Regarding research...

[Casey]

I am a second year medical student, and I am very, very interested in Radiation Oncology. I came to medical school with a leaning toward pediatric oncology, but did not have much exposure to Radiation Oncology. Over the last year, I have become increasingly convinced that rad onc is the specialty for me...

This summer I did some clinical research at St Jude Children's Research Hospital. The research concerned late effects of therapy in leukemia patients. It was through the Radiology department. It was a wonderful experience, and I did get two published papers for the work.

My question is this...will such research help my chances in matching with Rad Onc? I am interested in academic medicine and would love to pursue Radiation Oncology research directly, but my school does not have such a department. I do have the opportunity to work on further research in Diagnostic Imaging throughout the year. Is all research helpful, or do I need to start focusing on Radiation Oncology?

Thanks for the advice,
Casey

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[stephew]

"My question is this...will such research help my chances in matching with Rad Onc? "

Yes.

All resaerch is helpful but if you can do something that leans into rad onc or onc in general, all the better. Perhaps something physics related in radiology if you know anything about that? (Probably not likely). You must do a rotation in rad onc and if your school doesnt have a dept., you'll have to do (at least one) away rotation.

Get hooked up in research now for great opportunities later. Your prior work will certainly help.
All the best,
steph