A day in the life of a Dana-Farber fellow
By Joe O'Shea
In a clinic waiting area one recent morning, a patient fails to respond when her name is announced. A bandanna wrapped around her head, she sits quietly, shoulders trembling, a stark contrast to the young doctor searching for her. After he locates the woman, first-year Medical Oncology Fellow Ray Wadlow, MD, shifts into a slower gear, gently lowering himself onto a nearby seat and, in a hushed voice, asking what's bothering her.
Ray Wadlow, MD, on the job
Grasping her concerns about her clinical trial, he convinces the patient to step into an exam room and performs a routine physical. His easy, warm manner is a tribute to his mother, whose cancer-related death spurred the then-University of Virginia medical student to alter the course of his career several years ago and choose oncology.
Wadlow, who seamlessly weaves in frank discussions of blood counts and radiation treatment with vacation-destination banter, views good interpersonal skills as a means to build mutual respect and understanding with patients.
"One of the things that attracted me to Dana-Farber is the emphasis placed on the totality of care," he says. "As a fellow, you become immersed in all types of cancers and patients. It can be a little overwhelming at first, but you learn what it's like to care for someone throughout the course of his or her illness."
During this, the first of his three years as a fellow, Wadlow spent six months at Dana-Farber following about 100 patients. He is completing the year at Massachusetts General Hospital while retaining about 10 of those DFCI patients, some of whom he'll continue seeing throughout his fellowship. After his clinical experience, he'll spend most of his fellowship time conducting research.
When not tending to patients, Wadlow and his peers — who work closely with attending physicians — are studying medical records and diseases, as well as attending patient conferences, tumor boards, and lectures. Twelve-hour days are not uncommon.
"The attending-fellow relationship here is very Socratic," says veteran Dana-Farber physician-scientist Charles Fuchs, MD, MPH. "I have opinions on how to proceed, but it's important for the fellows to develop their critical-thinking skills, so they can present their own approaches — and defend them."
