EP 33: Designing Cures | David Fajgenbaum

Design Lab with Bon Ku

Dr. David Fajgenbaum is a groundbreaking physician-scientist, disease hunter, speaker, and author. He went from being a beast-like college Quarterback to receiving his last rites while in medical school and nearly dying four more times battling Castleman disease. To try to save his own life, David spearheaded an innovative approach to research through the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network (CDCN) and discovered a treatment that is saving his life and others. He described his journey and lessons learned in Chasing My Cure, which has been translated into five languages, named one of the “Best Non-Fiction Books of 2019,” and profiled by Good Morning America, CNN, and BBC News, among others. Now, he is leading the effort to find treatments for Castleman disease, COVID-19, and other diseases. One of the youngest individuals ever appointed to the faculty at Penn Medicine and the top 1 percent youngest grant awardees of a leading NIH grant (R01), David Fajgenbaum has been profiled in a cover story by The New York Times, recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and has received numerous awards.

Bon and David talk about redesigning the current approach to pharmaceutical treatment of diseases, crowdsourcing in healthcare and why patients can’t wait for miracles.