How common is it to only treat one type of cancer in private practice?

[KatsuCurry]

Hi all,

I am still a medical student, so I apologize for my lack of knowledge.

I have shadowed a number of oncologists who work at my university hospital, and I have found myself most drawn towards breast oncology. To be honest, I have much less passion in treating GI/bone/heme cancers.

How realistic is it for someone to be hired to only treat one type of cancer (specifically breast) out of fellowship? I suspect that it's pretty common in academics, but is it also common for private practice as well? Is there a corresponding change in compensation if one only sees one type of cancer?

TIA.

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[MD46]

You could focus on one area of major interest and one minor like benign heme in hybrid academic like practices.

Subfellowships in breast oncology are available at places like MSKCC Md Anderson etc but not sure if its worth the time.

In my experience in private or hospital setting its hard to focus on one area unless everyone else is ok with that and or you are taking over for someone heavy in breast oncology.

But definitely doable, just have the look around.

 

[HOIV]

You could focus on one area of major interest and one minor like benign heme in hybrid academic like practices.

Subfellowships in breast oncology are available at places like MSKCC Md Anderson etc but not sure if its worth the time.

In my experience in private or hospital setting its hard to focus on one area unless everyone else is ok with that and or you are taking over for someone heavy in breast oncology.

But definitely doable, just have the look around.

Have several docs in my practice that only do breast.

 

[solidonc2020]

I'm looking at community/hybrid jobs now and breast only positions are one of the most common subspecialist areas for private groups, not surprisingly since it's one of the most common cancer types and has gotten increasingly more complex. It's tougher to find more niche specialty jobs (melanoma, CNS, etc) outside of academia but breast is definitely doable.

No need to do a breast subfellowship IMO unless you're wanting to jumpstart an academic career and aren't coming from an academic program. The compensation piece you mentioned is primarily driven by the practice setting. Private practice makes more than hybrid or hospital employed, which both make more than academic jobs. So long as you find a job with adequate volume (i.e. able to fill a schedule ~4 days per week) in the community, seeing breast only wouldn't hurt compensation.

 

[gutonc]

Those jobs exist outside of academia in large (typically hospital-based or MSG) groups. Of the 5 non-academic hem/onc groups in town here, 2 are designed as disease focused/specific (with breast oncology being specific). The other 3 are general model with certain physicians being focused on a particular disease type or 3 (mine is like this).