Block 4 Complete

Friday marked the end of the fourth month of our academic year. The time has passed quickly and there is much to look forward to in the months ahead. Last weekend, I was able to go to Albuquerque, NM to see the 51st Annual Balloon Fiesta. It was a lot of fun!

I've enjoyed being the Chief Fellow this year. It’s been so much fun working with our program leadership to make the program even better. Scripps has been a really great place to train the last 2.5 years, and I’ll miss it once I graduate. I remember feeling a bit anxious about starting back in July 2021. It seemed like three more years of exhausting training back, but it has been a really fun experience with lots of work-life balance. The time has marched on quickly and I’ve made lots of great memories along the way.

This weekend would have been the annual meeting of the California Medical Association’s House of Delegates at LA Live in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, I found out a week ago that this was cancelled due to a service worker strike affecting most of the downtown LA hotels. I’ll miss getting to see my California medicine friends, but I also hope the workers get the wages and benefits that they need. Speaking from experience, service work is hard and it’s sure to be even more stressful in a city with such a high cost of living!

I’m nearly decided about where I’ll be working in 2024 and I’m looking forward to the next few years ahead. I’ll get to focus on melanoma and immuno-oncology, two areas that have really fascinated me ever since I was in my Ph.D. program back in Houston. I’ve enjoyed the last few years a lot, but it’s nice to finally be approaching my first faculty appointment at the end of my 15th year of training!

Between now and June 30, 2024, there is much to be done! I need to:
- Finish three papers that are currently in the works
- Hand off my duties to the 2024-2025 Chief Fellow
- Plan and implement the Interim 2023 and Annual 2024 meetings for the AMA-RFS in collaboration with our Vice Speaker and the AMA staff
- Finish recruitment of next year’s first year hem/onc fellowship class. Yesterday was our final interview day, and next Friday we'll build our rank list.
- Hand off my patient panel to the fellows taking over for me next year
- Plan a vacation for Summer 2024 with family to celebrate the capstone of 15 years of medical training!
- Plan lectures in oncology for the new Austin College Physician Assistant program
- Study for the hematology and oncology board exams in October 2024

Hem/Onc fellows celebrating the completion of four months of the academic year

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