Dr. Erba entered medical school for the sole purpose of learning more about human diseases, so that he could focus his laboratory efforts on improving the human condition. However, he was surprised to find himself drawn to clinical care. He cares for people afflicted by acute leukemia, myelodysplastic syndromes myelodysplastic syndromes: (my-eh-lo-diss-PLASS-tik SIN-dromez) A group of disorders where the bone marrow does not work well, and the bone marrow cells fail to make enough healthy blood cells. Myelo refers to the bone marrow. Dysplastic means abnormal growth or development. People with MDS have low blood cell count for at… , and myeloproliferative neoplasms. In this role, Dr. Erba has had the privilege of treating people facing life-threatening illnesses. He strives to gain the trust of each of his patients, so that he can help them make difficult treatment decisions. He engages in clinical research clinical research: A type of research that involves individual persons or a group of people. There are three types of clinical research. Patient-oriented research includes clinical trials which test how a drug, medical device, or treatment approach works in people. Epidemiology or behavioral studies look at the… , evaluating novel agents that directly target the cancer cell to improve the degree of success in treating this illness. His patients benefit from my understanding of the newest available treatments, and also have access to promising investigational agents, when appropriate. In his faculty position at Duke University, he enjoys educating current oncologists as well as the next generation of physicians.
Duke Cancer Center
Durham, NC
United States