Strong Collaboration is Essential for Radiation Oncologists and Other Experts
As a radiation oncologist, James B. Yu, MD, MHS, FASTRO, works with urologists, medical oncologists, radiologists, pathologists, physicists, and health services researchers.
As an expert in genitourinary cancers, he spoke about working with urologists as they are often the main “proceduralists” for diagnosing cancer, and medical oncologists as they would be the next step for the patient, after radiation fails them. When it comes to research, as Yu has a specific interest in that aspect of work, he collaborates with radiologists, pathologists, physicists, and health services researchers. All of this comes along with working with patients.
As Yu, professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology and Applied Sciences, leader of the Genitourinary Radiation Oncology Program at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, and radiation oncology editorial advisory board member of the Journal ONCOLOGY®, stated, “radiation oncologists are at the end of the referral stream, so if you can’t collaborate with people or respond to referring physicians, then you’re not going to do very well in radiation oncology.”
Transcript:
Radiation oncologists are at the end of the referral stream, so if you can’t collaborate with people or respond to referring physicians, then you’re not going to do very well in radiation oncology. In genitourinary radiation oncology, the urologists are the ones who are the main proceduralists. They refer patients [to us], they do the diagnosis, and [they] collaborate [with us] in academic research. Medical oncologists are critical if radiation fails or if you want to do novel combination therapies, and they also have internal medicine training, which the vast majority of us don’t. Those 2 groups are critical to any genitourinary radiation oncology practice.
Then, in research, having good radiologists and pathologists facilitates your research tremendously. Physicists, as well, are a huge part of radiation oncology—they’re often the ones thinking of the most novel technical innovations. In the work that I do in research, health outcomes and health services researchers and people in public health [are important]—my mentor in research is an internal medicine physician who has an interest in cancer. The more people you can work with outside of radiation oncology, the more interesting your world is going to be, and the more fulfilling [it will be].
