Savage.MD Blog

I have now completed the first month of 2024 in my hem/onc fellowship. This is also the start of my final six months in my program. It has flown by quickly and I will miss it! It's been an honor getting to serve in a leadership capacity this year to make the program better. I have a lot of exciting (and stressful) milestones coming up in the 12 months ahead of me.  Our new chief fellow will be selected soon. I will work with her to coordinate the handoff of duties for 2024-2025. I will return to Cleveland in March 2024 for an immunotherapy toxicity conference. It'll be my first time back to the Cleveland Clinic since spring 2020. I will become a father. We will welcome our baby girl into the world April 2024.  I will graduate in June 2024. This marks 15 years of my training in medicine.  We will move across the country to Albuquerque in July. I will start my new position as an Assistant Professor in melanoma/sarcoma care at the University of New Mexico's Comprehensive Can...

Last Thursday we had the holiday party for our fellowship program. All of our first year fellows, half our second year fellows, half our third year fellows (and their families), and several beloved staff members were present. It was a really nice time to catch up with one another over a nice meal and drinks. This is the first time since before the pandemic that I've been able to have a work-related holiday party. Back in 2018 as an intern, and then in 2019 as a second year resident, the Cleveland Clinic IM program staff hosted a really nice holiday party for us at a local brewery. None of us could have imagined that just two short months after that 2019 party we'd be headed toward a pandemic and > 3 years of social distancing. 2023-2024 Scripps fellows and staff This month also marks the midway point through my final year of fellowship. The whole experience has gone by so quickly and I am so thankful for my program at Scripps. It's given me a chance to learn about care f...

This past weekend I was in Dallas for my college's homecoming weekend. I have been on the Austin College alumni board the past three years, and we had our board meeting last Friday. Sunday I made my way back to the DFW airport. My car rental location was close to the DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) station, so I decided to take the train to the airport. When I boarded the train, it brought back lots of memories. The first year that I lived in Dallas after graduation from college in Fall 2007, I often took the DART train to my job at a software company. The smells and sounds on the train yesterday reminded me of what it used to be like riding the train. That was before the smartphone was readily available, so I would often bring magazines to read on my journey. The train's first stop yesterday was at the University of Dallas. During Fall 2007 I was teaching a MCAT prep course for Princeton Review at that campus. I still remember driving across Dallas from Plano to Irving, often...

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...