Educational and Fellowship Activities Within Medical Oncology

Hematology/Oncology Fellowships

Led by Ann LaCasce, MD, MMSc, the Department of Medical Oncology coordinates the Dana-Farber/Mass General Brigham Fellowship in Hematology/Oncology, which involves training at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH). The Dana-Farber/Mass General Brigham Fellowship in Hematology/Oncology has two tracks: a Hematology-Oncology Track and a Classical Hematology Track.

This program is geared towards academically-oriented physicians who will become leaders in clinical and laboratory investigation, clinical care, and education. To achieve this goal:

• First-year fellows are immersed in intensive clinical training.
• Beyond the first year, fellows engage in two or more years of in-depth clinical, translational, and/or basic research.
• Trainees attend a wide variety of teaching conferences and weekly disease-oriented teaching sessions.

Read more about Fellowships in Hematology/Oncology at Dana-Farber.

Training in Oncology Population Sciences (TOPS) Fellowships

DF/HCC's TOPS Postdoctoral Fellowship Program is co-led by Jennifer Mack, MD, MPH, and Nancy Keating, MD, MPH. Postdoctoral fellows pursue a two-year program of mentored research, coursework, and professional skills training that supports innovation and leverages the expertise of DF/HCC faculty to prepare them for independent investigation in cancer-focused population science.

The program has three specific strategies to achieve this overarching objective:

• Training in core methods and skills necessary for investigation through coursework and participation in regular seminars, workshops, and reading 
• Intensive focus on a research project, with close supervision from one or more mentors
• Training in professional skills that are prerequisite for investigation, including project development, grant writing, presentation, building and working with diverse teams, running a dry laboratory, and the responsible conduct of research

Read more about DF/HCC's TOPS T32 Postdoctoral Training Program.

Educational Opportunities

Members of the Department of Medical Oncology conduct tutorials and teach courses at Harvard Medical School (HMS). The department offers a fourth-year clerkship in hematology/oncology, for which Robert Mayer, MD, serves as course director. Registration for this program is through the HMS Registrar's Office, Exchange Clerkship Program; the rotation is available from September through June. Please direct Exchange Clerkship inquiries to exclerks@hms.harvard.edu.

Serving as attending physicians on the oncology service of Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), members of the department instruct medical residents. The department provides attending physicians for 11 teams each month. An experience in ambulatory oncology is also available to interested medical residents.

Continuing Medical Education (CME)

The department coordinates an annual four-day continuing medical education (CME) course, "Cancer Medicine and Hematology," under the auspices of DF/PCC, and directed by Robert Mayer, MD. In addition, many of the disease centers within the department present annual or semi-annual half-day programs for regional physicians and other health professionals.

Many members of the department participate in weekly tumor boards at community hospitals throughout eastern New England, as well as in CME courses across the country. For example, for over 10 years Dana-Farber has offered a two-day course entitled, "Master Class for Oncologists," directed by Dr. Mayer and accredited through the Annenberg Center for Health Sciences at Eisenhower. This course is held in three major US cities each year: April (alternates between San Francisco and Los Angeles [2020 in Los Angeles]); May in Chicago; and October in New York.

Read more about Dana-Farber's extensive Continuing Medical Education (CME) Programs.
Read more about Dana-Farber's many Fellowships and Training Programs across the Institute.