The Hematology-Oncology Fellowship program is based in the Departments of Medicine at Roswell Park and the University at Buffalo. The clinical experience of each fellow is varied and intense. Trainees are exposed to patients representing the full spectrum of malignant and hematological diseases.
Highlights
Fellows directly care for patients, under faculty supervision, in dedicated oncology and hematology continuity clinics, allowing for longitudinal follow-up of patients over the course of their training. Fellows will devote at least 18 months to clinical rotations in Medical Oncology and Hematology with remaining time spent on clinical electives as well as research.
I believe the University at Buffalo/Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Hematology/Oncology Fellowship program has several unique strengths and opportunities. Given that Roswell Park is a free-standing cancer center, the fellows maintain an integral and respected role as a member of a very close community of faculty, APPs, pharmacists, administrators, and translational scientists. Here we have the opportunity to collaborate on a vast array of research areas and are continuously supported in our journey toward becoming clinician scientists. In addition, our program's unique structure involves rotating within several other hospital systems, including the VA and Erie County Medical Center, which allows fellows to develop a heightened degree of comfort and confidence in treating a dynamic range of patient populations within a variety of clinical settings. Further, I cannot say enough about the support from the leadership of this program. This hardworking group of individuals are unwaveringly devoted to our well-being and proactively receptive to our feedback, and I am forever grateful for their efforts during such a vulnerable and important period of my career. Lastly, the city of Buffalo is easy to navigate and provides a low cost of living with a famously hospitable community, all of which makes it easy to call this region 'home'.Benjamin Switzer, DO, Class of 2023
Medical Oncology curriculum
During the first year, fellows participate in clinical rotations with onsite Roswell Park services:
- Breast and Genitourinary Care Centers
- Thoracic and Sarcoma and Melanoma (STM) Care Centers
- Gastrointestinal and Head and Neck Care Centers
- Leukemia and Blood Disorder Service
- Lymphoma and Myeloma Service
- Transplantation and Cellular Therapies Service
Fellows will also spend time at Buffalo General Hospital and the Veterans Administration (VA) hospital on consultative services.
Required electives during second and third years include gynecologic oncology, neuro-oncology, hospice and palliative care and radiation oncology.
Hematology curriculum
During the second and third years, fellows participate in a variety of rotations in benign hematology at UB Department of Medicine clinical sites:
- Buffalo VA Hospital/State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY-UB)
- Erie County Medical Center
- Western New York BloodCare
- Rochester General Hospital (RGH), Rochester, NY
Dedicated rotations in Hematopathology and Pediatric & Adolescent Hematology at Roswell Park and exposure in local blood bank and coagulation laboratory settings are provided.
Malignant hematology exposure occurs at Roswell Park during disease-specific rotations in leukemia, lymphoma/myeloma, and transplantation & cellular therapies, as well as during rotations at ECMC, RGH and the Buffalo VA Hospital.
Conferences
A wide array of regularly scheduled didactic conferences, multidisciplinary case conferences, and educational seminars occur on a weekly/monthly basis in both the Medical Oncology and Hematology curriculums. See the following conference lists for specific topics and schedule information.
Bootcamp lectures (July-August): Not-to-miss introductory sessions dedicated to various hard and soft skills necessary to succeed as a hematology and medical oncology fellow.
Director's Conference (Weekly): Devoted to a broad range of topics, including professionalism, ethics, communication, and clinical reviews of interest, mediated by the program director.
Journal Club (Weekly): Fellows review current medical literature for critical discussion with faculty commentary. Attendance is mandatory.
Fellow Lecture Series (Weekly): A didactic teaching conference presented by faculty across all subdisciplines. Specific topics are presented that reflect educational competencies outlined in Section IV of the Curriculum. Attendance is mandatory.
Medical Oncology Grand Rounds (Weekly): Presentations on specific topics in oncology given by renowned experts in their respective fields. Experts from other institutions and from Roswell Park are invited to speak. Attendance is mandatory.
Breakfast with the Grand Rounds Speaker (Weekly): Provides fellows the opportunity to discuss career development and mentorship with thought leaders in the field.
Board Review Series (Weekly): A fellow-led series exhaustively reviewing current literature on the management of various oncologic diseases.
Red Cell Rounds (Weekly): An interactive didactic conference on the entire spectrum of benign hematology issues, precepted by faculty from Rochester General Hospital or Roswell Park.
Leukemia Conference: Primarily a case-management conference. Brief (15-20 minute) didactic presentations by fellows are included in most sessions. Attendance is mandatory for fellows on the Leukemia rotation.
Lymphoma Conference: Primarily a case-management conference. Brief (15-20 minute) didactic presentations by fellows are included in most sessions. Attendance is mandatory for fellows on the Lymphoma rotation.
Transplant and Cellular Therapies (TCT) Conference : A weekly conference devoted to discussions regarding (a) advisability of referred patients proceeding onto BMT, (b) outcomes of patients treated by BMT, (c) side effects experienced by such patients, (d) didactics related to BMT, and (e) quality improvement.
Distinguished Speaker Series (Monthly): Held by the Institute for the presentation of clinical and basic science advances across a number of disciplines. Attendance is mandatory.
City-Wide Grand Rounds: These are city-wide grand rounds for the Department of Medicine of the State University of New York at Buffalo. Topics relate to general internal medicine. Attendance is encouraged.
Morbidity and Mortality Conference: This conference is presented jointly with faculty from the Department of Pathology. Case histories and autopsies of medical patients who have expired are discussed with emphasis on issues related to quality of care. Attendance is mandatory.
Lecture Series for Institute Fellows (Weekly) : Addresses topics germane to all residency/fellowship programs throughout the institute, such as clinical trial design, immunology, molecular genetics, statistics, etc.
Multidisciplinary case conferences (Site-specific) : These conferences are presented in conjunction with multimodality disease-oriented clinics. Conferences are attended by medical, surgical, and/or radiation therapy trainees and faculty, and also typically include pathology and radiology faculty. Case management, films, and pathology are discussed from a multidisciplinary perspective. Fellows and residents assigned to specific clinics must attend appropriate conferences. Trainees not assigned to specific clinics are also encouraged to attend when feasible. Disease-specific conferences include:
- Thoracic
- Soft-tissue malignancies/melanoma
- Head and neck
- GI
- GU
- Breast
- Gyn-Onc