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Physician–author passionate about listening to patients’ stories, telling his own
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C. Dale Young, MD, practices radiation oncology at Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City, California, and at St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco.
In addition to his medical practice, Young maintains a thriving career as a poet and author.
C. Dale Young
He has published four books of poetry, the most of which is titled The Halo (Four Way Books, 2016). His debut short story collection, The Affliction, will be published in 2018.
Young has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, and he teaches creative writing in the low-residency Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina.
In conjunction with National Poetry Month, HemOnc Today spoke with Young about how the challenges of managing two demanding yet fulfilling careers.
Question: What prompted you to specialize in radiation oncology?
Answer: When I finished my medical school rotations, I was fairly certain I would go on to become a urologist. My adviser encouraged me to do an elective in radiation oncology because, as a urologist, I would be working with folks in that field to help treat many kinds of cancer. Within a day of doing my radiation oncology elective, I knew it was where I belonged. I treat a variety of malignancies, but I have a special interest in genitourinary malignancies and central nervous system tumors.
Q: Who are some of your mentors in radiation oncology?
A: I was very fortunate to study and train at University of California, San Francisco, under two giants in the radiation oncology field: Karen Fu, MD, and Theodore L. Phillips, MD. I was equally fortunate to study with Mack Roach III, MD, and David Larson, MD. Roach is an expert in genitourinary malignancies and Larson is an expert in CNS tumors. It is, therefore, no surprise that I have a special interest in those two areas.
When I had a personal crisis in my third year of radiation oncology residency, Patricia “Penny” K. Sneed, MD, refused to let me quit medicine and leave radiation oncology. I carry these five amazing physicians around with me. They continue to be the voices and internal sounding boards I rely on as a physician.
Q: When did you first become interested in poetry, and when did you start to write in earnest?
A: I began college studying studio art, while also completing pre-med requirements. I started working at the college literary magazine as an art editor and quickly became interested in the poetry and fiction submitted to the magazine. In my junior year of college, I convinced a professor to let me sign up for the poetry workshop. I have been writing and publishing ever since. I cannot imagine not writing. It is an essential part of who I am.
Q: At first glance, medicine and poetry may seem at opposite ends of the spectrum . However, several physicians have maintained successful careers as poets — from Willi am Carlos Williams in the mid-20th century to Rafael Campo and Fady Joudah today. What do you think draws doctors to poetry?
A: I am not sure I can answer the question, but I can speak to why I was drawn to both. I have always loved reading and stories. As a writer, one loves reading and books so much that eventually the only way to love them more is to also write books. Medicine — even in a technology-driven specialty such as mine — relies on listening to and interpreting stories. Most patients with cancer have similar stories, based on the cancers they have. I listen not for the baseline story, but where the patient’s story departs from the expected narrative.
Q: Does practicing medicine influence your creativity, and vice versa?
A: I don’t think so. Practicing medicine limits the amount of time I have to write, but I have made it work for almost 2 decades. I started writing and publishing before I became a doctor, which has been greatly helpful in that I had some discipline as a writer to fall back on.
Q: Medicine can be a highly stressful profession. What are some of the benefits of having a creative outlet?
A: I don’t see writing as a creative outlet from medicine. I see them as separate but essential parts of my own life. Oncology is a stressful area of medicine, but writing can be incredibly stressful, as well.
Q: Are your MFA students surprised to learn about your medical career?
A: Most people in the literary world know that I am a physician, as this information is pretty easy to find through Google or Wikipedia. But I have been a writer for 25 years, so I suspect once I begin talking about the craft of writing with students, they quickly know I am not an imposter in the literary world.
Q: Do you ever discuss your poetry with patients?
A: I do not. Patients with cancer are highly anxious and have many anxieties about their diagnoses, their treatment, their chances. In the doctor–patient relationship in oncology, it is really all about them. I do not discuss poetry or anything about my personal life, to be honest, because it isn’t about me. It is about them. Occasionally a patient has Googled me and asks, but usually they are asking about why I write and not what I write. I have a few long-term patients in follow-up who have bought a book of mine and asked me to sign it, and I do so with a great amount of gratitude.
Q: Who are some of your favorite poets?
In the distant past: John Donne, W.B. Yeats and Emily Dickinson. In the not-so-distant past: Elizabeth Bishop, Donald Justice and Seamus Heaney. In the present: Derek Walcott, Brigit Pegeen Kelly and Carl Phillips. – by Cameron Kelsall
For more information:
C. Dale Young, MD, can be reached at cdaleyoung@cdaleyoung.com.
Disclosure: Young reports no relevant financial disclosures.