Overview

Lahey Hospital and Medical Center (LHMC) is an academic teaching hospital and a tertiary referral center for a large area north and west of Boston as well as in southern New Hampshire and Maine. We see a large number of referrals for benign hematology and all types of complex neoplastic diseases. The nationally recognized thoracic and hepato-biliary cancer programs are two examples of the level of multidisciplinary expertise that characterize cancer care at LHMC. LHMC’s additional advantage is the presence of onsite availability of all supporting services required for complex oncology care including blood bank, advanced laboratory medicine, including a center for molecular diagnostics, radiation and surgical oncology, interventional radiology, and palliative care. LHMC also operates a FACT-accredited autologous stem cell transplant program. Fellows will receive additional training at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for the treatment of blood cancers, bone marrow and stem cell transplant, CAR-T, and novel vaccines. The patient mix and resources available to treat the full range of hematology and oncology conditions allow fellows comprehensive exposure to all aspects of the field.

The hematology/oncology division will provide trainees with a wealth of knowledge and experience in both clinical and research areas. Most staff members have disease-specific expertise with several nationally recognized for their clinical and academic contributions. The Sophia Gordon Cancer Center and the Lahey Cancer Institute support a comprehensive clinical research program. As a main member of SWOG and NRG, two National Cancer Institute (NCI) supported cooperative clinical trials groups, fellows would have the opportunity to participate in a large number of NCI-sponsored trials as well as many industry and investigator-initiated trials evaluating novel therapeutic approaches. Our staff members have academic appointments at local medical schools including Tufts, Boston University, and Harvard providing an opportunity to collaborate with many non-Lahey colleagues on multiple academic and research initiatives. This combination of clinical and research activity provides an enticing training atmosphere for all potential fellows to explore their personal areas of interest.

The training program at Lahey follows the traditional 3-year model with intensive clinic and inpatient exposure in the first two years and a focus on electives and research opportunities in the third year. The program is designed to include a continuity clinic where fellows will have repeated exposure to individual patients over all three years of training to follow them longitudinally through their treatment course. We believe this helps fellows develop strong clinical skills which helps prepare them to manage patients independently.

PGY-4

  • Outpatient clinic 8 half days per week in specialty clinics including continuity clinic

PGY-5

  • 16 weeks of inpatient wards/consult (mix of hematology, autotransplant, and oncology)
  • 4-week mandatory rotations through Rad/Onc, palliative care, blood bank, lab medicine, orthopedic oncology, and neuro-oncology
  • 4-week mandatory allogeneic bone marrow transplant and CAR-T cell rotation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

PGY-6

Fellows are able to divide their time between research and elective rotations to focus on a subspecialty of interest

Four weeks of vacation during each year of training

Outpatient Clinic

The principal mechanism by which these educational objectives will be achieved is the fellows’ participation in outpatient clinics for 12 months of sub-specialty rotations under the direct supervision of attending faculty. First-year fellows are assigned to participate in approximately 8 such clinics, each of which meets one-half day per week. On average, fellows are expected to see one new patient and 4-8 follow-up patients per session, but the number of patients assigned to each fellow is not limited. Fellows will carry a continuity panel of patients in each clinic. On each visit, including the initial one, the patient is evaluated initially by the fellow, who then presents the case to the attending. The patient is then evaluated jointly by the fellow and attending, with emphasis on pertinent history and elements of physical examination. Diagnostic materials such as pathology specimens and radiographic studies will be reviewed jointly by the fellow and attending. Fellows will be encouraged to formulate differential diagnoses and management plans and to present these to the attending. Attending’s will use these clinics as a format for case-based teaching and will provide guidance for fellows in their independent reading of the medical literature.

Inpatient Rotations

Disorders of hematopoiesis and coagulation, and malignancy can complicate the management of any inpatient admission. This rotation is designed to give the fellow an in-depth experience in the consultative evaluation and management of medical and surgical patients with new or ongoing hematologic or oncologic problems. During this rotation, the fellow will have the opportunity to evaluate and manage patients with a wide array of malignant and non-malignant conditions under the supervision of the attending hematologist/oncologist.

Under most circumstances, patients requiring inpatient chemotherapy will be transferred to one of two services: Oncology or Hematology (co-managed with Hospital Medicine) as appropriate. It is expected that by the completion of the training program, fellows will have broad exposure to the consultative aspects of the specialties and will be prepared for independent practice in these areas.

Fellows will have exposure to autologous stem cell transplant patients while rotating through the inpatient hematology service.

Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant, CAR T-Cell Rotation

Fellows will do a four-week rotation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in downtown Boston on the inpatient BMT service. They will have exposure to autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplant patients during their transplant admission and in the post-transplant setting. They will also have exposure to cellular therapy patients receiving CAR T-cell treatment, bispecific antibody treatment and others.

  • Dean’s Letter or MSPE from medical school
  • Medical School Transcript
  • Three (3) letters of recommendation, one of which must be from a residency
  • USMLE 1, II, and III board scores
  • Personal Statement
  • CV as submitted through ERAS
  • Program Director: Russell Baur, MD
  • Assistant Program Director: Brendan Connell, MD
  • Core Key Clinical Faculty: Corrine Zarwan, MD and Lata Thatai, MD