Interviewing medical oncology fellowship candidates

It's the time of year when we are interviewing medical oncology fellowship candidates again. I love being a part of this because it reminds me of how far I've come (hey, at least I am senior to someone), but also about why I went into oncology at all. And I mean beyond the answer that they all give initially, which is something along the lines of "blah blah blah ... help patients ... blah blah blah ... the exciting new developments in targeted therapy." (Here's a tip: we all read the same books and looked at the same websites you did before we interviewed, so in essence, we've heard it before. See the following links, for example:

"Tips to find a fellowship in a competitive market"

The Student Doctor Network Forum

I like hearing the nitty gritty stories about real life patients, and that overwhelming desire to work towards curing or at least treating cancer. Tell me about going to your grandma's chemotherapy sessions, tell me about that young patient dying of lymphoma on your service and the fire that lit inside your gut to "do something" to prevent this from happening to someone else and their family. I could listen to those stories all day. Maybe it's too idealistic; maybe I will wake up one day and realize that the snail's pace of biomedical research is just too unbearable for me to continue in this job. But for now, I am still wowed by their bright eyes and bushy tails and thankful for the kick in the pants that they give me.