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What's Up, Doc? Featuring Dr. Vincent Ma | The Eye Believe Podcast · The Eye Believe Podcast

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hey everyone welcome back to
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another episode of the Eye Believe Podcast
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this is another episode in our series What's Up Doc
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and this week we have Doctor Vincent
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Ma from the university of Wisconsin welcome Doctor Ma
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thank you thank you for having me here absolutely
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we are
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excited to have you you've been on before you've been in webinars
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you're a familiar
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face so I'm excited we get to talk about you today
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so tell us a little bit about your backstory like
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where did you grow up what was childhood like
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yeah so I was actually born and raised in Reno Nevada
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actually um actually out in the west coastal region
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um I was actually born to immigrant parents
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so I'm a first generation
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uh Asian American uh first in my family to uh
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not only graduate from high school but also college
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and and medical school but um so I lived in Nevada for
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most of my life and then actually
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ventured out to the Midwest for my training so
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I was actually at Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan
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for about six years for both my residency
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and fellowship
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and you know really developed a love interest in
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you know research
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melanoma oncology and that's kind of what
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inspired me to take up a a career and faculty position
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at the university of Wisconsin and so
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I didn't move too far
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I still stayed in the Midwest but moved to Madison
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and I've been there now since 2021
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practicing as a melanoma medical oncologist and
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treating a variety of different patients with melanoma
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skin cancer and of course uveal melanoma
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fantastic
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and when did you know that you wanted to be a doctor
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so I would say
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fairly early on I would say when I was in college
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you know I was just so fascinated by how cancer
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sort of develops you know just the biology of it
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and I also know that when I was growing up um you know
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being exposed to medicine
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was just a very unfamiliar territory for my family
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and I always saw myself
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as sort of the interpreter somebody who you know
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had to learn a lot about it in order to translate
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some of it to my parents
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and that's where I actually developed a lot of fascination
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about medicine
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and then at some point in college where I developed
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an interest in cancer research where I actually carried
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that with me when I went to medical school and said
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look
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um I think this is what I wanna do I wanna do oncology
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I want to do research in this field
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and at the same time I also want to be sort of that
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provider
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who can take care of people you know be sort of an advocate
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to care for those uh who are going through a tough time
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you know speaking on
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behalf of what I went through as a child taking
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care of you know the health issues with my family
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and so you know it it was sort of a marriage
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for me to kind of
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merge both cancer research and being a doctor
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um that I've honestly found sort of the best uh
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best position for myself
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that's amazing
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how did you first get involved with ocular melanoma
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yeah so I actually developed an interest in
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uveal or ocular melanoma during my fellowship training
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you know at the university of Michigan so um
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there is a an eye institute there that
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where I got actually quite exposed to a lot of patients
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with uveal melanoma and
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really at that time there was actually no FDA approved
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treatment options you knowTebentafusp
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which is the first approved treatment
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wasn't available then and I remembered
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we had to use a variety of different
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off label treatments
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for some of our patients with metastatic disease
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and I felt incredibly touched by
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you know a lot of the patients
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who were just were not doing well and just you know
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were going through such a difficult
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time and for me it really
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made me motivated to say look
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I need to pursue a career and do more research
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particularly for this disease because
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I really wanna help these patients who have a very icky
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rare disease and hopefully get good outcomes
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like those that we're seeing with
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metastatic cutaneous melanoma and so that sort of um
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kept with me even to this day as somebody
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who is now faculty and doing research in this field
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wanting to do more to better and advance
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the field of treatment for patients with
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uh uveal melanoma
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definitely and what kind of doctor are you
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so I'm a medical oncologist so I specialize
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in the treatment of patients with cancer
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particularly with using medicines like immunotherapy
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chemotherapy
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and a variety of other systemic treatment options
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tell us a little bit about um
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where you're at right now so you're at the university of Wisconsin
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brag about the facilities
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and why should people be excited to come see you there
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yeah so um first of all love the institution
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you know if you're a Badger fan you know you're part of
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interested in football I mean there's a great football
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culture here in the state of Wisconsin
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if you love cheese curds you know the state
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and the city has a lot of great uh
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restaurants with cheese curds but
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you know beyond that we actually have a excellent
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an absolutely amazing uh Cancer Center
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also known as the university of Wisconsin
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Carbone Cancer Center um here
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we're the only NCI designated
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Comprehensive Cancer Center in the entire
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state of Wisconsin
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and since I joined here about five years ago
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I've really helped
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grow and develop our skin cancer and melanoma program
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and one of the achievements I would say
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having come you know um having
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been here now for five years is actually developing our
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liver directed
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therapy program specifically our Melphalan
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PHP or Hepzato program
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we were actually one of the first six centers
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in the United States
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to actually bring this treatment available
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when it became FDA approved
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and we're one of the highest
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users of this particular treatment and technique
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around the country
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and so since we started this program
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we've treated a great number of patients across
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multiple states in the Midwest and across the US
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and had great outcomes
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you know with patients with metastatic uveal melanoma
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and more recently
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we've been adopting the use of the Hepzato treatment
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with immunotherapy and we're seeing
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some great success in this treatment as well
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but one thing I want to emphasize is you know
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coming from the Midwest
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you know we're also trying to bring in studies
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that you would otherwise find at other big centers
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you know in the coastal regions in the US and so
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what I'm trying to do here is trying to bring in some of the latest and greatest
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advancements and treatment options and clinical trials
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so that patients who do have metastatic uveal
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melanoma don't need to travel
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far they can just come to this Midwest region here uh
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great get some great cheese curds
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but also get wonderful care for their melanoma here at the same time
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right absolutely
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I love that you throw cheese in with treatment like
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what could be better
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what could be better it's America's
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Dairyland Wisconsin absolutely
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okay what do you believe makes a great doctor
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I think a great doctor uh requires
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several elements I think one who is both compassionate
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and very thoughtful and very thorough
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you know I think one of the things I've always been
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striving to become is somebody
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who is very thorough with a patient's care
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being meticulous but also thinking about
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personalizing a patient's care
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you know as a medical oncologist
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you know we oftentimes get
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really focused on treating the cancer
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but we oftentimes forget about treating the patient
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and one of the things I really emphasize
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as part of my care for patients is
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how do I at the same time be aggressive with treating
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the cancer
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but also making sure that the treatment I'm giving
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isn't too aggressive
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to a point that it's actually compromising
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the patient's quality of life
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I think a lot of us sometimes
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neglect or forget about it
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you know sometimes the treatments we give
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require frequent treatment visits lab work imaging
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you know just frequent visits to the cancer center and
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for me what I also often times discuss with patients
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when I'm talking about therapy is how much we can
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try to treat the disease
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but at the same time I want to make sure the patients
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are doing well both
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emotionally physically and psychologically
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and so I think what makes a really great doctor
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is really thinking holistically about the patient
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not just on one thing but making
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sure the patients are doing well overall
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love that approach
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if someone becomes your patient
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what can they expect from you
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what they can expect from me is
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somebody who is very thoughtful very empathetic
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and somebody
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who wants to be very comprehensive with their care
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you know as I mentioned
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I think the important things is I do want to make sure that we do everything
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we can to treat the cancer effectively
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but at the same time I wanna make sure that we're
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emphasizing quality of life at the same time
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you know there's no good reason if
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I'm gonna have a patient
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come into treatment once a week with lab monitoring
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and frequent drives to the clinic
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if it means that they can't spend the time in between visits
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you know
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spending time with their loved ones or go on vacation
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and so as an oncologist and somebody that you know
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a patient
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that I wanna care for I want them to know that I'm here to take care of them
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not just with their cancer
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but I wanna make sure that they're able to live their life to the fullest
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while trying to overcome a very icky disease
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at the same time definitely
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what is your overall approach
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to treating ocular melanoma
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so because as a medical oncologist I primarily
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treat patients
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with metastatic or advanced stage disease
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I think one of the things I
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convey to patients a lot is you know as of right now
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as of 2 thousand twenty six there's actually no cure
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for this disease
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and so one of the things I try to emphasize is with the available
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treatment options we have available
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whether they're standard of care off label
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clinical trials right now
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we're trying to buy as much time as much as possible
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trying to shrink the disease and make sure that we can
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maintain good disease
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control so that we can buy some more time
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until we can get
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an a treatment option that is highly effective
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and can potentially get them to cure one day
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you know I know that it's an ambitious
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goal but I do think that it is possible
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that in the future
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that we're gonna be able to find a very effective treatment
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for all patients with metastatic uveal
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melanoma and actually achieve
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cure for this disease and
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I'm hoping that I could be a part of that research
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and really help patients get to that point as well but
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as of right now I'm doing our very best
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working with a lot of great smart people
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around this country
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uh trying to find a cure for this disease
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wonderful and 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
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do you believe the patient
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should play in the decision making
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great question I think
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when I'm reviewing treatment options with patients um
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one of the things I look at is you know what is the patient
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going through you know what are some of the factors
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and medical conditions
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that they are currently have right now
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and I also look at what is the current
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status of the disease right when we treat
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or when I treat patients with metastatic uveal melanoma
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I'm looking at you know where is the disease located
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right is it confined to the liver
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is it both in the liver and other parts of the body
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or is the disease even just purely outside the liver
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right and so what I also do is you know I review
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a variety of different treatment options you know both
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standard of care options
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off label treatment options but also clinical trials
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and I tried to think you know
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which one would fit the patient
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both in terms of effectively treating the disease
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but also at the same time being
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mindful of their medical conditions
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that I don't make them feel worse or even
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kill them in the process of effectively
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treating the disease
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and so what I often do is I think about sequencing
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and so
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if for example I use an aggressive treatment option
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and it does a great job which I'm hoping
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which I'm hoping for
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if it does not work out what is my plan B
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what is my plan C and so
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while I like to emphasize being aggressive
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with treatment
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I also have to be mindful that since we're not
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able to 100% cure the disease
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I have to make sure that if the first treatment option
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doesn't work what is my next line
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option that could also be effective as well
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the other thing I also emphasize is how much my treatment
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can also impact quality of life so I also take into
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account of what patients want to go through
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do they want to come in and get treatment once a week
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or would they prefer to do it once every three to four weeks or once every
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six to eight weeks
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these are factors I take into consideration
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how far do they need to drive
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where can they get the treatment as somebody who
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treats patients in Madison Wisconsin
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I have a lot of patients who travel
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two even four hours to come to our center for therapy
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and so often times I have to be mindful of
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do they have to come in frequently for treatment
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can I potentially collaborate with their community
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oncologist and make sure that can they get
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some treatment in Madison
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versus treatment also locally
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or even a combination of the two so
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kind of getting to it but what I usually like to emphasize is how can I
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comprehensively care for patients
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not only to treat the disease but at the same time
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being mindful of their quality of life
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and making sure that while they're getting treatment
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they're also able to maximize living and being able to
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enjoy time with their loved
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ones and being able to go on vacation
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absolutely
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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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great question so when we're treating patients
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with metastatic uveal melanoma
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with this being a very rare disease
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and very limited treatment options I often
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times discuss and collaborate with other specialists
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often times to
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come up with the best plan of care for the patient
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and some of the specialists
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I interact with especially for uveal
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melanoma would include our ocular oncologists
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our interventional radiologists our surgeons
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our anesthesiologists
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I also sometimes collaborate and work with other
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medical oncologists as well I often and I'm a firm
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believer that if you have multiple minds
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coming together
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you actually come up with a much better plan
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than just a single individual and so with patients
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no one patient is the same as another
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and I firmly believe that every patient has a unique
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characteristic of their disease
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and we need to find the most effective and personalized
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treatment approach
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for each patient because I firmly believe
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a personalized approach
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ultimately leads to better outcomes
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and also better quality of life
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what advancements are most exciting to you right now
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yeah well I will say I'm very
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excited about the potential
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FDA approval of some of the novel oral agents for this
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disease so Darovasertib and Crizotinib was presented
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as a phase 2 3 study uh earlier this year at ASCO
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and so I look forward to having that
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as another potential option to treat our patients
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um but what I'm really excited
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about is just some of the advancements
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we've seen so far in other diseases that I'm hoping
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could potentially be brought to uveal melanoma
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and I would say the current trend
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right now I would say is cellular therapy
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or infiltrating lymphocyte therapy
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and I say that because we're seeing
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that this particular treatment can be highly effective
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in the earlier
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phases of the study for patients with uveal melanoma
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and the nice thing about it is it could potentially
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just be a single one time treatment so
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that is a potential opportunity to treat patients
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a single time and not requiring frequent visits
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albeit
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that single one time treatment does require a lot of
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investment in time and it can be pretty toxic but
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if we can get our patients
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to that particular one or single time treatment
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and ultimately give them long term disease control
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I mean that is probably
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where we need to go towards in terms of our focus
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is how do we advance
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that more and make it more accessible to patients
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but as of right now it's still in the clinical trial
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phase but
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we'll need some time to be able to study that in more patients
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who participate in clinical trials
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and one thing I would always emphasize is for patients
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with metastatic uveal melanoma
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because it's a rare disease
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I highly recommend patients
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enroll or participate or at least consider
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clinical trials
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because it's an opportunity to get something that might be better
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than standard of care
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and it's an opportunity to advance
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the field and help the next generation
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yeah so you mentioned
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lymphocytes is that like TIL therapy yes
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tumor infiltrating
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lymphocyte therapy so I just want to emphasize that
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uh tumor infiltrating lymphocytes
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perfect I know I know there's a little bit of buzz
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about till therapy and I just wanted to
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see if that was the same make sure that was the same thing
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so if if somebody's listening
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they might know it by TIL um okay so let's
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do a little bit of personal questions
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now what keeps you going on the hard days
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yeah I mean
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there's a lot of days where
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you know I come home and I realize
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that you know there's some of my patients
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who are just unfortunately
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not doing well with treatment
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but what really keeps me going are you know the patients
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who have actually done really well
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and are incredibly thankful for the work that myself
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and my team have done
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and that's what really keeps me motivated
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sort of knowing
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that I've been able to change and impact their life uh
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prolong their survival
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in the midst of having a really really bad disease
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um that's what keeps me going in terms of my work
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you know oncology
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is notoriously known for being a very sad field and I
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I think it oftentimes dissuades
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people from wanting to go into it but
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you know we're getting
18:35
better and better at treating cancer and I'm so
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excited to be part of the journey of of making it
18:40
better and and hopefully improving
18:42
the quality of lives of patients with cancer
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how has this work changed you as a person
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I would say you know having
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trained in the field of oncology for
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six years before I joined faculty you know at Wisconsin
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I think I never realized how much uh
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being an oncologist you know impacted my empathy
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you know I would say over the years you know
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over the last five years since I've been in Wisconsin
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um I've really sort of developed a wonderful
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relationship you know with my patients
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hearing their journey hearing the stories
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hearing what they've gone through and it's just
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really made me feel like even more of a human being
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more compassionate towards people and
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I really think this this job and this career
19:31
that I have that's really made me a better person
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in in terms of you know um having a a better
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understanding of what people are going through
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you know cause I feel in many ways you know I'm
19:42
I'm very fortunate
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that you know I'm able to be in a situation
19:46
where I can help people and
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I I want patients to know that you know um
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it's it's really those
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those patients that really impact me and inspire
19:55
me to work harder and and and have more compassion
19:59
that's beautiful
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what have your patients taught you over these years
20:07
um
20:08
I will say you know sometimes as a medical oncologist
20:12
um I oftentimes get very wordy
20:15
with all the medical jargon
20:17
and it's just like so scientific and uh
20:20
sometimes I get to the point where I'm like
20:22
what did I just say because
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uh there's no way my patients can understand
20:27
you know when when patients
20:28
read a radiology report it's all this like mumbo
20:30
jumbo totally different language right
20:33
and one of the things that I would say I Learned
20:36
from my patients is how to tone it down right like
20:40
how can I use lay person language to properly convey
20:45
important concepts right and I I will say my patients
20:49
have really taught me to be patient
20:52
um at the same time really have shown
20:55
me that you know there's a way to properly
20:57
convey information to patients
20:59
you know both good and bad news but also
21:02
medically relevant information in their care
21:05
and so I would say over the years
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my patients have taught me to just be
21:10
um more patient use more lay person language
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um and it's really made me a better person
21:16
at at explaining
21:17
things especially complex things to people
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what does hope mean to you in your work
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hope to me is realizing that
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you know despite going through a very difficult time
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having a very difficult disease
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and going through a very rough treatment
21:38
um that there is an opportunity that
21:41
you're gonna be able to do just fine
21:44
you're gonna be able to survive
21:46
you know as a medical oncologist
21:48
one of the things I often do is I try to inspire hope
21:51
optimism that they're gonna do great
21:54
that patients are gonna do great
21:56
you know I firmly believe that the mind and the body are connected
21:59
and if I can convince a patient
22:01
to remain hopeful and optimistic in their care
22:04
I really do firmly believe that it translates into
22:08
being able to effectively treat their disease
22:11
and also prolong their survival
22:14
and so for me when it comes to my care for patients
22:17
um one of the things I heavily emphasize is having
22:20
hope that we're gonna be able to get you through this
22:23
we're gonna buy you as much time as possible
22:25
we're gonna do everything we can to treat the disease
22:28
so that one day we're gonna be able to find that
22:31
FDA approved treatment that's gonna be able to cure it
22:34
and I firmly believe it's gonna happen in our generation
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amazing what do you love to do outside of work
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haha
22:43
uh well I like to do a lot of research um I like to
22:47
uh write papers um I like to do mentorship
22:50
you know a lot of that is certainly work related but
22:53
at the same time you know hobbies wise
22:55
I'm very much of a foodie so I love going out to
22:59
restaurants trying new and different types of cuisine
23:02
I also love to travel especially international
23:06
there's one
23:07
continent I haven't traveled yet it's Africa
23:09
and so I'm hoping to be able to travel
23:11
there in the very near future
23:13
but some things I also like to do just kind of on my spare
23:16
time sort of on a day to day basis is is also running
23:19
I think running is just a very therapeutic
23:22
sort of activity keeps me healthy keeps me going but
23:27
you know overall you know
23:28
aside from just all the heavy work that I do as taking
23:31
care of my patients and doing research
23:33
I do try to find some time to kind of unwind
23:35
and and even relax a little bit
23:38
well that's actually my next question is how do you unwind
23:41
after a long day hahaha uh
23:44
well I have to say uh other than you know going out to
23:48
restaurants and being a foodie and running
23:51
um I very much love to sleep so
23:54
uh sometimes I love to take naps
23:56
you know after a long day at work but uh overall I mean
24:00
I sometimes just don't unwind
24:02
at all I mean I'm just a go getter
24:04
and I feel like there just has to be more work
24:06
that needs to be done and so um
24:09
I seldom ever I would say completely unwind
24:12
but when I do have a little spare time
24:14
things I enjoy are you know running going out to eat
24:19
sometimes I'll also cook a little bit as well
24:22
that's something I'm still working on
24:23
not good by any means but still working on it
24:28
nice that's a good balance
24:29
eat and then you run off the calories
24:31
then you get to eat
24:32
again so I I like where you're going with this
24:34
exactly exactly
24:37
ha ha ha okay what's something
24:39
that helps you reset when things feel overwhelming
24:44
yeah that's a great question um so I'm not
24:47
particularly trained in it but I do think meditation
24:51
and just taking a deep breath you know just also
24:55
just helps me tremendously
24:57
I can't tell you how often
24:58
that you know sometimes in the middle of clinic
25:00
when so much is going on right
25:03
patients aren't doing well I'm getting paged
25:06
emailed you know lots of messages being
25:08
sent to me that sometimes
25:10
what I need to do is just say look
25:12
just stop right there take a deep breath
25:14
have some mindfulness just be very
25:17
very cognizant of what's going on in your environment
25:19
and that just helps me just sort of reset
25:22
and allows me to just say
25:24
it's gonna be OK and I say that to myself
25:28
and I try to emphasize
25:29
that that's something patients should do as well
25:31
you know sometimes things can be very overwhelming
25:34
anxiety provoking
25:36
and if you can just kind of take a moment just relax
25:39
even a minute or two um
25:40
you'll realize that if you just take a deep breath
25:43
and just shift your focus just for a little bit
25:46
you're gonna be just fine
25:47
and that's what I've been doing for myself
25:49
during stressful times but
25:51
that's what I do to unwind
25:54
that's fantastic
25:56
okay who has had the biggest impact on your life
26:01
oh that's a great question um
26:07
I would say I wouldn't say one person in particular
26:11
um I actually would say two individuals
26:15
um and they would actually be my parents
26:18
um believe it or not
26:20
you know despite my parents being immigrants
26:22
you know to the United States um they themselves
26:26
have never had the opportunity for education
26:29
and you know when they came to the United States
26:32
you know they really emphasized
26:33
how important it was to get a good education
26:36
um
26:36
to work hard but at the same time be very compassionate to people
26:41
and my parents have really instilled
26:43
upon me sort of the importance and the value of
26:46
working hard and has really allowed me
26:48
many opportunities as you can imagine to
26:51
not only be the first in my generation
26:54
to actually graduate from high school
26:57
but also to get into
26:58
college but also to go into medical school
27:01
and to also one day become and what I am now a doctor
27:05
um never have my parents ever thought that I would
27:08
become a physician and
27:10
they have just been so incredibly
27:12
supportive in every possible way and so um
27:15
if there's anyone that I could thank for all the
27:17
success you know that I've experienced
27:19
over the years it would actually be my parents so um
27:22
they've really just helped me throughout my entire
27:25
journey to get to where I'm at today
27:58
what does a perfect day look like for you
28:03
a perfect day
28:04
and this could be imaginary and hypothetical
28:07
but having a full clinic day where every patient
28:10
is just doing wonderful
28:12
where every single scan comes back with
28:15
no evidence of active cancer
28:17
I mean that is the perfect day
28:20
that I can envision for myself
28:21
and then after a long clinic day I go home you know
28:25
do a quick light run and then cook a nice meal
28:28
and then just kind of take a long good nap
28:30
I mean that's kind of like a perfect ideal day but
28:33
you know in reality I think that
28:35
perfect is not always possible and so I think a reality
28:40
an ideal day that I've typically seen would be
28:42
having a great clinic day that even in the midst
28:45
of a patient or two that's not doing
28:47
well with treatment that they have a good optimistic
28:49
attitude and that keeps me going
28:52
and at the end of the day after a long clinic day
28:55
although I'm tired you know I'm able to at least
28:57
get a run or two in and be able to go out to a
29:00
restaurant and have a nice meal but
29:02
that to me is a great day
29:04
and in addition to that you know
29:05
getting a grant proposal approved and getting awarded
29:09
that would be an an amazing awesome day but
29:12
that doesn't happen often but
29:13
it it's something that I strive
29:15
for and and look forward to absolutely
29:19
all right we're gonna shift
29:20
into the last part of this interview this is our
29:22
lightning
29:23
round so I'm gonna hit you with some questions
29:25
um what is your go to coffee or tea order
29:29
uh I like a matcha latte
29:32
one of my favorite drinks oh hot or iced
29:35
hot hot okay even in summer does it depend on weather
29:40
even in the summer it's my go to drink always
29:44
nice are you a morning person or a night owl
29:48
I am a night owl some of my best work happens
29:50
in the middle of the night
29:52
haha what is your favorite way to spend a day off
29:56
sleep and I say sleep for hours on end
29:59
but at the same time get a good workout in and trying a new
30:02
restaurant
30:03
what is your favorite vacation spot
30:07
I love to travel to Asia
30:09
and recently traveled to Vietnam
30:11
absolutely love the country
30:13
highly recommend it some of the best
30:15
cuisine in the world and lots of great sightseeing
30:17
activities wow
30:19
what is currently on your playlist
30:23
uh hahaha
30:25
uh I'm actually listening to a lot of Chappell Roan
30:28
actually she has a lot of very catchy tunes
30:30
so I actually exercise and run to some of her music
30:34
nice what is your favorite movie or TV show
30:39
um well I've been a huge fan of Game of Thrones
30:43
and kind of sad that the series
30:44
is over but I'm looking at some of the other series
30:46
that are coming after it some of the sequels and
30:49
not as good but Game of Thrones is something I frequently
30:51
rewatch from time to time comfort show
30:54
yes it is
30:56
are you more of a planner or more go with the flow
31:01
I'm very much a planner
31:02
I'm definitely a Type A personality
31:04
always need everything planned ahead of time
31:07
what's a small thing that makes your day better
31:12
um well having a matcha latte available um but uh
31:18
having a good day's
31:19
a good night's rest is usually what helps me going
31:22
do you have a favorite quote or mantra that you live by
31:27
um let's see I would say
31:33
ooh
31:35
there's one that I used to think about which is um
31:37
if you've
31:39
lost your money
31:41
you've lost a lot but if you've lost your health
31:45
then you've lost everything
31:47
so it's a quote
31:49
that really emphasizes the importance of your health
31:52
yes love that
31:53
what's the best advice you've ever given or received
31:59
um some of the advice I've given
32:01
that I think a lot of people have really loved
32:03
especially to my patients is have hope
32:05
and stay optimistic
32:07
um I think that is something that I emphasize
32:09
as part of my life and something that I want patients
32:12
to feel as well that there's
32:14
there's always gonna be good things happening in life and that's something to always look forward to
32:20
amazing I love that
32:21
what advice would you give your younger self
32:25
I would say continue to work hard
32:28
it's gonna be all worth it
32:31
do you have a hidden talent or at least hidden to us
32:36
I have no talents whatsoever other than hahaha I can uh
32:43
I can bake a whole tart so
32:45
I don't know if that's a talent
32:47
where I can cook that's a talent
32:49
yeah
32:50
I think
32:51
I think baking is a talent I mean it's
32:54
incredibly tough to do it I have a lot of mad respect
32:56
for people who do it and I was once able to cook a fruit
32:59
tart I was very proud of the outcome
33:02
and I would love to one day be able to cook
33:04
more of them and and have people come over and try it
33:07
it was not horrible at the end of the day
33:09
not horrible I like it
33:11
baking is hard cause it's a science
33:12
you gotta have every measurement exact
33:15
it's different than cooking
33:16
cooking you can throw everything
33:18
together baking you can't exactly exactly
33:22
if you could
33:23
instantly master a new skill what would it be
33:27
I
33:30
you know I would say um
33:33
I wanna do something like some sort of martial arts
33:36
you know I think it's
33:38
just a good form of exercise but that type of like
33:41
sport and activity I mean
33:43
people who do that I mean they're just like connected
33:45
between their both their mind and their soul
33:47
and I think doing
33:49
something like that would really help me with my career
33:52
and just have me in terms of like
33:53
being more mindful and and being more patient you know
33:58
that's something I would love to do is take up some sort of martial
34:00
arts sort of activity yeah definitely
34:04
what is a fun or quirky habit that you have
34:09
um gosh quirky habits um
34:15
I mean
34:16
I just I mean I'll just say I just like to be silly and goofy
34:19
at the end of the day honestly like I like to be candid
34:21
very upfront very honest at the same time
34:25
um and so I hope that kind of translates
34:27
you know to how I am as a person as a doctor
34:30
to my patients and hopefully relatable but
34:33
honestly just being goofy
34:34
quirky and just kind of silly and hopefully relatable
34:38
I mean that's how I would just sort of describe myself
34:41
I love it um coffee or tea
34:44
uh
34:46
neither has to be matcha latte
34:48
neither no coffee or tea only matcha I like it
34:51
okay beach or mountains
34:54
beach early mornings or late nights
34:58
late nights sweet or salty
35:01
oh
35:02
that's a tough one I would say both
35:05
okay and the last question what is your favorite
35:07
snack or treat
35:10
alright
35:11
so I think people need to go out right now and get this but
35:14
Trader Joe's has these like
35:16
little little clusters of these salty potatoey little
35:21
snacks and it's covered in chocolate
35:23
they come in these little chunks
35:25
and it is the most addicting
35:27
thing that you'll ever eat and it's located at Trader Joe's
35:30
it's a little yellow bag
35:32
that is one of my current favorite treats
35:34
right now and it's so highly addicting
35:36
you can literally finish it in one sitting so
35:38
highly recommend it it's like these chocolate
35:40
covered clusters as you call them
35:42
located at Trader Joe's
35:44
perfect as soon as you said Trader Joe's
35:46
I was already in but
35:49
that's the sweet and the salty I see why you can't
35:51
decide it's both
35:52
that's awesome exactly
35:53
all right we're all gonna go look for those so Doctor Ma
35:56
thank you so much before we wrap up is there anything
35:58
else that you'd like to add
36:01
I do not but I just wanna say
36:03
thank you all so much for inviting
36:05
me to do this you know I am so happy to be a part of and
36:09
and to work with A Cure In Sight
36:11
you guys are a wonderful organization
36:13
I'm so happy that you guys care for and provide
36:15
a lot of wonderful content for our patients with uveal
36:18
melanoma and I look forward to to playing a role
36:21
in any capacity to work with you guys
36:24
thank you so much and thank you for your time
36:26
you know we know that you're busy and you're out there
36:29
saving lives and making a huge difference
36:32
in your patients' lives
36:33
day to day so we appreciate that you're taking
36:35
this time to be here with us and answer our questions
36:37
it's huge
36:38
and it means a lot to us so thank you for being here
36:41
you're welcome yes and to everyone watching
36:45
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36:48
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36:49
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36:59
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37:02
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37:03
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37:08
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