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One woman's hard pivot after receiving a devastating diagnosis

Part 2 of the TED Radio Hour episode Approaches to life: Improvise, pivot or plan

When Sonia Vallabh learned she has the genetic mutation for prion disease, she and her husband dropped everything to change careers. Today, they lead a Harvard/MIT lab searching for a cure.

About Sonia Vallabh

Sonia Vallabh runs a prion research laboratory at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard alongside her husband, Eric Vallabh Minikel. Originally trained as a lawyer and transportation engineer, respectively, the two shifted into biomedical research after learning in 2011 that Vallabh inherited a mutation that causes genetic prion disease: a rapidly fatal, currently untreatable neurodegenerative disease that typically strikes in midlife.

They recieved their doctoral degrees in Biological and Biomedical Sciences from Harvard. Outside of the lab, Sonia Vallabh also co-runs the scientific nonprofit Prion Alliance.

This segment of TED Radio Hour was produced by Rachel Faulkner White and edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour. You can follow us on Facebook @TEDRadioHour and email us at TEDRadioHour@npr.org.

Web Resources

Related TED Bio: Sonia Vallabh

Related TED Talk: The world's rarest diseases — and how they impact everyone

Related TED Talk: Are life-saving medicines hiding in the world's coldest places?

Related NPR Links

Short Wave: A Deeply Personal Race Against A Fatal Brain Disease

Shots: Testing your genes for cancer risk is way cheaper now — and it could save your life

Shots: 'All of Us' research project diversifies the storehouse of genetic knowledge

Copyright 2024 NPR

Manoush Zomorodi
Manoush Zomorodi is the host of TED Radio Hour. She is a journalist, podcaster and media entrepreneur, and her work reflects her passion for investigating how technology and business are transforming humanity.
Rachel Faulkner White
Rachel Faulkner is a producer and editor for TED Radio Hour.
Sanaz Meshkinpour
[Copyright 2024 NPR]

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