Staying Fit and Fabulous Through the Summer

Kirk Kerkorian

School of Medicine Student Making a Difference

By Paul Harasim

Bobak Seddighzadeh Future Greatest Medical Mind

Bobak Seddighzadeh, set to graduate from the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV in 2022, already holds an impressive CV. Even before he began medical school, he was a research associate for the renowned Harvard/

MGHY Center on Genomics, Vulnerable Populations and Health Disparities as well as project director for the recently opened Jamaica Cancer Care and Research

Institute in the Caribbean.

In addition to managing his medical school studies, he’s a dynamic researcher --

his work has appeared in peer reviewed journals, including BioMedicine and European Urology, as well as mainstream media, stretching from Men’s Health magazine to the Las Vegas Sun newspaper. Seddighzadeh also took time during medical school to pursue additional training in cancer genomics in Dr. Franklin Huang’s lab at the University of California San Francisco. “I have been called upon to become a physician-scientist because currently we need better answers for many of our patients.” During the height of the pandemic, researchers in Dr. Huang’s lab focused on COVID-19. “A trend emerged that men and women contracted COVID at similar rates, yet men were dying at greater proportions,” says Seddigzadeh. “We investigated sets of human lungs to see whether or not there were sex differences between men and women lung cells that would explain this phenomenon... We discovered that men had a greater percentage of lung

cells that expressed the receptors that COVID-19 requires to infiltrate our cells.” “I want to live a life of purpose,” says Seddighzadeh, who received a full tuition scholarship to Kerkorian School of Medicine in 2017 courtesy of Dr. Barbara Atkinson, founding dean, and Maureen Schafer, the medical school’s former chief of staff.” For me that means making time to pursue meaningful projects that have great potential to help others through medicine.” A biology and biochemistry honors graduate of Loyola Marymount University, Seddighzadeh attended New York University for graduate school. There, he received a job offer from the celebrated Harvard researcher, Dr. Alexandra E. Shields who asked him to help open a cancer institute in the Caribbean. While at Harvard, Seddighzadeh also helped investigate how psychosocial stress can influence chronic disease. Seddighzadeh lost his father to pancreatic cancer during his research year with Dr. Huang. That loss has him thinking of helping UNLV establish a world-class cancer research institute.

“My father and mother were the yin and yang of my development. My father was a serial entrepreneur... From him, I learned...discipline and persistence. He instilled in me a growth mindset - that I can accomplish anything that I choose as long as I keep learning, work hard and persist through setbacks…. My mother was a clinical psychologist. She gave me values of ethics, simplicity, caring and doing right by others, and to be generous. She instilled in me emotional intelligence and awareness. I think it’s the unique combination of their skills that have given me a foundation to hopefully make strides as a great doctor for my patients and as a leader for my community.”

The word summer is derived from

an English feminine name give of recent coinage from the word for the season of summer, which is typically synonymous with warm weather and people being carefree and doing fun activities like swimming, BBQ’s and picnics. Being born and raised in Las Vegas, I have many fond memories of ways we would tolerate and escape the heat. Back in the 1940’s, when locals didn’t have air conditioning just yet, the men would often send the women and children up to Mt. Charleston to beat the 3-digit, scorching heat. Typically, about 15-30 degrees cooler, Mt. Charleston is still a great way to cool off in the summer and less than an hour

away from most all of Las Vegas. Pool parties and day clubs have also emerged in popularity during the hot Vegas months. Nowadays, for most of us locals, we’re either inside in the cool A/C or outside in the swimming pool.

This summer issue is dedicated to the

2021 Greatest Medical Minds of Las

Vegas. These impeccable leaders in our local healthcare community go above and beyond for their patients and exude the type of upstanding qualities that you would want for you and your family. From skincare to plastic surgeons, these are truly the best in Las Vegas. With numerous nominations and countless

compliments from our readers, we are honored to bring you this year’s medical issue. They not only work tirelessly for their patients, but their bedside manners and compassion for their patients are top-notch. A doctor or healthcare providers’ ethics, reputation and integrity are their most important asset and not their degrees. However, their degrees help specify what their areas of expertise are and ascertain specific causes and treatment plans to put in place that are best for their patients.

We are proud and honored to bring you the 2021 Greatest Medical Minds of Las Vegas special feature issue. We’ve done the research and when you are in need of making an educated decision about you or your family’s health, we certainly hope you will look to these professionals. What follows in this special feature issue are the names of these well deserving professionals. Please help us in recognizing and honoring each and every one of them!

Also, as our city starts to come back to life- stay tuned for our upcoming magazine events. Please follow us on social media to keep informed of our upcoming special events!

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CANDICE WIENER 702.743.5358 @realvegasmagazine REALVEGASMAGAZINE.COM