About 40 medical students from Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine participated in a first-of-its-kind event for the school.

The Skills Night in Radiation Oncology was held March 13 at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital in Royal Oak.

OUWB students learned more about radiation oncology (RadOnc), what radiation oncologists do, the path to RadOnc, what residency is like, the pros and cons of the specialty, and gained insight into a day in the life of a radiation oncologist. They also learned more about the equipment used by radiation oncologists.

The event was organized by OUWB’s Oncology Interest Group (OncIG) and Radiology and Radiation Oncology Student Interest Group (RADS).

Neel Patel, M2, president, RADS, said the goal was to “open people’s eyes to this field and the specialty.”

“It’s a unique intersection between oncology and diagnostic radiology,” he said. “(The skills night) provides students an experience in an area that they might not get until maybe third or fourth year, or maybe even later.”

Maha Jawad, M.D., a radiation oncologist and assistant professor at OUWB, said the earlier medical students are exposed to RadOnc, the better.

“Exposure like this early on in medical training is essential, otherwise so many students will miss the opportunity to explore a field like this and figure out if it’s the right fit for them, have time to do research, shadow rotate early, and then ultimately apply if they want to,” she said.

An overview of the field was provided by Spencer Liu, D.O., a third-year resident.

According to Liu, RadOnc is one of the three major branches under the umbrella of oncology (the others are medical oncology and surgical oncology). With RadOnc, radiation therapy is used to carefully target and regulate doses of high-energy radiation (X-rays or particles like protons) to kill cancer cells.

About 60% of patients with a cancer diagnosis get radiation therapy at some point.

Radiation oncologists work in coordination with medical oncologists, surgical oncologists, gynecologic oncologists, radiologists, and pathologists to provide radiation treatment to patients. They also work with medical physicists, medical dosimetrists, radiation therapists, nurses, and Advanced Practice Providers (APPs).

Radiation oncologists also manage consultations, treatment planning, follow-up visits and research.

Liu said the field is a good fit for those who like learning about fast-evolving technology, enjoy an “intellectual environment” with an emphasis on scientific literature, appreciate being part of an inter-disciplinary team, are good at decision making, and “would like sufficient time off.”

He said he wanted to be part of the night because medical students generally don’t have an opportunity to do a formal rotation in radiation oncology until fourth year.

“Exposure to fields like this early on in medical training is essential, otherwise many students will miss the opportunity to explore them,” he said.

When Liu was done, the group of OUWB students split into two to learn more about the equipment used by radiation oncologists, such as the MRI imaging machine.

Arjun Bhaduri, M1, was among those who attended the event.

“I’m interested in exploring the different specialties I could potentially go into one day,” he said. “Skills nights are perfect for meeting residents and other doctors and learning more about why they like their specialties over others.”

Bhaduri also said skills nights help remind medical students about “why you got into it.”

Similar thoughts were shared by Patrick Gabriel, M2.

“Oncology isn’t talked about too much during the first part of medical school,” he said. "I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to learn more.”

Gabriel added that he had a family member who needed treatment from radiation oncologists and that also spurred his interest in the technology and field.

He expressed gratitude to the student interest groups who organize skills nights and noted that he “always is among the first to sign up.”

Vereena Salib, M1, attended and said she has an interest in radiation oncology. She called the opportunity “really awesome.”

“It’s not one of our core elective rotations and I’ve learned a lot that I wouldn’t have otherwise,” she said.

She said having access to the residents and other doctors as well as the equipment is a big benefit of the relationship between OUWB and Corewell Health.

“Just the fact that we’re able to get this exclusive time…it really adds to our medical education,” said Salib.  

Trenton Reinicke, M2, president, OncIG, said the reaction of his classmates is exactly the kind of result he sought in co-organizing the event with Patel and Jawad.

“If students are able to take away something from it and learn something they didn’t know, maybe even find a new passion, then that’s the most ideal outcome,” he said.

For more information, contact Andrew Dietderich, senior marketing specialist, OUWB, at adietderich@oakland.edu.

To request an interview, visit the OUWB Communications & Marketing webpage.

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