He remembers as a teenager coordinating a youth volunteer program at a senior centre. This experience of stimulating contact with the residents and staff, combined with studies in biology and an interest in research—and voilà, young Marc Carrier was on his way to becoming a doctor. As he recounts, it was purely “by accident” that he decided to specialize in hematology. “One summer, I did a rotation with a hematologist, Dr. Marc Roger, who became a mentor, and I presented my research findings at an annual conference in the United States. I was hooked! But if someone had told me I would be doing research in venous disease, I wouldn’t have believed it. When we think of a blood clot, we naturally think of a stroke more often than a thrombosis. Venous diseases are the poor relation in research,” says Dr. Marc Carrier, adding that it is certainly not the specialty with the most attractive reputation. Today, however, as chief of the hematology division at the Ottawa Hospital, he leads a team of some 30 colleagues who are just as dedicated as he is, including a dozen who are specialized in venous disease. “Which shows there are others who think hematology is sexy,” he says with a laugh.
