HemOnc Fellow looking into surgery

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Shawney

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I’m a senior fellow of Hematology Oncology and lately I’ve become interested in Surgery. I live in an area that is very underserved when it comes to surgeons. I know people who have done IM and then started all over again in Surgery but I haven’t heard of anyone going into surgery after a fellowship. Is it doable? Will program hold it against me?

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Honestly, you are 6 years into training now and about to be an attending? Don't do it. What does "I've become interested in surgery" mean? Because you have to somehow match into a surgery program, deal with 5-7 years of extremely brutal calls and hours, and if you are interested in a surgical oncology type practice, another 2-3 years of fellowship...
 
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Agree with above. Also, it will be extremely difficult to match in surgery, not just because of the overall competitiveness, but also because you will not have funding by CMS, which means the program would have to pay for 5 years of training.
 
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Honestly, you are 6 years into training now and about to be an attending? Don't do it. What does "I've become interested in surgery" mean? Because you have to somehow match into a surgery program, deal with 5-7 years of extremely brutal calls and hours, and if you are interested in a surgical oncology type practice, another 2-3 years of fellowship...
I’ve become frustrated at the lack of available oncology surgeons in my area. I think matching could be possible except I’m worried for the money thing. I did do internal medicine in a hospital were half the positions were paid by the hospital.

There are no paths that take you into surgery after Oncology. All I’ve found is sub fellowships within Oncology. I might apply and see what happens
 
Agree with above. Also, it will be extremely difficult to match in surgery, not just because of the overall competitiveness, but also because you will not have funding by CMS, which means the program would have to pay for 5 years of training.
I am not very concerned about competitiveness, i think the hardest part would be figuring out which hospitals pay for the residents out of their own pocket
 
I’ve become frustrated at the lack of available oncology surgeons in my area. I think matching could be possible except I’m worried for the money thing. I did do internal medicine in a hospital were half the positions were paid by the hospital.

There are no paths that take you into surgery after Oncology. All I’ve found is sub fellowships within Oncology. I might apply and see what happens
There are no paths from oncology into surgery because you're attempting to do it in reverse. The "surgery" component is the largest piece of training. I think you'd find the same applies from cardiology to surgery or neurology to surgery.
 
Just so you know, you will have to find a 5 year general surgery program to match into, may end up having to do 2 years of research to be competitive for surg onc, and then match into another 2 year surg onc program.... so you're looking at another 10 years.
 
There are no paths from oncology into surgery because you're attempting to do it in reverse. The "surgery" component is the largest piece of training. I think you'd find the same applies from cardiology to surgery or neurology to surgery.
I know two derms that did Internal Medicine first. I honestly don’t know if it was to bolster their applications
 
I’ve become frustrated at the lack of available oncology surgeons in my area.
Might need to consider why this is too.

For example, is it because the hospital doesn’t have the volume or is too cheap to pay one? Are you sure they’d pay you to be their Surg Onc even if you did this crazy plan and got the training?
 
Might need to consider why this is too.

For example, is it because the hospital doesn’t have the volume or is too cheap to pay one? Are you sure they’d pay you to be their Surg Onc even if you did this crazy plan and got the training?
I think it’s just an underserved area. There’s a big shortage of surgeons in my state.
 
I know two derms that did Internal Medicine first. I honestly don’t know if it was to bolster their applications
It may have been. But derm is not a surgical specialty... Again, the main component of surg onc is surgery and should be apparent that the main portion of training is via surgical training.
 
This is insanity and should not be done. You could spend a tenth of that time working and advocating to recruit a surgeon and be far more successful and help a lot more people.
 
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This is insanity and should not be done. You could spend a tenth of that time working and advocating to recruit a surgeon and be far more successful and help a lot more people.
I feel like I have a real shot to do this
 
I feel like I have a real shot to do this
You're looking at another 10 years of training (5 years gen surg 2 years research then fellowship). You cannot go from IM to a surgical fellowship and starting over at this point is frankly insane.
 
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I’m a senior fellow of Hematology Oncology and lately I’ve become interested in Surgery. I live in an area that is very underserved when it comes to surgeons. I know people who have done IM and then started all over again in Surgery but I haven’t heard of anyone going into surgery after a fellowship. Is it doable? Will program hold it against me?

As a heme/onc attending, average compensation is in the $500,000 range per year. More than that is easily achievable.

That's ~9 years of opportunity cost to go back into training.

That's $4.5 million (gross) you are leaving on the table. Don't forget the ability to tax shelter a decent bit of this along with matching options for retirement plans.

As a resident/fellow, we can estimate an average salary of about $70k a year over those 9 years. That's a total of $630k (gross). Typically the investment options are very limited and in my experience, residencies usually don't offer 401k/403b matching options.

This can't be a purely financial decision but that is a lot of money to leave on the table. Heme/onc is a pretty great field.

In demand, being involved with cutting edge therapies, etc.
 
As a heme/onc attending, average compensation is in the $500,000 range per year. More than that is easily achievable.

That's ~9 years of opportunity cost to go back into training.

That's $4.5 million (gross) you are leaving on the table. Don't forget the ability to tax shelter a decent bit of this along with matching options for retirement plans.

As a resident/fellow, we can estimate an average salary of about $70k a year over those 9 years. That's a total of $630k (gross). Typically the investment options are very limited and in my experience, residencies usually don't offer 401k/403b matching options.

This can't be a purely financial decision but that is a lot of money to leave on the table. Heme/onc is a pretty great field.

In demand, being involved with cutting edge therapies, etc.
I respect your opinion and you May be making a great point but money has never been of much interest to me. I am very passionate about providing service to my area and being able to offer s more complete service to patients. Gyn Onc might also be an option since they also have surgical side and prescribe therapy as well.
 
I respect your opinion and you May be making a great point but money has never been of much interest to me. I am very passionate about providing service to my area and being able to offer s more complete service to patients. Gyn Onc might also be an option since they also have surgical side and prescribe therapy as well.

Let us know how it turns out.

7 to 10 years of training on top of the 6 you already did is a bit much.
 
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