Why choose hematology oncology

All rights reserved. My path to becoming an oncologist was a little different from most, but like so many others, I was inspired by a practicing physician who showed me what medicine truly can be. While in college, I worked during the summers as a medical assistant for an orthopedic surgeon in an effort to reduce my ever-increasing educational loans.

While there, I developed a true love for medicine and frequently wished that I were the physician treating patients and making the treatment decisions that would set them on the path toward recovery. On the first day in that office, I knew where my medical career would lead. He started each subsequent medical visit with conversations like these, which indicated to me how well he knew each of the patients.

I learned over the next days and weeks that the majority of his conversations with patients were centered around their personal lives rather than their medical health. He knew the patients so well that he could tell how they were feeling by their tone of voice, their facial expression, or even slight changes in mannerisms. This role is really what drives me to keep going every day, the team must stay together to support the patient, and the patient looks to me to write the playbook.

I have the privilege to witness pure bliss when my patient responds to a treatment, when their pain finally improves, or when they regain energy to do simple things we take for granted like playing with their kids at the park.

Because CANCER has an appropriately negative and scary connotation, the very threat of it has the power to invoke the best in patients. It is so humbling to coach them on their journey. Most fellowships include both specialties in a three-year program after an internal medicine residency, and hematology is a fascinating sub-specialty all on its own.

This practice allows me to pivot from cancer to more easily treated diseases throughout the day. It also allows me to continue doing procedures, such as bone marrow biopsies, and to look at blood cells under the microscope for clues of etiology. In this field, the only thing outpacing the scientific advances are the questions being posed by physicians and researchers. On a monthly, sometimes even weekly basis new treatments and diagnostic techniques are approved that I can employ for my patients.

Now that you know the reasoning behind my decision, I have, for your benefit and in the name of popular science, conducted an entirely non-scientific poll of past and present hematology trainees and Tau protein—replete colleagues selected at random to determine the 10 most popular reasons for joining the ranks of the International Society of Bloody Cytotoxics.

So, what about you, dear readers? Are there any more reasons for selecting hematology as a career that you would add to this list? Sappy submissions e. Questions on eligibility, insults, or petitions for my immediate removal from ASH membership can be sent to Remove.

Stewart HematologyForLife. In the likely scenario that that inbox is full, you might also want to try ashclinicalnews hematology. Have a comment about this editorial? Let us know what you think; we welcome your feedback. Email the editor at ACNEditor hematology.

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