Clinical training

During the three-year Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at Mayo Clinic's campus in Jacksonville, Florida, fellows rotate through the following clinical rotations:

• One block of orientation. Fellows spend the first block of the first year shadowing in the outpatient clinics and inpatient services, which ensures smooth transition and onboarding. Fellows also spend time in blood bank and apheresis units.
• Ambulatory outpatient subspecialty hematology/oncology clinics. Fellows are assigned to an outpatient hematology or solid tumors rotation where they provide patient care under the close supervision of attending staff.
• Inpatient hematology/oncology services. Fellows rotate through one of the following inpatient rotations:
  • Inpatient malignant hematology service or bone marrow transplant (BMT)/Car-T service
  • Inpatient hematology consult service
  • Inpatient solid tumor consult service
• Electives. Electives include a rotation of the fellow's choice.
• Palliative care rotation
• Hematopathology rotation

Research

Research is a key component of fellowship training. In addition to becoming outstanding clinicians, Hematology/Oncology fellows at Mayo Clinic are extremely productive academically and they participate in cutting-edge research.

Fellows have around 13 blocks of protected research time throughout the fellowship. During this time, they conduct either clinical, laboratory, translational, or patient outcomes research. They develop solid projects under the mentorship of basic science or clinical faculty investigators.

Fellows often present their research projects at regional, national, or international meetings and ultimately publish findings in peer-reviewed journals.

Call frequency

Call schedules vary by each individual rotation. It does not exceed 80 hours of call duty each week, with call taken from home. Mayo Clinic follows the recommendations of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

Moonlighting

Moonlighting is reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the program director. With the approval of the program director, moonlighting is permitted for licensed fellows in the second and third years. Moonlighting should not interfere with the required learning and must not violate the work-hour rules of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education or visa regulations.

Didactic training and conferences

Didactic training is an integral part of the Hematology/Oncology fellowship at Mayo Clinic’s campus at Jacksonville, Florida and consists of the following:

• Weekly Fellows’ conference
• Weekly Hematopathology conference
• Education half-day, during which all fellows are excused from all patient care duties, and includes: Board Reviews, journal clubs, FDA watch, case discussions, art of oncology, and wellness sessions
• Cancer Center Grand Rounds
• Disease-specific tumor board conferences
• Morbidity and Mortality conferences
• Simulation-based education/training sessions

In addition:

• Fellows have free access to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and American Society of hematology (ASH) fellows' education programs.
• Fellows participate in a yearly, well-known national hematology/oncology Mayo Clinic course that includes a national hematology/oncology fellows’ research competition.

Teaching opportunities

Fellows have the opportunity to teach Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine students, visiting students from other medical schools, Mayo Clinic internal medicine residents, and others through bedside instruction and formal didactic lectures.

Evaluation

To ensure that fellows acquire adequate knowledge and develop the appropriate skills to meet program expectations, performance is monitored carefully during the Hematology/Oncology Fellowship. Fellows receive in-person feedback on a regular basis and are formally evaluated by supervising faculty members through the “medhub” evaluation system.

Fellows’ milestones progression is assessed through the clinical competency committee. The program director meets periodically with each fellow to review their evaluations and progress.

In addition, fellows have the opportunity to regularly evaluate the faculty to confirm that their educational needs are being met.