how can I become an ovarian cancer doc?

[caulfield830]

Hi, I'm a 2nd-year hem/onc fellow. I recently got interested in specializing in ovarian cancer. In my institution, gyn onc docs are all gynecologists and I haven't seen any med onc doc seeing gyn onc patients. How should I approach this? Can I see gyn onc patients as a med onc doc? I am working with a gynecologist on a research project and I am thinking about working in his clinic from January. I haven't asked my PD if this is OK yet (because his clinic is not among the choices that we are given when we do the survey q6m).

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[gutonc]

Get a suburban/rural job. You can have all the gyn onc you want.

Carbo/taxol/bev until your eyes cross. Then you can hit the olaparib and doxil until you pass out.

 

[lulu09]

We have a 1 month mandatory gyn onc rotation and yes we can rotate with them more if we want. Just ask your chief.

And yes med onc can def see gyn onc, it's on our boards (and ITE)!

I must say it's very interesting to see the contrast of approach to cancer between "surgeons" and "internists" in clinic. For instance, I was asked by the gyn onc attending whether I would recommend for an elderly pt who was audibly wheezing BP 90/50 to go to the ED from clinic (turns out they had fulminating PNA on top of COPD). I do like how they can do surgery and perform chemo as an one-stop shop though, where in med onc we have to rely on thoracic surg, pulm, gen surg....etc (not that I want to do surgery!).

 

[QuizzicalApe]

Definitely rotate through their clinics.

I'm also in (and trained in) an area where a lot of the ovarian cancer is managed by Gyn Onc, but my practice covers some far-flung offices where we handle all the chemo because they aren't willing to drive into the city. One of my med onc co-fellows carved out a bunch of time to rotate and do research with a gyn onc mentor and has transitioned into a faculty/research role there. Anecdotally, the gynoncs love it because it lets them focus more on the surgeries and less on the chemo to have her around.

 

[RainerMaria]

At our non-rural institution in fellowship the surgeons stayed in the OR while the med-oncs stayed in the cancer center and prescribed the chemotherapy. IMHO this is how life should be. Maybe it is institution/culture dependent but it seemed harmonious for our group.