What does a Hematologist-Oncologist do?

[bigfrank]

Hello all.

I was wondering. Most IM fellowships in Heme-Onc. are for both, not only Oncology. I know that those are out there, but they are far less numerous than the combined ones.

My question is, what does a person who is board certified in Hematology & Oncology do? Can they ONLY do Oncology?

Also, what kind of lifestyle does a Heme-Onc have? It is similar to Cardiology, or do they have more hours? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Frank

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[Floyd77803]

typically, a person who has completed a hemo/oncology fellowship practices mainly oncology. The lifestyle of an oncologist can be very good, depending on how established your practice is. I would think that it would be a highly stressful field though, having to deal with so much death.

 

[jargon124]

So if they only do oncology why go for the combined heme-onc 3 year fellowship when a 2 year oncology fellowship would suffice? I suppose the mix of heme vs onc patients would vary with your practice setting and whatnot. Or maybe it just reflects that there are more oncology cases requiring specialists than there are heme...I dunno...but as someone interested in the field, it would be dissappointing to spend 3 years in heme-onc and never get to flex the heme muscle.

 

[Future GI Guy]

Actually, most of the "combined programs" allow you to take the two year option, which would lead to either Hematology OR Oncology board certification, but not both. The additional third year is a bench-research year that makes dual certification possible (in other words, you don't do all of the hematology stuff during the third-optional-year, it's just a year to gain research experience.)

Does that make sense?

If it doesn't, I suggest reading a Hem-Onc Fellowship site which describes the curriculum.