MD, FRCPC
Assistant Professor
of Medicine
University of Chicago
andCareerDevelopmentAwards
(CDA)offeredaspartofTheASCO
awardedtofellowsandjuniorfacultyat
atimewhenanacademiccareerismost
fragile.Therearemultiplepressureson
fellowsastheytransitiontotheirfirst
facultyappointment,andfellowsmustbal-
anceresearch,personal,andeconomic
needs.Itisatimewhenprofessional
skillsmustberefinedandinitialfunding
sourcesneedtobesecuredwhilelife's
otherdemandsareoftencresting.Thisis
whysomanyfacultydecidetoleaveaca-
demicpositionswithinthefirstfewyears
ofgraduatingfellowship.
faculty,andIreceivedaCDAasajunior
facultymemberattheUniversityofChi-
cago.Beyondtheobviousassistancein
providingfundingtotestresearchhypoth-
eses,theseawardsfurnishedoneother
criticalelementinanycareer:confidence.
ofChicago,oneinterviewerrealistically
pointedoutthefinancialobstaclesahead
andneckcancer,adiseasethattends
togarnerlesssupportthanotherdis-
easetypes,andbecauseIamnotaU.S.
citizen,certainfundingsourceswerenot
availabletome.
cancerthatgalvanizedmyinterests.
Thediseaselendsitselfwonderfullyto
researchbecausetissueisavailable
forsampling,andearlyinmycareer,
medicaloncologywasbeginningtoplay
agreaterroleinthemanagementofthis
disease.Moreover,theUniversityofChi-
cagoalreadyhadanincrediblycapable
teamwithastrongtraditionofresearch-
ingadvancesinheadandneckcancer.
Alongwithexcellentmentorshipandthe
promiseofprotectedtime,thenecessary
componentsofasuccessfulcareerwere
inplace.
researchbuthadlittleexperiencein
clinicaltrialsandevenlessinlaboratory
techniques.Ialsoknewthatbridging
theworldsofbasicandclinicalscience
wouldnotbeasimpleundertaking.Asa
developingacademician,onealwayswon-
dersiftheyarepursuingideasthatmake
senseandwillbearfruit.Ofcourse,thisis
anareawherestrongmentorshipwitha
seniorfacultymemberisinvaluable;how-
ever,externalvalidationisalsointermit-
tentlynecessary.
researchthathasevolvedtremendously
andthatwearestillengagedintoday.
Moreimportantly,itprovidedevidence
thattheworkweweredoinghadmerit.
career(andhopefullyatseveralpoints,
notjustonce)believestheyareeither
ontosomethinggroundbreakingorcom-
pletelycrazy.Itistheabilitytothink
beyondtheconfinesofconventionand
dogmathatleadstoinnovation,andthese
thoughtsareofteninevitable.Atthesame
time,however,onemustgaugerealityand
thetruevalueofone'sresearchinthe
largerclinicalcontext;peer-reviewedfund-
ingis,inasense,suchaninstrumentof
validation.
researchandthesensethatthiswas
leadingsomewheresignificant,itwas
easytoconvincemyinstitutionthatfinan-
cialsupportwaswellfoundedandneces-
sary.TheCDAwasawardedatanother
criticaljunctureinmycareerpath.This
wasmyfirstmulti-yeargrant,which
allowedlonger-termgoalstodevelopand
whichledtoprovisionofspaceforan
independentlaboratory.Furthermore,
initialgrantseventuallygeneratemore
fundingashypothesesdevelopandnew
directionstakeshape.
opportunitytooverseetheprofessional
developmentprogramandtopersonally
serveasamentortosomefellows.As
aprogram,weencourageourfellowsto
applyfortheYIAbecauseithelpssupport
theirresearch.Moreimportantly,however,
theprocessbecomesanintegralpart
oftheirtraining,andiftheapplication
isreviewedfavorably,itcaninspirethe
sameself-confidencethatInowrecognize
asasignificantbenefitofmysuccess.