Karen Seiter, MD

Karen Seiter, MD is a hematologist with over 30 years of experience treating hematologic malignancies. Although she previously focused on the care of patients with acute leukemia including stem cell transplantation, she also has extensive experience in the treatment of myeloproliferative diseases, chronic leukemias, lymphomas and a wide range of benign hematology conditions. Dr. Seiter has extensive clinical trial experience and has published over 125 peer-reviewed journal articles.

Dr. Seiter is also focused on patient safety, both in clinical care as well as in research. Regarding clinical care she has chaired committees on medication safety and other initiatives. In terms of research, she chaired an Institutional Review Board for over 20 years and was on the National Cancer Center Institutional Review Board for the past 5 years.

Dr. Seiter thinks her most important skill is being a good listener. She tries to understand what the patient is going through even when modern science cannot always explain it.

Why should someone choose you to care for their health?
I have more than 30 years of experience treating patients with hematologic disorders. I treat every patient as an individual, not as a statistic.

What is the most important thing your patients should expect from their professional relationship with you? What do you expect from them?
I try to develop a personal connection with my patients. I try to understand every patient as an individual.

I expect the patient to follow up with their appointments and to let me know if a treatment that I choose is not working for them (side effects, etc.).

How do you spend your valuable personal time when you are not caring for patients?
My main interests outside of medicine are astronomy and music. Astronomy gives a broad perspective on our human condition.

Why did you choose your specialty and what is its greatest reward?
I chose hematology because I love clinical medicine, but I also love pathology. Hematology allows me to spend a significant amount of time using the microscope and interpreting complex pathology results.

The greatest reward is to see a critically ill patient recover and lead a normal life after that.