In part two of this two-part ASCO Education podcast episode, host Dr. Jeremy Cetnar (Oregon Health & Science University) continues the conversation with Drs. Lauren Abrey and Jason Faris, whose careers have criss-crossed academia and industry. They share words of advice for trainees today. If you liked this episode, please subscribe. Learn more at https://education.asco.org, or email us at [email protected]. TRANSCRIPT Dr. Jeremy Cetnar: Hello, and welcome to Part 2 of the ASCO Educational Podcast episode focused on career choices and transitions. My name is Jeremy Cetnar. I'm a Medical Oncologist and Associate Professor of medicine at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. In Part 1, Dr. Lauren Abrey and Dr. Jason Faris about their motivations for pursuing medicine, and how they arrived at the different positions they've had. Today, we'll further explore career fulfillment, maximizing impact on patient care, and differences between working in academia and industry. Dr. Faris, what have you learned from the different roles you have had, and what aspects of your current work do you find most rewarding? Dr. Jason Faris: So, there's a lot to discuss here. In my academic and patient care roles, I felt extremely privileged to forge strong bonds with patients and their families, to offer support, counseling and hope in the context of making really difficult, challenging decisions... to rejoice in the individual victories, whether that was clean scans and normal tumor markers after adjuvant therapy for Stage III colon cancer, using the neoadjuvant therapy in locally advanced pancreatic cancer and watching them go to resection, helping to maintain quality of life by addressing key symptoms that a cancer patient unfortunately must endure, and providing emotional support when things do not go as hoped. Whereas the latter times in GI cancer patients are unfortunately all too common. And the moments or clinic visits where the cancer has recurred, or the treatments aren't working really do take their emotional toll on clinicians. I'll just say I took many of those losses personally. And as a general rule in medicine, I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve, which can be a mixed blessing. But that shared sense of purpose and the many times where you were able to offer something meaningful to patients and families provided real fulfillment and joy. I think at the time of the two transitions I've had, this was fundamentally the most difficult part for me, which was relinquishing these direct patient care interactions. So, another highly rewarding part of my role in academia was working with colleagues to open clinical trials or conduct clinical research. I had opportunities to be mentored by or collaborate with multiple people Ted Hong, Dave Ryan, Chin Wu, Jeff Clark, David Ting, and others at Mass General, as well as Lionel Lewis, Konstantin Dragnev, and Steve Leach at Dartmouth. Treating patients on clinical trials was always a stressful enterprise but highly rewarding, and I had the chance to be part of some really amazing groundbreaking trials at MGH, in some cases witnessing breathtaking responses in patients who were out of treatment options, in some cases for many months. Another highly rewarding aspect of my role in academia or my roles in academia involved all of the many opportunities to engage in teaching and mentoring, whether that's with medical students, residents, or fellows, where the enthusiasm for helping patients and learning was always infectious. Finally, I'd be remiss not to mention the wonderful nurse practitioners that I've worked with like Patty Tammaro at Mass General, with whom I cared for many GI cancer patients for years, and Elizabeth McGrath at Dartmouth, whose wisdom and dedication to patient care was really inspiring. On the industry side, on the NIBR side, I've had the opportunity to work on novel therapeutics that are making a bench to bedside transition from a drug candidate to a first in human Pha