The LittleWins Podcast S3 EP1: WTF (Wow That’s Fantastic)- The Fantastic Lara Pullen

Meet Lara Pullen, a scientist with a Ph.D. in Microbiology/Immunology breaking barriers for Prader-Willi Syndrome and more…

You guys gotta hear this story…

Last week I was fortunate enough to sit down with Lara Pullen for the first episode of Season 3, of The LittleWins Podcast appropriately titled, Wow That’s Fantastic! This lineup for this season is really exciting, and the personal stories that lead to groundbreaking solutions within the medical field and for our community, fantastic to say the least.

To kick it off, Lara Pullen is, among many things, a scientist with a Ph.D. in microbiology/immunology, the president and co-founder of the Chion Foundation, and a medical writer on topics such as organ transplant and rheumatology. Along with all of these impressive titles she is also a mother of three, her youngest son, Kian, diagnosed with Prader-Willi Syndrome. So, in simple terms, she’s a unicorn and a national treasure; you should have seen me study just to keep up in the conversation.

In this episode, Lara takes me through her journey, starting with her son’s diagnosis of Prader-Wili Syndrome (PWS) at 18 months old. Then to her relentless pursuit to find the best care and high-performance team of medical professionals. The way she applied her science background to find the best drug for her son, followed by her process with the FDA and the clinical trial that will ultimately benefit so many the world over.

“I took my science degree and I saved my child’s life. I did that as a mom. As a mom and a scientist. I don’t know if I would have accomplished anything as impressive if I stayed in the laboratory”– Dr. Lara Pullen

The goal of the LittleWins Podcast for me has always been to highlight stories of individuals and their journies to their incredible solutions, contributions, and dedication to improving the lives of us all. As a bonus, we get to feel more connected to each other, learn a lot, and even inspire one another. If nothing else, I promise this will make you smile. I do it all the time.

To tune in, click here: https://anchor.fm/littlewins

You can watch the episode here: https://youtu.be/yElhZVfJgq4

For more on Lara and her organization here are the links she provided:

Chion Foundation https://www.chionfoundation.org/

Our film: https://www.chionfoundation.org/single-post/2019/05/04/a-short-film-a-new-treatment-approach-to-pws

Here is an example of a transplant story that I wrote that also happens to overlap with rare disease. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ajt.15803

Here is a rare disease rheumatology story. https://www.the-rheumatologist.org/article/copa-syndrome-what-do-we-know-about-this-rare-disease/

Here is my Scientific American story. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/a-streamlined-pathway-to-drug-approval/

Here is a cool possum story with photos. 😊 https://asknature.org/strategy/opossums-feign-death-to-evade-predators/