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How One Hematologist’s Curiosity Is Changing Care: Dr. Lauren Merz Redefines “Benign Ethnic Neutropenia”
Lauren Merz/X
Oct 15, 2025, 06:01

How One Hematologist’s Curiosity Is Changing Care: Dr. Lauren Merz Redefines “Benign Ethnic Neutropenia”

 

Sindy Escobar Alvarez, Program Director for Medical Research at Doris Duke Foundation, posted on LinkedIn:

”Scientists take nagging questions, and through relentless pursuit of the answers, make discoveries that can change lives, including their own.

This trajectory is illustrated in a recent Medscape feature on hematologist Dr. Lauren Merz, whose curiosity about a condition flagged as “benign ethnic neutropenia” changed the course of her career. Despite the fact that this particular marker of a low neutrophil count has little clinical impact, it has kept patients out of clinical trials, made them ineligible for certain chemotherapies, and subjected others to needless invasive testing.

Dr. Merz, assistant professor at Rogel Cancer Center at the University of Michigan has led the DDF-supported work of the American Society of Hematology to develop new reference ranges for patients with the phenotype that causes this low neutrophil count, and test them nationwide.

Read the interview to see how her quick path from curiosity to action is changing medical understanding, and will improve patient care for millions.”

Duffy

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American Society of Hematology ASH Benign Ethnic Neutropenia Duffy Antigen Health Hematology Hemostasis Hemostasis Today Lauren Merz Medicine Medscape Neutropenia Rogel Cancer Center Sindy Escobar Alvarez thrombosis University of Michigan
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