IU doctor survives COVID-19, leads team of coronavirus researchers in clinical trials

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A doctor’s personal fight against COVID-19 brought him to his knees. Now, he’s fighting back by leading a team of coronavirus researchers.

Dr. Chadi Hage began work on a couple COVID-19 clinical trials during the end of March. But the coronavirus had its own plans.

“It comes with the job. We get exposed. Early on we were not wearing masks all the time in the hospital. Thank God that policy changed, so now we’re all protected,” said Dr. Chadi Hage, who is an associate professor of clinical medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine .

Hage soon got sick, and was diagnosed with COVID-19.

“I’m relatively young, I’m very healthy, and that thing brought me to my knees,” he said.

He had a fever that lasted 11 days. Just walking from room to room was exhausting.

“Chills, I lost a lot of weight. Sweating, stomach symptoms were rough. Extremely rough. I was exhausted for weeks after the illness,” Hage said. “I couldn’t do anything.”

His wife, and his teenage daughter both wound up sick with COVID-19, too.

“The hardest part is to give it to your child. That’s the hardest part. But, thank God she did well, and they’re all recovered,” Hage said.

Hage now leads IU School of Medicine researchers in two clinical trials that deal with a patient’s immune system and its response to COVID-19.

He started this work as he recovered from the coronavirus, himself and he says his mission is to truly help people.

“Going through this illness only humbles you, and gives you a real appreciation of what patients go through. I can understand how sick they get. That’s why we’re doing these clinical trials, to help them,” Hage said.

He has a strong message for people who doubt COVID-19.

“It is not a hoax. It can kill you. It’s extremely severe. I hate to say this, but sometimes, people want to know somebody personally who had the illness, to believe that it exists. It does exist. It makes anybody sick.”

Clinical trials happening now

There are two clinical trials going on that focus on people’s immune response to the coronavirus.

With COVID-19, Hage said after people get infected, their immune system mounts a response to the virus to try to control it. It’s that immune reaction that could lead to other ailments.

“The inflammatory response to the infection itself is really what makes people very sick. Two of the clinical trials that we are leading here address that. So, we address the immune response to the virus, by targeting specific components of the immune response. Specific molecules that the inflammatory response in the body works through, to cause the injury,” Hage explained.

He said these clinical trials are open for people who are already in the hospital sick with COVID-19. They are not open to people who are not sick or are not in the hospital.

The clinical trials are slated to finish at the end of this year, but they could be extended based on how many people enroll to participate.