Videos

MCAS: A Patient Experience Videos

Video 1: MCAS Patient Testimony:

Diane M. Kane was diagnosed with MCAS at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California in July of 2017 after a 46-year battle against a mysterious multisystemic inflammatory illness. With vastly improved health due to the mast cell treatments, Diane is committed to helping others to overcome and manage what can otherwise be a profoundly debilitating and immune-compromising disease. In her first MCAS advocacy presentation, Diane shares her medical story with the hope of making the world a better place for people living with MCAS.

DOWNLOAD written transcript of Diane Kane’s presentation

Video 2: MCAS Medical Expert and Keynote Speaker:

Lawrence B. Afrin, M.D. (Board Certified Hematology, Medical Oncology) teaches about Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) in his engaging and informative lecture entitled: Mast Cell Activation Disease: Current Concepts.

Dr. Afrin earned a B.S. in Computer Science at Clemson University and an M.D. at The Medical University of South Carolina. He pursued an Internal Medicine residency, as well as Hematology and Oncology clinical and research fellowships. He went on to direct MUSC’s Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Training Program and Myeloproliferative Neoplasms Clinical Trials Program before joining the Hematology/Oncology department at the University of Michigan in 2014. Dr. Afrin is now in private practice with his partner Dr. Tania Dempsey at the AIM Center for Personalized Medicine in Purchase, NY. Dr. Dempsey founded the AIM Center with a commitment to focus on mast cell research and patient care.

With a wealth of knowledge gleaned from diagnosing and treating over 3,000 MCAS patients since 2009, Dr. Afrin’s ground-breaking 2016 MCAS book entitled Never Bet Against Occam: Mast Cell Activation Disease and the Modern Epidemics of Chronic Illness and Medical Complexity serves as an important resource for his fellow medical professionals as well as for many in the general public who are seeking to understand this emerging science. Serving as beacons of hope to many within the chronic illness community, Dr. Afrin and several other mast cell specialists worldwide have been the early pioneers in understanding MCAS. It is time for the world to hear these experts and to answer their calls for increased mast cell research.

DOWNLOAD Dr. Afrin’s PowerPoint presentation

Video 3: Post-lecture discussion:

Lawrence B. Afrin, M.D. and MCAS Supporter, Thomas F. Kane, discuss possible links between MCAS and Gulf War Illness, as well as MCAS and Autism. While clinical and laboratory research remain limited regarding MCAS and its many subset and/or co-morbid conditions, there has been speculation about links between MCAS and both Gulf War Illness and Autism. Dr. Afrin kindly sat down with Tom Kane to shed some light onto these specific conditions. However, it is wished to be emphasized that these are two sub-specialty areas of study with regard to MCAS and a much wider MCAS patient population exists beyond any potential connection with these particular conditions.

Thank you for your time and attention. Together, we can have victory over MCAS.