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What's Up, Doc? featuring Dr. Rino Seedor | The Eye Believe Podcast · The Eye Believe Podcast

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hey everyone welcome back to the Eye Believe Podcast
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this is another episode of What's Up, Doc?
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and this week we have Doctor Rino
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Seedor from Thomas Jefferson University welcome Doctor
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Seedor
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thanks for having me on the podcast
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very excited to be here
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well we are thrilled to have you here
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so let's start with just a little bit about your backstory
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your childhood how did you grow up
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yeah so I was born in Japan
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and I came here when I was about two and a half um
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I have three brothers
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and so there's four of us and so my father
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who is a medical oncologist that many of you probably have heard
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about um moved from Japan to America for
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for more opportunities and so our entire family
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moved to the US
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when I was very little and then from there I
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eventually lived in the US
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all of my life but I grew up with three brothers which
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you can imagine was
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a hectic kind of chaotic household but um
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I think we got along very well and I'm still very close
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with all of my all of my siblings
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that's great
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when did you know you wanted to be a doctor
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so I think I always knew that I liked science
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I was good at it especially
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with my father being a doctor
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I I was exposed to medicine very early on
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but I didn't quite understand
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what it meant to be a doctor and
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and I started to get involved in laboratory research in
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I guess it was in college
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and then when I was applying
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for medical school I kind of had the decision of do I want to be a doctor
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or do I want to be a researcher um
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in the lab and so I think at that point I decided
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okay I really wanna see and interact
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with people and so I'm gonna be a doctor and so I think
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during um
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early on kind of in high school is when I
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decided I went through a
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there was a medical careers program that they had us
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that you could
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sign up for and so they they had a shadow
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in the hospital they had us learn about medicine
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and that course I think really
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solidified like I really wanna be a doctor
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and then from there
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I think the process of me becoming an oncologist
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again wasn't clear initially but the more I learned
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about medicine
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the more I learned about what it meant to be a doctor
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I think it made
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sense for me that I really wanted to be someone who
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took care of patients
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for a long time not just fix a problem and let them go like surgery or
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or some kind of procedure
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I wanted to get to know them have time to spend
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with them and follow them through some kind of journey and so
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I think that made sense that I was either
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gonna be a primary care doctor
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or something like an oncologist and then
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the more I learned about cancer and and treatment
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and the trials
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and all of the research that went into it
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I just became so
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so excited and immersed in it and so then
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I knew I was gonna be a medical oncologist
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and then from there um
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how did I become such a niche
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niche doctor in uveal melanoma um
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so like I said my father is an oncologist and actually
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Dr. Takami Sato is
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one of the uveal melanoma doctors
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that was really a pioneer in this field and so um
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as a as his daughter and now his colleague I'm very
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very proud to say that he has really taken the field
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so far from what what it was when he first started
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and I I didn't really understand
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that growing up I just thought of him as a
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dad who worked all the time and was just
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always working and working so hard
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but then as I understood
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more and more about the science behind it the
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what what he was doing I I
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became so proud of what he was doing and
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and so intrigued by the uveal melanoma patients
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and the uveal melanoma treatments
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being developed and I think that's
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I did more research I did
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more shadowing I did more clinics
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in uveal melanoma kind of during my residency and
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and fellowship and then I
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I fell in love and became very passionate
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about uveal melanoma patients and
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and what I can do for them and so
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it kind of a that was a kind of a long story but
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I think at every step
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I was just led towards yes I want to become a doctor
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yes I want to be a medical oncologist
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yes I want to study uveal melanoma and and kind of
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continue the legacy that my father built
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that's amazing
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so what is it like to be in the same field
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as a parent I mean do you feel like people compare
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you or has it has it been great to have somebody to ask
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for wisdom what's it like
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yeah so I get this question a lot and I I think
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overall I I love it I being able to see
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what my father has worked
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so hard for in his entire life what he has
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what he has created what he has developed at Jefferson
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and in the field of uveal melanoma that just makes me so proud
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and want to
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continue on like I said his legacy and his work um it
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he's never he's never pushed me to
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become an oncologist he's never pushed me to
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to be a certain way which I think has very been very
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kind of him and and helpful for me
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I kind of found my passion and what I wanna do but
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I was worried
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very much about being compared with someone who's just
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so well known and has done so much for this field
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I think it helps that I changed
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my last name when I got married
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I changed my last name from Sato to Seedor
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so it wasn't as recognizable but patients know they
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they know I'm related to Doctor Sato the amazing Doctor
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Sato but but I think more as I've gotten
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more mature I am I am okay with being Rino Seedor
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and that I am not gonna be an exact replica of
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Takami Sato like Takami Sato
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is an amazing person but I'm going to develop
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my passions what I'm good at
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what I can do for for the uveal
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melanoma field and so that acceptance
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early on has really helped me um
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not feel like I'm being overshadowed
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by someone so amazing I mean Doctor Sato
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working with Doctor Sato and Doctor
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Orloff I feel like I have the world's experts
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at my side for any kind of questions for any kind of um
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issues that I have and that's
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amazing to have but also to work aside
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them as a colleague as
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as my own individual I think um
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I've been working towards that
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definitely
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what are holidays like do you have like family members
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telling you guys like no shop talk
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they don't I think they just
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know that we're gonna talk shop
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sometimes but no actually at home we don't we rarely
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talk about work um maybe if we're we're driving
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on the way to work and we are happy to be driving
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together
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maybe we'll talk about work but actually at home
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I'm usually with my kids when I visit
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and so they're in grandparents mode and so they're
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they're hanging out with the kids they're talking
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about the kids activities and so um
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there's not too much shop talk
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that's very cool what type of doctor are you
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so I strive to be a doctor that walks patients
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through their cancer journey and someone that the
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the patient feels comfortable relying on trusting
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and and feels that is very compassionate I think this
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this diagnosis is really hard
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uveal melanoma is a hard diagnosis with a lot of unknowns
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a lot of scary moments a lot of um
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having to research and to know what's going on in this field
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and I wanna be that person that the patient can rely on
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I want I I wanna be up to date on everything
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so that the patient can trust me
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to help them make the right decisions for them and
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and ultimately
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at the end of the day it's about the patient
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and so I wanna be able to
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put everything into context
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for the patient to be able to help them make
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the right decision
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for for them and so I I strive to be a doctor that
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that really focuses on on the patient and and
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what what is best for them
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fantastic tell us a little bit about Jefferson
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just kind of brag on the institution
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a little bit why should people be
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excited to see you there
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yeah so my father has built this uveal melanoma program
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it was very much the metastatic uveal program
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initially and now we've certainly built our primary uveal
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program with our neo adjuvant adjuvant trials
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but I think what makes our institution so
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special special is that we have such a close
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relationship with our interventional radiologist
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we have such a we have a multi disciplinary
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we have such a we have a multi disciplinary
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tumor board on Monday mornings with the
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IR team the radiologist and then we have a clinic
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specifically with IR with an IR doc there
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who can show the radiology images to the patient
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talk about liver directed therapies
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and so there's very much an interconnectedness
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between interventional radiology
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treatments in the team and medical oncology
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treatments in the team and I think that that's so
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special and and necessary in uveal
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melanoma where you have liver dominant tumors
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but also are thinking about systemic therapies and so
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our our approach is how can we combine
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the two liver directed treatment and
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systemic therapy do we need to combine the two
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um and how how does that work for each patient and so I
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I think the multidisciplinary team that we have
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including the inpatient
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team the the outpatient team I think is
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is such a unique situation but also
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really helps
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the the patient and their journey and their options
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being able to provide different options for them
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um and then with the primary uveal melanoma patients
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we have such a close
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relationship with Wills Eye Hospital with Doctor
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Carol Shields and Dr. Sara Lally and so we are now
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able to provide
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two neo adjuvant trials we're gonna have
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we have an adjuvant trial we're gonna have a second one and so we have all of these different
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exciting trials that we can offer patients
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when they're first diagnosed
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or when they're metastatic
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that is amazing next question is
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what do you believe makes a great doctor
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so I think I will
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kind of go back to what I
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strive to be I think a good doctor really
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helps the patient make the right decision
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for them because I think with uveal
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melanoma with metastatic uveal melanoma the treatment
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decisions are not simple it's not clear
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cut it's not cookie cutter everyone gets X Y and Z
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just like skin melanoma everyone gets
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immunotherapy and then they get targeted
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therapy it's not like that uveal melanoma
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there's there's different there's liver directed
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treatments there's different liver directed
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treatments there's systemic therapy treatments
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do you combine them how do you sequence them
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there are different clinical trials that have different
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inclusion exclusion criteria how do we
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sequence the treatments
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to make sure that we're not excluding you from other things in the future
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but also is the right decision for you
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and so if weekly treatment doesn't sound
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like something you can commit to right now then let's talk about liver
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treatments which are potentially monthly treatments
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is it financially
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challenging for you to come to Jefferson
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frequently then look let's look for an option
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closer to home and so I think the the best doctor
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in the field especially of uveal melanoma
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is someone who is aware of all of the treatment options
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out there
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and is going to help you make the right decision
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the right sequences of treatments
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to get you as far as you can
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and is not afraid to refer you out to other providers
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when it's necessary
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when there are multiple treatment options
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how do you guide patients through that decision
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making process and what role do you believe patients
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should play in the decision making
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so
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uveal melanoma treatment as I've kind of alluded to is is
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there's it's no it's not clear cut and so it really
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it should be all about the patient
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it should be all about the patient's
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financial situation travel situation
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what's going on in their life what the what
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what side effects and benefits they're looking for
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it all depends
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on the patient and so should really be centered
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around the patient on what makes sense for them
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definitely
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how do you work with other specialists
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to provide the best care and what should patients
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know about being part of a multidisciplinary team
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so we
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work closely as I said with our
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interventional radiology team
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we also work closely with our radiation oncology
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team if if needed and so I think it really helps
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it's necessary in uveal melanoma
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which has a liver dominant disease
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to to have options of liver directed
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treatment and so it does help to have a multidisciplinary
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clinic where
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you get to see both teams at the same time the medical oncology
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team and the IR team
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to ask all of your questions to be able to understand
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what the different treatments
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are and what may be right for you and so
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I think it's helpful to have
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to to be at an institution that has access to both
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interventional radiology and medical oncology
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because that will expand your treatment options
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definitely
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what advancements are most exciting to you right now
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so I think the one there's
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there's a few different clinical trials that we're
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excited about the IDE196 drug darovasertib
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we're really hoping
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we'll get FDA approval sometime next year
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and that will hopefully be available for
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for many of our patients we have some very exciting
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neo adjuvant adjuvant trials
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that would we don't have anything approved
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in the neo adjuvant or adjuvant setting and so
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hopefully one of these trials will be um
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successful and we'll have some kind of option there
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in the metastatic setting there are different TCR T
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therapies out there
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prame targeted therapies out there I think there are
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some exciting things coming down the pipeline
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that hopefully will lead to more FDA approvals
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that would be great
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what keeps you going on the hard days
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my kids
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so I have a three year old and a five year old and
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I think at the end of the day
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I come home to them and they they
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I try to see things through their lens they're
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they're a kid who's
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excited about life and learning new things and
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and just being happy about the little things and so
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I think that's what they've taught me and so at the end of a
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hard day I like to come back
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come back to them and get my hugs in and and snuggle
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times and and book times and so
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so that's been really helpful for me and then I also like to run
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and so run and exercise and so
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that has also helped me when I'm exhausted um
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from from taking care of kids I
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I can disconnect and go on a run and
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and kind of have my time
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that's great how has this work changed you as a person
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I think it's helped me
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appreciate the little things more and the connections
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we have with other people and so
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even a uveal melanoma diagnosis which is so rare
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there's still a community behind it I think you
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you have to find the community
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but there is a very strong uveal melanoma
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melanoma community thanks to A Cure In Sight
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and some of the other patient advocacy organizations
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um but but you're not alone and that
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there's other people out there that you can reach out to
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to help you through your journey and so I think that has been a lesson
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for me that um I obviously
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I don't have cancer but just living
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life and going through hardships and and being a parent
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and it's it can be really hard but knowing I have
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people I can reach out to
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friends I have colleagues I have
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I have a community that I I can lean
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back on if I have hardship and that it's okay to lean
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lean on people when when it's hard um so I think that's
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that's a lesson
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that that I've learned over time from my patients
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is that you're not you're not always
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alone and that it's okay to reach out when you need help
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what does hope mean in your work
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so I think Hope Hope is what carries us through
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our day to day as a patient as a provider
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I think if we don't have hope
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everything just seems so dark and meaningless
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so I think it's so important
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for all of us to have some kind of hope as a patient
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to have hope for for treatments
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to work for the next treatment to come as a provider
16:13
to work on these clinical trials and really hope that
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there is a cure
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out there or there are better treatments
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out there I think hope is what carries us forward
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as an individual and as a group
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what do you love doing outside of work
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so outside of work I love
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spending time with my kids and my cats and then um
16:34
running I I just I think running has really helped me
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kind of disconnect and I
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read I actually listen to audiobooks when I run so I
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I get to listen to books I get to listen to podcast
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I get to
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just listen to music and and relax and disconnect
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from kind of everything
16:52
going on and that's been very useful
16:54
who has had the biggest impact on your life
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so I I think
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oh it's hard to pinpoint one person I mean obviously
17:05
for my career
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my father has had the biggest impact I mean seeing him
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and what he's done for uveal melanoma has inspired me to
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become a uveal melanoma medical oncologist
17:16
um my mother is has always been an inspiration as
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to become a mother myself
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and had to take care of children and
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she I mean she took care of four of us I mean it's
17:25
amazing I don't even know how she did it I have two and I'm overwhelmed
17:28
um but she she was such a good mom to us and she
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she has been kind of an inspiration
17:34
from from a motherhood standpoint
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okay the next question
17:38
is what does a perfect day look like for you
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perfect day would probably
17:44
be sleeping in which I don't get to do anymore
17:47
cause of kids and my body now
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just wakes up early because of my kids
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but being able to sleep in
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spend a lot of time with my kids just having fun
17:57
and then going for a run on my own
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that does sound great alright we're gonna shift
18:02
into our lightning
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round where I'm gonna throw some kind of quick
18:05
answer questions at you
18:06
the first one is what is your go to coffee or tea order
18:12
so if I'm at Starbucks they have a creme brulee
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latte that is only seasonal but it is my favorite
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Starbucks drink
18:19
well and we're getting close to that season
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yes yes it's coming looking forward to it
18:24
okay are you a morning person or a night owl
18:27
definitely morning person wake up coffee on the go
18:32
what's your favorite way to spend a day off
18:35
with my kids
18:37
what's your favorite vacation spot
18:40
beach
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because of my kids who love the beach
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oh that's the best family vacation to me too
18:46
what is currently on your playlist
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my kids songs
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Disney songs
18:53
Monster Jam songs those are on repeat on my playlist
18:57
um probably oh yes I remember those days
19:01
what is your favorite movie or TV show
19:05
so currently watching Ted Lasso
19:07
um really love it as kind of a a fun disconnect
19:11
um and then my all time favorite TV show is this is us
19:15
and I'm just realizing
19:16
that I don't have what is your favorite
19:17
book on these lists
19:19
but because you said audiobook I'm gonna ask do you have a favorite
19:22
book
19:24
so I recently finished
19:26
the throne of glass series
19:28
which I actually really loved
19:29
so I would have to say right now that it's my favorite
19:33
okay I will check that out
19:36
are you more of a planner or more go with the flow
19:40
definitely planner plan everything on the calendar
19:44
my the opposite is my husband who just
19:47
goes with the flow and so I think we
19:49
make an interesting team
19:51
yeah that sounds like you balance each other yes
19:54
okay what is a small thing that makes your day better
19:58
coffee coffee yes do you have a favorite
20:02
quote or mantra that you live by
20:05
so I have a sticker in my room that someone
20:07
gave me I'm not sure who but it says live in the moment
20:10
and so it's on my whiteboard in my office and I um
20:14
look at it and kind of remember
20:16
live in the now enjoy the now um
20:19
live in the moment so that's probably my mantra
20:23
love that
20:24
what advice would you give your younger self
20:28
I would tell my younger self to to enjoy
20:31
the now I think when I was younger I was so hyper focused on
20:35
getting through college getting
20:36
through medical school getting through residency
20:38
fellowship and then finally
20:39
becoming an attending and that I didn't
20:41
I don't think I stopped and enjoyed
20:43
everything that I had at the moment all the friendships
20:46
that I had all the fun things that we did
20:49
and so I would tell my younger self to to slow down
20:53
and and stop planning all the time and just to enjoy
20:57
so true do you have a hidden talent
21:02
that's hidden to us
21:04
oh hidden talent yes don't know that I do
21:07
or and I was I did hold the high school pole vault
21:10
record for some time and so I
21:13
that may be my hidden talent that I was really
21:16
that I was decent at pole vault when I was younger
21:18
I think that's a great talent I mean
21:20
I've never pole vaulted but it looks
21:22
tough it looks intimidating yeah I was a gymnast for
21:26
for many
21:26
many years and then I hurt my back so then I started
21:29
doing diving and pole vault which is essentially
21:32
inverting yourself upside down just like gymnastics
21:34
and so I think it translated
21:36
well to being good at those
21:37
that's very impressive good talent okay
21:40
what is something that people would be
21:42
surprised to learn about you besides that
21:46
hmm
21:48
I would say I
21:50
don't know that many people know I can speak Japanese
21:53
pretty fluently
21:54
um like I said I was born in Japan
21:56
came here when I was two and then my parents
21:58
had me go to a Japanese
21:59
language school every Saturday for
22:02
a really long time and so I am
22:05
at least conversationally fluent in Japanese
22:07
and can still read and write some Japanese
22:10
I'm proud of and I'm hoping to
22:12
instill in my children as well
22:14
that's amazing I love it when people
22:17
come to the US and keep their family languages because
22:21
so many people that are more our age
22:23
it was kind of frowned upon and they don't speak
22:25
their native language
22:26
so I love that they did that for you I think that's so
22:29
amazing
22:30
yeah I think as the generations
22:32
go it's gonna be harder and harder to keep
22:34
like our culture Japanese culture but I
22:36
at least for our kids I would love for them to learn about Japanese
22:39
culture and to speak at least some Japanese
22:42
yes that's amazing okay if you could
22:46
instantly master a new skill what would it be
22:49
oh um I would love to bake and make cakes
22:54
so I am a sweet tooth I love dessert and cakes
22:58
and so at some point when I had more time in my life
23:01
I love to bake cakes
23:02
and make different cakes and decorate but I was never
23:05
like that good at it so I would love to learn how to
23:09
bake and make these extravagant cakes like the
23:12
greatest British Baking Show and all of that
23:14
yeah I mean they're works of art
23:47
coffee or tea
23:49
oh that's so hard I love both so I have
23:52
coffee in the morning and then tea at night
23:55
that's what I do too beach or mountains
23:58
beach early mornings or late nights early mornings
24:03
sweet or salty sweet
24:06
and our last question what is your favorite
24:08
snack or treat
24:10
oh it's hard to pinpoint one favorite snack treat
24:14
I am a chocolate
24:15
girl so it has to be something with chocolate
24:17
right now I I would say Reese's I do love my Reese's cup
24:21
oh yeah that's a favorite for sure alright Doctor Seedor
24:25
thank you so much for doing this and taking
24:27
time out of your busy day before we wrap up is there anything
24:30
else that you would like to say or leave us with
24:33
well thank you for having me on this podcast I
24:37
I would say for patients to
24:39
to again you're not alone there are
24:42
many patient advocacy
24:43
groups out there like A Cure In Sight there's many um
24:46
patient communities that you can connect
24:48
with and so I would highly recommend
24:49
trying to connect with some of the other patients
24:52
and to if possible to be able to go to a center who
24:57
sees a lot of uveal
24:58
melanoma at least once to be able to get kind of a
25:01
a landscape of what are these treatments
25:03
that are out there what are the trials
25:05
that are out there in order to be able to understand
25:08
what sequence the treatments would ideally be
25:11
alright everyone
25:12
thank you so much for tuning in and watching
25:14
wherever you're listening or watching please subscribe
25:16
and please leave us a comment
25:18
if you have any questions for Doctor
25:19
Seedor leave them we'll try to pass them along
25:21
or if you have any comments
25:23
if you've seen her we'd love to hear your experience
25:25
and go to our website ACureInSight.org
25:28
up at the top is a button to subscribe
25:30
to our newsletter
25:31
that comes out once a month and we'll give you all the latest
25:34
information in the ocular melanoma community
25:37
so do that stay informed and then check out our zoom
25:40
group it's every Tuesday night at seven PM
25:42
Eastern we have a lot of events coming up
25:44
we also have swing for sight
25:46
coming up in April
25:48
and if you missed it the big announcement
25:50
is Eye Believe next year in October probably
25:53
we don't have a date yet is going to be in Manhattan
25:56
with Dr. Materin and Doctor Carvajal so please keep that on
26:00
kind of you know roughly save the date
26:01
even though we don't have an exact date hopefully
26:03
we'll have that soon and hopefully we will see you all next year in Manhattan
26:06
and everybody I just hope you have a wonderful
26:09
week and stay safe and stay well and we will see you all next time