Savage.MD Blog

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 ...

 The year is moving fast! A week ago we had a social event for all of the residents and fellows at Scripps to celebrate the end of the third month of the academic year. Nearly a third of the attendees were from the hematology and oncology oncology. It was fun getting to know people, especially from other programs, a bit better outside of work. Hem/onc fellows Quinne, Cathy, David, Roxy, and Shane I'm in the final phase of picking my job for next year. I am so fortune for the offers I've received already, and I'm looking forward to making my final decision soon. Regardless, I'm excited to finish my 15th year of training (I matriculated to the MD/PhD program in Aug 2009!) to start my first faculty position. It's the goal I've been working to ever since starting this journey. Lastly, nearly three weeks ago I became an uncle to a beautiful niece. I am so excited for my younger brother and sister-in-law for their healthy baby. My niece and me in Forney, TX

 It's really an honor to be the chief fellow for my program this year. My duties to date have included: Creating the AY 2023-24 call schedule Updating our recruitment microsite for interview season Assigning topics for Friday division rounds for the year Orienting our first year fellows during their first week of fellowship Assigning mentorship pairings for our new fellows and seniors Planning social events to build community in the program Tracking our daily census on the consult services and during weekend call Connecting pharma rep learning opportunities with our fellows Answering questions that come up for my peers This is all in addition to being a third year fellow with my own clinics and continuity patient panel. It's been a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. My hope is to leave the program better off than when I joined it two years ago. The time has flown quickly. I was telling a patient on this week that this is my "15th year of training." I started my MD/Ph...

Today I had my first interview for a faculty position in heme/onc. It went well, and it’s at a program I’m pretty excited about. I am so incredibly grateful for all the opportunities that have led to this day. First was the opportunity training in the UTHealth MSTP in Houston, TX. The nine years I spent there were character changing – I had lots of fun times, but also some of the hardest times of my career – learning to be both a physician and scientist. The program set me up for success and helped me match to a really wonderful internal medicine residency at the Cleveland Clinic. Cleveland Clinic taught me how to do research in medical education and also gave me a good foundation as an internist. It introduced me to some of my first research mentors in clinical oncology. I am thankful for my transition to UCSD in La Jolla, CA in 2020. Southern California is the most beautiful place I have lived in my life, and every morning I wake up thankful for the opportunity. UCSD was a great caps...

I recently had a conference call where we were asked to write the title of our fictional autobiography. This was mine. From Small Town Texas to San Diego: The Exciting Journey of a Physician Scientist I've been very lucky so far in my career and life. I was lucky to be selected for the MD/PhD training program at the University of Texas Houston and I am very lucky to now be training as an oncologist in San Diego, CA. I would have never imagined these opportunities as a teenager growing up in my small part of East Texas!  San Diego has beautiful weather and geography. There are so many beautiful hikes here. The city is sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and the mountains. Here's a picture of our heme/onc fellows at a recent hike around Lake Poway. Blue Sky Hike 01/07/2023

The month on radiation oncology was excellent.  Week 1: Dr. Tripuraneni – Learned about skin and prostate cancer treatment with radiation Week 2: Dr. Lin – Learned about gynecologic and GI cancer treatment with radiation Week 3: Dr. Chen – Learned about lung and CNS cancer treatment with radiation Week 4: Dr. MacEwan and California Protons – learned about the benefits and downsides of radiation therapy I have a much better sense now of what goes into planning radiation treatment for patients. Step 1 is a clinic evaluation to determine if the patient would benefit from radiation and to discuss the benefits and risks of treatment. Step 2 is a simulation visit where the patient comes for a CT scan that will be used by the radiation oncologist for contouring and treatment planning. Step 3 is contouring/planning and happens behind the scenes. The physician first draws in the targets based on the simulation scan. This can be fused with other imaging. Then the preliminary plan is sent to ...

Last week I had my first ever opportunity to spend time learning about radiation oncology. It was super informative! Monday I spent the day in the control room of the treatment rooms learning how treatment plans are delivered. I also learned about the simulation and masking process. On Wednesday I spent time with a radiation dosimetrist to learn how targets outlined by a radiation oncologist are translated to a plan in the planning software. I learned how a dosimetrist carefully outlines critical structures near a treatment target so that they can be protected from the radiation treatment beam. Thursday I learned how follow-up and new consult care works in the radiation oncology clinic. A radiation oncologist gets many referrals, but has to use his/her knowledge to decide who is appropriate for treatment and then how that treatment should be delivered. Friday I spent my morning in the multidisciplinary clinic learning how the medical oncologist, radiation oncologist, and surgeon work t...