Oncology Informatics In the Next Decade

I am writing my personal statement for the upcoming fellowship application season in medical oncology. I plan to integrate training in oncology and informatics (oncology informatics). There was a spark for writing ignited in me so I wanted to make a quick post.

ASCO2011 Presidential Address of George Sledge, MD

If you are interested in oncology and moreso in oncology informatics, you need to have watched this. Indiana University is lucky to have two ASCO past presidents on its faculty.

Oncology Informatics Future and Leaders

Someday I predict the the combination of medical oncology and informatics will be as commonplace as the combination of pulmonary and critical care medicine. The leaders of this field will be a diverse group. There is a unique opportunity in my generation to combine basic science, technology, and clinical oncology to make advances that would have been revolutionary one decade ago routine. The combination of skills and timing are best described in Malcom Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success

we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing.

Oncology Informatics and Me

As an undergraduate, I found myself in a computer science introduction course after a scheduling mix up. As fate would have it, I became hooked on computer science at the same time I was learning how cellular biology and biochemistry made the world make sense. In medical school I continued to pursue technical interests as the molecular biology explained the basis of cancer treatment. In my clerkships, medical oncology was solidified as a career path due to the integration of empathy, treating the whole patient, and application of basic science and pharmacology. Oncology informatics was the final iteration which tied everything together.

I am far from unique but I do have passion for both clinical oncology and information technology. My head spins with possibilities of to integrate these fields in the next decade. Whether I will be able to contribute to this exciting field is yet to be determined. Of one thing I am certain – what a great time to be alive.