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- May 28, 2012
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M4 here, currently pursuing a path in Radiation Oncology. I have always been keenly interested in cancer since I started medical school, and was drawn specifically to Rad Onc due to its use of technology, treatment success, academic nature, and comprehensive range of malignancies one is able to see in this field. However, there were certainly aspects of Medical Oncology that I was attracted to as well; having a little more "ownership" of the patient being one, and the exciting new developments in immunotherapy and biologics being the other.
I am curious if those of you in the field could tell me if any of the research or headway in immunotherapy is being completed by Radiation Oncologists, or if this is pretty much strictly the purview of Medical Oncologists. I know Rad Onc physicians can and have done basic science research into pathophysiology of cancer, but usually as it pertains to Radiobiology. Does a career in Rad Onc essentially preclude one from this type of work or interest? If not, how much "latitude" does one have in Radiation Oncology to work as an "Oncologist" first and a "Radiation Oncologist" second?
I would also be curious if someone could weigh in on cross-pollination between Rad and Med Onc. It seems to me more likely for a Radiation Oncologist to do research in medical therapies than it does for a Medical Oncologist to do research into Radiation, but then again, I'm an M4 acolyte.
I am curious if those of you in the field could tell me if any of the research or headway in immunotherapy is being completed by Radiation Oncologists, or if this is pretty much strictly the purview of Medical Oncologists. I know Rad Onc physicians can and have done basic science research into pathophysiology of cancer, but usually as it pertains to Radiobiology. Does a career in Rad Onc essentially preclude one from this type of work or interest? If not, how much "latitude" does one have in Radiation Oncology to work as an "Oncologist" first and a "Radiation Oncologist" second?
I would also be curious if someone could weigh in on cross-pollination between Rad and Med Onc. It seems to me more likely for a Radiation Oncologist to do research in medical therapies than it does for a Medical Oncologist to do research into Radiation, but then again, I'm an M4 acolyte.