Thrive: Survivorship Digital Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 1

Medical Oncology Fellowship Program Launched

By Dr. Vatche Tchekmedyian and Bethany Yale The 2023-2024 academic year was momentous for MaineHealth Cancer Care as we welcomed Drs. David Rabinovich and Harshil Bhatt to our new hematology and medical oncology fellowship as our inaugural fellowship class. Putting our training plan and curriculum into motion has been an exhilarating experience, and watching our fellows learn and grow has been a joy for all the educators in our system.

As we take a moment to reflect on this program, we are able to identify what makes it unique. One of the core aspects of our program is our weekly case conference leading into the Fellow’s Clinic. Every Tuesday afternoon, sandwiched between lunch and core curriculum didactics, Drs. Andrew and Vatche Tchekmedyian sit down with the fellows and review all the cases scheduled in the fellow’s clinic on Wednesday mornings. We discuss and debate relevant literature, decision making and follow up. On Wednesdays, the fellows take a primary role in obtaining history, patient centered decision making and enacting the plan.

In this way, we train our fellows to develop ownership, dedication, rigor Dr. Kimberly Toomire in evidence based medicine and caring.

As a program director, the mission of our fellowship has crystalized: Upon graduation, we want our fellows to be able to go to any clinic in Maine, no matter where, and take excellent care of the hematology and oncology patients in that community. This requires broad training and exposure, the opportunity to learn by doing and ultimately the ability to be both a general practitioner and subspecialist. That is the type of training we provide at MaineHealth. Through our exceptional core curriculum didactic series, the case-conference/Fellow’s Clinic model, and implementation of network wide conferences such as Morbidity and Mortality Conference, the fellowship has become the cornerstone of a Dr. Nicolas Alana budding academic enterprise at MaineHealth Cancer Care.

With that, we are absolutely delighted to welcome our second class of fellows Drs. Kimberly Toomire and Nicolas Alana. Kim completed her medical school at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine and residency at Maine Medical Center where she currently services as Chief Resident. Nicolas completed his medical school at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine and internal medicine residency at HCA Portsmouth Regional Hospital/Tufts University School of Medicine. We are so excited to have these two exceptional physicians joining us for the next step in their specialty training.