Advocate Hope Children’s Hospital for her pediatric residency. Dr Heard’s pediatric neurology residency and epilepsy fellowship was completed at Harvard’s Boston Children Hospital. After completing her fellowship in epilepsy, she attended the Harvard School of Public Health to learn more about how to conduct epilepsy research in order to impact the world on a broader level. She has travelled to various countries in Central America and Africa including Zambia and Tanzania teaching and spreading awareness about epilepsy. In 2018, Dr Heard continued these educational efforts by travelling to Kenya with a mentoring program called I Am Abel Foundation.
Dr Heard’s teaching skills have been honored as she was the recipient of the Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award during her first position as the Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Houston. She has worked extensively with the Epilepsy Foundation of Texas and Greater Chicago and now functions as a board member and physician advisor. She currently serves on the Physician Advisory Board for the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Chicago. Dr Heard’s passion for epilepsy has been shared on National Public Radio (NPR), FOX News in Chicago and WGN local news in Chicago. She has been named as one of 2013’s Top America Doctors. Dr Heard has authored chapters in books and articles focused on pediatric epilepsy. Additionally, she has been featured in an award winning book called Against All Odds Celebrating Black Women in Medicine that has recently turned into a documentary renamed Changing the Face of Medicine which was released in 2017.
Dr Takijah Heard is currently working as pediatric neurologist and epileptologist at NorthShore University Health System as the Director of Pediatric Neurophysiology. She also works at Neurabilities Healthcare treat a more broad range of neurologic disease, behaviors and epilepsy. She cares for kids with any and all neurologic issues but has a special passion for children with seizures. She has helped with the creation of the MediKidz comic book series highlight her personal patients ability to conquer their epilepsy. She continues to teach medical students and residents about pediatric neurology and epilepsy in hopes of broadening the field. In 2022, she was awarded the Chicagoland Mentor of the Year Award by a medical mentoring group called the I Am Abe Foundation. She currently in on Instagram as the Baby Brain Doctor in an effort to increase education through the media avenues. She has pushed her passion for epilepsy awareness to the Mrs. America platform. She was crowned Mrs. Illinois on 6/17/23 and will be competing for Mrs. America on 8/26/23 in Las Vegas, Nevada. If crowned Mrs America, she will have a national platform to influence change in epilepsy education, care and awareness. In the meantime, she will use her 1 year of reign as Mrs. Illinois to increase epilepsy awareness through various speaking and appearances throughout Illinois.

Miranda Walker  with her mom, Amber. 
an 11 year old with an amazing story of perseverance and tenacity with an understanding well beyond her years

Joel was born in El Paso Texas and raised in Sunland Park, New Mexico. Joel attended New Mexico State University and graduated in 2001 and started working in ophthalmology surgery. Joel also attended the University of Texas at El Paso and graduated in 2014. He currently works for Southwest Eye Institute and Vista Surgery Center. He created the nonprofit organization, “The Gold Corner”, and also started the YouTube channel under the same name. He uses this platform to speak with parents whose children have been affected by cancer. He created this channel to raise awareness where these little warriors are showcased as they are, heroes. Whether these children were already called home or are currently fighting.  
Joel is also a member of the worldwide brotherhood “Bearded Villains” where he serves as the Charity Head Officer. Bearded Villains is a charity-based worldwide brotherhood. 
He is also an ordained minister, author, motivational speaker but his passion is martial arts. 
Joel works as a referee and judge for professional and amateur mixed martial arts fights and is licensed with several sanctioning bodies. This is where he got his nickname “The Bearded Ref” 
He welcomed his daughter Mia into the world on July 17th, 2015, But his world turned upside down in Sept of 2017.  
See more about his organization at thegoldcorner.org


As always, you can visit noraswarriors.com for more information!