Why I Became a Pediatric Surgical Oncologist

As a student entering medical school, I had my career path planned out perfectly. I was going to be a primary care pediatrician in a small to moderate sized town and take care of mostly healthy babies and children. In my young adult mind at the time, that seemed like a relatively stress-free course to achieve my goals of caring for children’s health.

As best laid plans sometimes stray, my first change in course occurred during my 3^rd year of medical school. I absolutely loved, lived, and breathed my surgical rotation! I was amazed by the ability of my surgeon mentors to make quick and decisive choices, the skill to carry out life-saving procedures, and the knowledge to care for critically ill patients recovering from surgical procedures. Now what? What was I thinking with this dramatic career path change?

Off I went to Duke University Medical Center for surgical training. There I was drawn to caring for patients with cancer. Those who underwent surgical resection of their tumors were so thankful, hopeful, and motivated. But there were also many very sad stories, and the outlook for adults with many types of malignancy was heart-breakingly poor. In addition, I could not shake my desire to care for children and the range of pediatric surgical diseases was fascinating and exciting to me.

To connect the dots, I decided to pursue pediatric surgery with the hopes of trying to put it all together and dedicating my career to the areas of surgery that I truly have a passion for.

It was during my fellowship training in pediatric surgery at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and under the mentorship of the most senior member of the department, that I made the decision to further subspecialize in pediatric surgical oncology. Investing my skill, ideas, and compassion for patients and families who are facing some of the toughest challenges and choices imaginable is where I felt called to fight with a purpose.

During my time at Nationwide Children’s, I have worked with numerous key stake holders from pediatric oncology, radiology, and nursing, to develop a high-quality surgical oncology program that rivals any other children’s hospital in the United States and the world.

Over the past decade, we have been able to establish a world-class pediatric cancer center equipped with the most advanced techniques for identification and surgical management of pediatric solid tumors, including application of robotic technology (DaVinci Xi) for minimally invasive tumor resection in the chest and abdomen, sentinel node technology for the accurate staging of skin melanoma and specific soft tissue tumors, and many other procedures.

In partnership with Dr. Mark Ranalli (professor of pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Oncology), we’ve developed a unique pediatric surgical oncology clinic at Nationwide Children’s. The mission of this clinic is to facilitate coordinated care for patients and families, and meeting with the entire team in one setting.

Working with both national and international cancer organizations and registries, we are able to connect patients and families to a broad network of clinical trials designed to improve care and long-term outcomes for patients with renal tumors, thyroid cancer, melanoma, sarcomas, and many others. On an international level, I am involved in the International Pediatric Surgical Oncology (IPSO) group through the Society of International Pediatric Oncology (SIOP), and through these organizations stream worldwide collaboration of efforts to treat and cure children with cancer from all parts of the globe.