Week 6: Reminders

In our weekly meeting, Dr. Wang challenged us as Ph.D. students to essentially do our job - question everything and think deeply. His primary motivation was to get us to remember the motivation behind our project and think about how to move it forward. 

For me, my research on organoids is motivated by creating a more physiologically relevant model to better understand and treat disease. The long-term implications of the project are clear with the earth-shattering long-term promise of creating personalized drug regiments and super effective novel therapeutics.  My current questions to move this platform toward its eventual promise primarily focus on understanding the overlooked microenvironmental cues that could be more effective therapeutic targets. 

Graced by the enthusiastic help of experienced clinicians, I have learned about the gold standard of lymphoma treatment and what new treatments could be particularly affected by the tumor microenvironment. With patient cohorts exhibiting such heterogeneous responses to most drugs, the responses to this question have been both fruitful and exciting. 

However, by shadowing both the hematology-oncology and radiation oncology clinics this summer, I have also been interested by questions not necessarily related to only my research. Shadowing has enabled me to better understand the entire process of care for a cancer patient, and my observations and ensuing questions have therefore become more centered on how to better lives for patients as a whole.

In particular, the observation that has struck me most is the prevalence of reminders for these patients. In hematology-oncology, I was first surprised by the frequency of follow-up appointments. As expected, patients have follow-up appointments 3-4 times in the first 1-2 years after their cancer goes into remission, but these appointments continue annually until the patient passes. Logically, with the possibility of recurrence, these appointments make sense, but the simple idea of having a yearly reminder of your cancer is something that struck me. At least in this context, this yearly reminder seemed positive, alluding to the patient’s victory over the most unforgiving adversary. 

Unfortunately, in radiation oncology, the theme of reminders was not as positive. 

With these constant reminders, it often feels like practical innovations for comfort, beauty, or helping  the patient at least temporarily forget their fight with cancer could immediately improve the quality of life of countless patients. This feat on its own seems just as impactful as or even more so than a new treatment or therapeutic. Although I understand that the basis of research is based on groundbreaking, paradigm-shifting discoveries and long-term advantages, I believe a balance of helping patients improve upon their lives in the present while giving them a fighting chance for the future would be ultimately much more motivating and gratifying. 

With this in mind, I would love to incorporate this goal into my own PhD career. Although much thought, I don’t believe there is an easy solution to this issue, but it has armed me with the perspective and hope to recognize a hidden opportunity throughout the rest of my Ph.D. career.