Official 2014-2015 Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Application Cycle

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I'm batman said:
I am in similar dilemma regarding some of my programs. I looked into how many previous graduates ended up in PP Vs academic positions... and based on that made my decision.
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Thank you.
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After the list is certified is there any thing else to do? just wait? nothing to do at the day of submission right?
 
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dimension2014 said:
I was wondering if anyone had opinions about my rank list. I am interested in an academic career in early translational research in developing cancer immunology therapies. I would like to be in a program with good research support but also with excellent clinical training. Location is not that much of an issue, but slight preference for the North East. Thanks!

Penn
Hopkins
Mayo (Rochester)
Columbia
Beth Israel (Boston)
Sinai (NYC)
Cornell
Yale
FoxChase
WashU
USC
Emory
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Mayo doesn't seem to fit that high in someone who prefers the north east...but your list is fine
 
Did most people get one, many, or no post interview "ranked to match" or you would fit well here email/phone calls? Just wondering what the norm is - I got 2 but neither is a place I'm ranking very highly...
 
Longhorn21 said:
Did most people get one, many, or no post interview "ranked to match" or you would fit well here email/phone calls? Just wondering what the norm is - I got 2 but neither is a place I'm ranking very highly...
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A couple we were impressed etc, but no Nicholas sparks love.
 
If I rank a program lower in my list (say 3rd), but the program rank me high. Say I did not get into the top two program in my list, does it hurt my chance getting into the 3rd one? Or I should rank it higher?
 
Listen2014 said:
If I rank a program lower in my list (say 3rd), but the program rank me high. Say I did not get into the top two program in my list, does it hurt my chance getting into the 3rd one? Or I should rank it higher?
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I will not hurt your chances at all. If they rank you high and you dont match in your number one and two then you will match there. Dont rank based on input from a program rank where you want to go.
 
What are the chances, in terms of previous statistics, for someone to match with two programs ranked only?
 
CD38/138 said:
What are the chances, in terms of previous statistics, for someone to match with two programs ranked only?
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Well, the last full "Charting Outcomes" data for the MSMP is 4 years old now. But if it is to be believed, for IMGs it's 35-40% and for AMGs (they don't have a separate category for DOs), it's 75%.
 
Looking for some suggestion. Which one do you think is better for academics: university of Maryland or Albert Einstein/ montefiore ?
 
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I'm curious - how're those of you who are still undecided between practice and clinical research ranking the NIH? Obviously you'd be hard-pressed to find a better place to launch an academic career, but I thought it was pretty clear that the bread-and-butter practice there is not all that great. Despite what I've heard from some fellows, I think there is a lot more nuance to standard of care than just reading guidelines off the internet, and I want to make sure I'm trained up in normal stuff before graduating. Right now I have it below, for example, University of Maryland, which I thought was a much more well-rounded program. Is that a reasonable choice?
 
Longhorn21 said:
Did most people get one, many, or no post interview "ranked to match" or you would fit well here email/phone calls? Just wondering what the norm is - I got 2 but neither is a place I'm ranking very highly...
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I got a few from my mom and she told me I would match wherever I wanted!
 
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sunitinib said:
I'm curious - how're those of you who are still undecided between practice and clinical research ranking the NIH? Obviously you'd be hard-pressed to find a better place to launch an academic career, but I thought it was pretty clear that the bread-and-butter practice there is not all that great. Despite what I've heard from some fellows, I think there is a lot more nuance to standard of care than just reading guidelines off the internet, and I want to make sure I'm trained up in normal stuff before graduating. Right now I have it below, for example, University of Maryland, which I thought was a much more well-rounded program. Is that a reasonable choice?
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I think you go to NIH if you are 100% sure you want to go into academics because even those 100%ers may go into practice. With that said, no program puts 100% of people into academics so you would be able to get a private practice job from the NIH but would probably need to catch up a bit once you start that job.
 
How should I rank between USC and Baylor, houston? I would attempt academic, not have to. Not differentiating both Hem and Onc at this point, maybe more into Onc. Thanks a lot!
 
Listen2014 said:
How should I rank between USC and Baylor, houston? I would attempt academic, not have to. Not differentiating both Hem and Onc at this point, maybe more into Onc. Thanks a lot!
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I really liked that phrase. going into academics is not a choice sometimes. I see all these posts from people saying the want to go into academics and I can't help thinking if they actually know what they're talking about. It's an uphill battle these days to stay in academic. Securing funding is becoming a pain in the a**. getting a basic research lab up and running is a nightmare. anyway, regarding your question, I think Baylor is the better program but nobody would blame you for not wanting to go to Texas.
 
Any thoughts on Moffitt versus UPMC versus Mayo?

I'm looking for the best program in terms of clinical research & malignant heme.
 
foxes_in_fiction said:
Any thoughts on Moffitt versus UPMC versus Mayo?

I'm looking for the best program in terms of clinical research & malignant heme.
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I'd personally rank them Pitt/Mayo/Moffitt. Reasonable arguments could be made for switching them around in any order though.
 
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Thoughts on Vanderbilt versus Michigan versus Mayo versus Wisconsin?
Looking for best program in terms of clinical training and clinical research (GU, more renal/bladder/testicular, less prostate)
 
I'm finalizing my rank list and I just want to make sure that I'm not making any huge mistakes. I'm interested primarily in academics, but there is a high likelihood that after fellowship I might have to move to a part of the world where there isn't a Big Teaching Hospital. With that in mind, I'm interested in liquids, maybe BMT, but generally want to go somewhere that I'll get a good, practical education. My top choice is settled. My 2-5 somewhat less so.

2. UT San Antonio (I like TX, the city, the program, and it would be my first choice if I didn't have a really good reason to rank my #1 as my #1)
3. University of Florida (liked their VA, young faculty, but I don't think my interview went awesome)
4. Harbor UCLA (Not much opportunity for research, but BMT at City of Hope)
5. University of Tennessee (a little apprehensive about the partnership with the West clinic, but it looks like they're really trying to amp up their research opportunities)

Any feedback?
 
asimov said:
Thoughts on Vanderbilt versus Michigan versus Mayo versus Wisconsin?
Looking for best program in terms of clinical training and clinical research (GU, more renal/bladder/testicular, less prostate)
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For what it's worth, I thought Mayo seemed to provide better clinical training than Michigan and Vandy.
 
foxes_in_fiction said:
Any thoughts on Moffitt versus UPMC versus Mayo?

I'm looking for the best program in terms of clinical research & malignant heme.
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Malignant heme is currently rebuilding at UPMC. For your interests, I would go with Moffitt.
 
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In regards to USC, is the 1 year in hematology + 2 years in oncology adequate for the community setting? I'm not sure if year in heme is perfect or cutting it short?

EDIT: also UC Irvine vs USC for clinical training.

Thanks
 
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DrVanNostran said:
In regards to USC, is the 1 year in hematology + 2 years in oncology adequate for the community setting? I'm not sure if year in heme is perfect or cutting it short?

EDIT: also UC Irvine vs USC for clinical training.

Thanks
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A full year of heme is about 10 months too many unless you're going to do 100% benign heme in academics.
 
Any thoughts on Vanderbilt vs. Wash U for malignant heme and overall future academic career opportunities? Also, any thoughts on how OHSU compares to Vanderbilt, Wash U and Mayo in this regard, awesome city and location aside. :)
 
Naruto27 said:
Any thoughts on Vanderbilt vs. Wash U for malignant heme and overall future academic career opportunities? Also, any thoughts on how OHSU compares to Vanderbilt, Wash U and Mayo in this regard, awesome city and location aside. :)
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Setting aside how crappy of a place to live St. Louis is (I say this as former resident of that city who's in-laws still live there so I visit a lot), I don't think you can beat WashU for the goals you've set out here. Portland is clearly the best place to live on that list, and the Heme Mal stuff is the best stuff at OHSU but it's not WashU and never will be.
 
gutonc said:
Setting aside how crappy of a place to live St. Louis is (I say this as former resident of that city who's in-laws still live there so I visit a lot), I don't think you can beat WashU for the goals you've set out here. Portland is clearly the best place to live on that list, and the Heme Mal stuff is the best stuff at OHSU but it's not WashU and never will be.
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Thanks Gutonc :)
 
Gutonc or others: do most fellowships/onc jobs require us to be internal medicine certified? I ask because I am a year out of residency and I need to pay for MOC internal medicine to stay certified. Its about $200 a year or $2000 for 10 years (hefty!) I'm not asking whether oncologists want to be internal med certified (because I know that varies) just if it's required.
 
You have to be ABIM certified to sit for your Oncology boards. Not doing MOC does NOT mean you're not ABIM certified, just that you're not meeting MOC criteria. Here's what your ABIM page will look like if you do that:
YZMmR5a.jpg

This is my page by the way because...MOC?...F*** That S***.

Nobody will care.
 
all the best to everyone . 40 minutes before our decision is locked ;-)
 
Just wanted to say thanks to Gutonc and all the forum contributors! Good luck everyone!
 
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now we wait for 3 weeks ... good luck to everyone ...please come back to post where you matched
 
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Hi everyone, Good luck and I hope everyone matches!!! I am curious to know how can I find hospitalist positions in BMT units? Is there a specific website that I can use? The only reason that I am asking is that I am an IMG that only ranked 2 hospitals and have a decent chance of unmatching and just want to be prepared for this high posibility. Thank you for your help.
 
wondering if there are statistics on how programs do on their rank lists similar to those charts for applicants. I'm sure it's quite variable from year to year and from program to program. but are there such stats?
 
Lazarius said:
wondering if there are statistics on how programs do on their rank lists similar to those charts for applicants. I'm sure it's quite variable from year to year and from program to program. but are there such stats?
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don't stress yourself over this. you won't be able to make any useful predictions.
 
I'm really hoping to match in my top 4:

1. Best program in terms of location, COL, mentorship and balanced training
2. Secretly hoping to match into this bigger name program in a nicer location, but not as ideal for my family
3. Probably the best name and training on my list
4. Dream location and awesome program, but crappy COL and far from my family
5/6. Best location for my family, so-so-programs

What will be the result o_Oo_Oo_O! :)
 
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Now that rank lists are in, I thought I'd provide the little thumbnail reviews of programs that I wrote following each interview day. Hell, I read like the past five years of application threads, so I thought it was the least I could do for future years. Again, just one person's opinion, and these are in no particular order:

Fox Chase/Temple – A victim of out-of-date scuttlebutt, as I think most of the financial issues are resolving after Temple bought the place in 2012. I was impressed by its strong balance between heme and onc, urban (Temple) and suburban (Fox-Chase) hospitals, and academic vs. private practice. Also a very chill and accommodating environment - I really felt like the program leadership would support a fellow no matter what his/her career goals.

Columbia – Though my mentors felt that Columbia was kinda riding on the laurels of a previous generation, I felt that it was another victim of somewhat out-of-date gossip, as in recent years NYP and the medical school have identified the department as an area for institutional improvement (RE: the hiring of a large heme group from Sloan, the expansion of the program to 7 fellows/year, and the opening of a ton more basic science lab space). Still with some holes on the onc side, but definitely on the rise academically, and I think the program is definitely in the conversation with Cornell and Sloan for “best academic program in the city”. Also with solid clinical training at multiple sites – a big recent transition here is the move to an attending-run clinic system. I also liked that Columbia was part of a larger university campus with the MPH school right next door.

Cornell – A smaller program, but definitely academically strong, especially in heme. That means a little too many inpatient months for me, but I guess it’s the price you pay. NYP and Weill are also expanding this fellowship program and hiring new faculty (especially in solid onc), so that was nice to see. I liked the collegial and close-knit relationships between fellows and faculty. Tons of good research opportunities, though I was a bit put off by the program’s insistence on having even clinically-oriented fellows do lab-based stuff during fellowship.

Maryland – I thought this was a very solid and well-rounded program. Fellows work very hard first year, but do come out well-trained clinically, with time at the public and VA hospitals. Despite the clinical burden, the program does carve out 14 months of dedicated research time in years 2 and 3, so there is opportunity to launch an academic career. I didn’t get a sense of the program’s areas of research strength on the interview day, though, and my mentors didn’t know much about it (being from a different area of the country).

NCI/NIH – A very unique program. Probably one of the best places in the country to launch an academic career, especially in basic and translational science and clinical trials. Also a unique entrée into regulatory work at the FDA, which I found interesting. A really supportive program director and what appears to be a ton of institutional resources to make sure that fellows are successful. However, definitely still a work in progress on the clinical end of things. One of the fellows told me that his attendings during the inpatient months at Georgetown were not comfortable with him writing chemo on his own, which I found curious. Also, the outpatient clinic experience is mainly trial patients, which is probably not all that relevant to bread-and-butter oncology practice.

MD Anderson – Not much to say here, as I did feel it was a level above the other programs on my list. Obviously we all know about the incredibly strong research opportunities available here. When it comes to research, MDA is sort of like a big sandbox, which can be overwhelming, though I think that fellows who have the personal and academic maturity to take advantage will love it. However, I felt that MDA really differentiates itself from the other “big academic programs” on the strength of its clinical experience. I especially liked the fellow-driven clinic at LBJ Hospital, one of the public hospitals in the city, which is not an experience you’re gonna get at a lot of other “highly-ranked” programs.

Baylor (Houston) – It has always been very strong clinically, but this of course cuts both ways. You’ll be comfortable with treating all sorts of cancers upon graduation, but you’re gonna have to work for it. Really busy clinics and quite a few inpatient months. There’s been more emphasis in recent years on carving out research time for interested fellows, and some T32 grants have recently gone online to help facilitate extra funded years. However, this remains a clinically-oriented program first, and applicants should know that.
 
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10 days to go. Best of luck to everyone!
 
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On match day..... do you receive an email from NRMP or do you have to log in to NRMP website?
 
You will receive an email saying congratulations you matched hem/onc at (program name) or sorry you didn't match
 
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