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Blood, Bytes, and Beyond
Insights on Blood Banking, Clinical Informatics, and Medical Education
About
My name is Caitlin Raymond
I’m a transfusion medicine physician with roots in both family medicine and pathology. I write about blood banking, clinical informatics, and what it means to learn, teach, and work in medicine.
Platelets in Oncology: Friend, Foe, or Future Therapy?
When we think about platelets, we typically associate them with wound healing and clot formation. However, emerging research has revealed...
Feb 154 min read
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Fighting Infection: Platelets as Allies and Adversaries
Introduction Platelets are widely recognized for their role in hemostasis, but emerging research has revealed their critical function in...
Feb 144 min read
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Platelet Microvesicles: Small Particles, Big Potential
Introduction In the world of transfusion medicine, platelets are indispensable. They stop bleeding, support vascular integrity, and...
Feb 135 min read
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The Myth of the Self-Made Doctor: Why ‘Figure It Out Yourself’ Fails in Medical Training
Medical training is often framed as a journey of relentless personal responsibility. Trainees are expected to learn from manuals, absorb...
Feb 93 min read
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The 'Unsexy' Side of Pathology Informatics: Interoperability and Standardization
When people think of pathology informatics, they often imagine cutting-edge artificial intelligence, whole-slide imaging, or complex...
Feb 23 min read
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Automating Platelet Compatibility Matching: Enhancing Efficiency in Medicine
Here's something I never thought I'd say: I spent the afternoon coding with ChatGPT 4.0. In about 3 hours I was able to turn out an...
Jan 203 min read
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Bullet Learning: Anaplastic Large T-Cell Lymphoma
50yoM with controlled HIV presented with slowly enlarging inguinal lymphadenopathy over the last 9 months. Flow cytometry and lymph node...
Jan 201 min read
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Understanding Thrombotic Microangiopathy: A Case Based Approach
Case Introduction A 27-year-old man presents with chronic granulomatous disease (CGD). CGD is a collection of inherited immune...
Jan 118 min read
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CAR-T Cell Therapy: Beyond Hematological Cancer
Introduction CAR-T cell therapy has revolutionized the treatment of hematological cancers by harnessing the power of the immune system to...
Jan 66 min read
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Making Research Accessible in GME
In 2021 I co-founded the Society for Innovation and Research (SIR) while in my clinical pathology residency. Our goal was to promote and...
Aug 28, 20242 min read
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Bad Blood? Challenging Superstitions in Medicine
Galveston, Texas is a picturesque city located on an island in the Gulf of Mexico. The sandy beaches and warm waters have long attracted...
Mar 17, 20243 min read
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Sequencing Today and Tomorrow: Big Data Arrives in Genomics
In this post we’re going to talk about sequencing and genomics, and I hope it’s as educational for you as it was for me.  Let’s start by...
Nov 23, 20237 min read
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Instrument Scavenger Hunt
Over the past six months I've gone on a scavenger hunt for all the instruments in our clinical pathology divisions. I combined all my...
Nov 23, 20231 min read
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Has Corporatization Sucked the Joy from Science?
I’ve seen a recent opinion on social media amongst medical trainees that research is boring, something done only to check the boxes to...
Nov 23, 20233 min read
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Is Hemolysis Guaranteed? A Case Based Discussion
An octogenarian woman with past medical history of coronary artery disease on aspirin and Plavix presents from an assisted living...
Nov 22, 20234 min read
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Past, Present, and Future of Donor Iron Deficiency
Donating blood is an essential community service that saves lives. Because donors are healthy volunteers, several safety precautions are...
Nov 22, 20234 min read
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Bullet Learning: Duffy Antigens
Last year I had a patient with anti-Fya, Fyb, and Fy3 antibodies. Don’t know what that means? Let’s learn together in this bullet...
Nov 21, 20231 min read
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Bullet Learning: Castleman's Disease
Unclear on Castleman's? Let's learn together in this bullet learning entry. A rare entity with unknown etiology, Castleman’s Disease (CD)...
Nov 21, 20231 min read
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