Confused about fellowships?

[Amy B]

Ok, I am confused about what I need to do to become a pediatric oncologist.
I will have to complete a 3 year residency in pediatrics, but after that where do I learn the onocology part? Every medical school I have talked to says they don't offer a pediatric oncology fellowship. One said "we don't have fellowships we are ...based" I didn't know what he meant and we had to move on. Is there anyone that can explain this to me? Is there any where I can learn what my career choice will entail, how long it will be, cost, salary etc.....?

I know there is a site you can visit that talks about residency and fellowships but it doesn't answer the questions I have.

Any help would be appriecated.
Thanks
Amy

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[AJM]

The typical path to Peds Oncology is to do a fellowship in Peds Hematology-Oncology after 3 years of Peds residency. This fellowship is normally 3 years long. It's possible to just do Peds Onc or Peds Heme separately, but each of those would be 2 years of fellowship. I think Peds Heme-Onc specialists are somewhat more desirable due to their increased training.

The only thing I can tell you about this specialty is that it typically is highly sub-specialized, and the centers that offer fellowship programs are typically the academic programs. Also, most peds heme-onc specialists tend to live in larger cities and are associated with academic medical centers.

Try this web site for more information: http://www.ama-assn.org/cgi-bin/freida/freida.cgi

 

[lilycat]

ajm gave you great information. If you are still interested in doing peds oncology or heme-onc when residency time rolls around, I would also strongly recommend that you try to do your residency at a medical center that has a heme-onc division -- it really does seem that fellowship programs love to take their own.

 

[Amy B]

Hey, Thanks for the help in clearing up some of my questions. I know I have a long time before I have to worry about it. I am an older student with a family so I want to go to a medical school that I can stay in the area after I graduate if at all possible.

 

[David_Allen_VA]

Glen Allen, VA? I used to live just off Staples Mill Road.

Nice to see someone else from that part of the world here.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Good information lilycat. I'll just move this over to MY forum so I can see some action there! Onto Rotations and Residencies...