DREAM JOB NOT WITHOUT ITS DIFFICULTIES
BY THERESA CHA -- Lincoln Journal Star

OMAHA - As a pediatric geneticist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Dr. G. Bradley Schaefer gets to do it all: Research brain malformations, treat patients, teach medical students.
   "I love my job. The thing I like most about my job is that it's got all these different parts to it," Schaefer said.
    He enjoys the immediate gratification of patient care, the opportunity to answer questions through research and the chance to impart knowledge.
    "Teaching is probably what I enjoy more than anything else," he said. "It's a cliche, but it's true. In order to teach something you need to know it. And genetics is changing so rapidly. Doing all the teaching that I do, I'm forced to stay up on things."     For a man whose passion is unraveling the mysteries of genetics, keeping abreast of research is a welcome challenge.
    "I guess the reason I do what I do is because it's so cotton-pickin' exciting. I mean the genetics revolution and all the stuff that's happening, to actually be able to figure out developmentally what's going on with people, to understand why the things happen. That's really cool."

Dr. G. Bradley Schaefer (photo by TED KIRK/Lincoln Journal Star)

    But even dream jobs come with a darker side, and Bradley admits to two: As director of UNMC's Hattie B. Munroe Center for Human Genetics, administrative duties are part of his domain.
    "It's important, but I think very un-fun," he said. "(But) ... on a programmatic level, I can work with Health and Human Services and we can actually do programmatic things to say, 'What can we do to make health care for kids better across the state.
    He loves working with patients but that can be hard as well.
    "By the nature of what I do, there's relatively little happiness among the patients," he said, contrasting himself with an obstetrician who brings babies into the world or a general pediatrician who takes care of healthy kids and watches them grow. "If they're coming to see me, it's because they've got a problem." There are no cures for Bradley's patients. The best medical science has to offer those with genetic disorders is identifying causes and anticipating and treating symptoms as they arise.
    But scientists are banking on gene therapy to change that. With the enzyme disorder Fabry's Disease, for example, enzyme replacement therapy is within months of being on the market. While not true gene therapy - that would entail changing the patient's genes so they could make the enzyme themselves - the enzyme replacement therapy is a harbinger of things to come.
    "There's a whole ton of conditions right now that we had no treatment for two to three years ago," Bradley said. "And now the enzymes and replacement therapies are all coming about."
    Whether true gene therapy becomes a reality in his lifetime, Bradley plans to keep doing the job he loves.
    "Pediatricians are the kind that people always call the hush-puppy crowd.... I mean, here's my exam bag," he said, pulling out Bob the Tomato, a small plush doll. "What a great life. You go to Toys R Us and buy stuff for work."
Reach Theresa Cha at 473-7228 or tcha@journalstar.com