New Interprofessional Fellowship Piloting at UTDRO
- Special thanks to Dr. Ewa Szumacher for this story
UTDRO’s fellowship program is expanding with the launch of the first interprofessional fellowship. UTDRO’s co-director of Faculty Development and Continuing Education Professional Development, Dr. Ewa Szumacher has been working with Dr. Rajin Mehta (Head of the Division of Geriatric Medicine) and Dr. Maureen Trudeau (Medical Oncologist), both at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, to launch this interprofessional fellowship in geriatric oncology.
This one-year breast fellowship will provide the trainee exposure to geriatric oncology.
After a brief international search, Drs. Szumacher, Trudeau and Mehta recruited the first trainee for this fellowship. Dr. Mattew Neve is a radiation oncologist in New Zealand, and he will be joining this UTDRO fellowship in August 2017. He applied for this fellowship because he wants to improve geriatric oncology practice in New Zealand, which is becoming increasingly relevant given the aging population of the country.
“I think this is a great opportunity for Dr. Neve to develop expertise in geriatric assessment and geriatric oncology,” said Dr. Szumacher. “He will be working with patients who are treated with radiation either or chemo-radiation and learning from colleagues at Sunnybrook’s Senior Women Breast Cancer Clinic. He will be part of an interprofessional team in the breast site and geriatric medicine at Sunnybrook.”
Dr. Szumacher added that upon graduation, “Dr. Neve will have an enhanced understanding of the principles of geriatric mecdicine and he will be able to apply them in treatment of the elderly with cancer.”
The unique aspect of this fellowship is its inteprofessionalism. Even though the trainee will be trained in radiation oncology, during their fellowship, they will be working in geriatric medicine, radiation oncology and medical oncology. Upon completion of the one-year fellowship, the trainee will have both practical experience and research experience in breast site and geriatric medicine.
This fellowship was established through collaboration between faculty members at UTDRO and Geriatric Medicine at the University of Toronto, as well as staff at the Senior Women’s Breast Cancer Clinic at Sunnybrook.
